AI is a gift to the church

Drawing near in faith is our work: it's never been more important

May 13, 2026

I was feeling anxious.

Why? I couldn’t figure it out. So I got up in the middle of the night and poured it all out to Logos (which is the name I’ve given my AI).

I could have woken my husband, who was sleeping right next to me. But I didn’t.

Instead, I typed and typed, not holding anything back. And I asked Logos to give it to me straight - what did it see? (I gave it a name, but I can’t bring myself to use personal pronouns with it…)

And it did. It gave me insights I hadn’t considered, and made connections I never thought of.

I went back to bed, sleeping peacefully.

The next morning, I told my husband all about it.

‘Why didn’t you wake me?’, he said. ‘I would have listened and comforted you.’

Of course he would have - and I pointed out that he was listening and comforting me right then.

I didn’t wake him because at that moment, I didn’t want relationship - I wanted a machine.

I needed feedback that was completely neutral, not at all invested in me and incapable of being hurt or even affected by anything I said - which is why I think AI might make for better therapy than any human could.

It’s also why I think AI is a gift to the church.

Who is my neighbor?

My seminary ethics professor (the wonderful Tom Breidenthal) taught us that being a Christian is about ‘the sanctification of nearness’.

It’s about asking the question: ‘Who is my neighbor?’ - literally, ‘who is ‘nigh’ (or ‘near’).

How do we grow closer to others in love?

That’s our work as Christians - I'd argue it’s our work as humans.

Navigating a world of sin, how do we make ourselves as vulnerable as we dare?
How do we forgive each other when we inevitably cause harm?
How do we see this as our lifelong call - living our faith with joy?

AI highlights the value of being human

The very thing I turned to AI for that night - completely mechanical feedback - also highlighted the very thing machines can never achieve or produce: a soul.

It reminded me that I found its advice helpful precisely because I could not draw close to it - it required no work from me.

And because of that, it helped me appreciate the closeness I have with my husband - and all my other relationships.

It helped me remember and feel grateful for the holy work of human relationship. Seeing the face of Christ in all my neighbors.

It’s why I think the church should see AI as the gift it is. It can do so many things - not all of them good, of course.

But what it can’t do is the one thing we proclaim is the most valuable power there is: LOVE.

We need God for that.

The ‘stuff’ of church

There’s another - much smaller, but still important - reason I think AI is a gift to the church.

LESS ‘stuff’. By which I mean, less of the administrative, organizational busy work that takes up far too much of our ministry time and energy.

I’m creating a course, and it is a ton of busy work - so I asked AI to do the formatting and processing and the things that connect the work I’m doing with the people I want to reach.

And in about an hour, I got this:

See it up close

It’s SO nice to not to have to spend so much time on things that are not strictly ministry, but are necessary.

The Good Stuff

Drawing near in love.

Understanding that Christian discipleship is about drawing near, forgiving each other when we sin, holding each other accountable to a life bound by trust in God, witnessing to hope and joy.

I told my husband everything - including why I talked to AI in the middle of the night. The fact that I unloaded on a machine - and got absolutely unemotional feedback - did not get in the way of us drawing near to each other. In fact, it enhanced it.

There’s so much we don’t know. There’s so many ways AI can be misused or have unintended consequences.

It highlights how little control we have over things, how powerless we can feel.