Will A.I. Chatbots Replace Pastors?
7 Reasons Pastors Will Always Be Better Than A.I. Chatbots
Last Sunday’s sermon on Acts 16:16-24 included stories and examples about the dangers associated with blind acceptance of and increased dependance upon Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). The thread running through all of those illustrations is that far too many people today are using A.I. for tasks it should never touch.
I am well aware that A.I. is helping plenty of people do things at work with amazing efficiency and greater effectiveness. Therefore, the prevailing talk of the day is all about how many jobs will be replaced with each new app that is created and as new updates are released. Yet, no matter how impressed you are with big tech’s abilities, there are things A.I. cannot do, should not do, and will never be able to do.
A.I. should never…
Produce a “pretty score” and compare the beauty of someone’s face to a celebrity.
Give people counsel while they are struggling with suicidal thoughts.
Become someone’s romantic partner or best friend.
Replace your pastor or even a single Sunday morning sermon.
Much could be written about each of these bullet points, but since I am a pastor I want to share my thoughts about that last point. Here are seven reasons why A.I. chatbots will never be able to replace any local church pastor or become a substitute for going to church and listening to a sermon on Sunday morning.
Pastors > A.I. Chatbots
Reason # 1: Pastors Pray
First, local church pastors can pray for you by name. An A.I. chatbot will never be able to pray for you. At Embassy Church our pastors and elders spend a considerable amount of time praying for our members in every one of our meetings. Additionally, our staff pastors gather two more times every week and pray for the church. If you believe in the power of prayer, then I am not sure you need to read any more of this article. Faithful pastors pray fervently and frequently for the members of their church.
Even though pastors are mere humans and cannot access billions of facts in a matter of seconds, they do have access to God’s throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).
Reason # 2: Pastors Hug
Second, local church pastors can give you a hug. Some weeks you need to not only hear your pastor preach to you the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 2:1-5), but you also need your elders to put their hand on your shoulder and pray with you in the church foyer.
Can an A.I chatbot tangibly comfort you when…
your mom is diagnosed with terminal cancer?
your sister suddenly passed away?
you lost the job you have had for decades?
your spouse abandons you and your children?
you break-up with the person you thought would be your spouse?
you experience multiple miscarriages?
you are on your deathbed?
Reason # 3: Pastors Preach
Third, local church pastors are Spirit-filled men who edit their sermons while they are preaching them! Some of you might not know this, but pastors regularly make small or subtle changes in the middle of preaching their sermons because they see someone they didn’t expect to be at church. Or they hear a laugh or a loud “AMEN!” They might adjust their volume when they see someone falling asleep or they might restate a sentence when someone looks confused. One striking example of this phenomenon in the book of Acts, is when Paul’s preaching took a sharp turn after Elymas the magician opposed his message in Acts 13:8-12.
Every pastor I have ever talked to says that some of the most effective and powerful moments of their sermons are when they make one of these spontaneous adjustments to their message. They said something in the sermon that was not planned or written down in their notes. It could be as simple as a single word, a repeated sentence, or a whole new paragraph, and these Spirit-filled promptings will never be delivered by an A.I. chatbot. Therefore, anyone who neglects the gathering of God’s people is neglecting some of the most powerful “God-moments” of the whole message.
Reason # 4: Pastors Repent
Fourth, pastors are capable of repenting and applying the sermon to their own soul before they preach it. If I go up on stage and try to preach a sermon without first doing the hard work of studying, meditating, praying, and preaching the sermon to myself first, then it feels like being underdressed at a party or going out in public with a big stain on your shirt. This is why Paul tells young Timothy, “keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16).
God ordained His saving purposes through sanctified servants, not silicon or software.
Would you rather have an exposition of Acts 16 from a chatbot without any experiential knowledge about the things it is communicating to you? Or would you be more encouraged and comforted to know that God’s word is actively transforming the person who is delivering the message?
Reason # 5: Pastors Know
Pastors can use the church’s community and shared life experiences to determine which applications to make in their sermon. A.I. will never be able to know the personal conversations and private sins that recently took place in the life of a local church.
Earlier this week, one member asked me why I chose to bring up A.I. in the first place. As I explained my sermon prep process, I told them that my first step was to study Acts 16 within its own historical context. Then, once I had a better grasp on what God’s word was communicating in that context I started thinking about the ways this text would apply to the hearts of Embassy Church. I went on to explain that modern prostitution was my first thought for how I might bridge the gap between 1st century slavery in Philippi and 21st century slavery in Palatine. Yet, the more I thought about taking this approach, the less convinced I became that this example would travel into the ear and down into the heart.
After I scrapped my original idea the Lord brought to mind an article I had previously read from Clare Morell, a current member of Capitol Hill Baptist Church and the author of The Tech Exit book. All of this led me to conclude that bringing up the illustrations in her article, “The A.I. Revolution is Coming for our Kids,” would likely apply with much greater relevance and force than bringing up the way prostitution enslaves and exploits many young women today.
You do not need to agree with all the decisions your pastor makes with their use of illustrations or applications. That is not the point. The point is that A.I. chatbots will never be able to personally know the spiritual pulse of a congregation. In fact, it is much more likely that a chatbot will tell you what your itching ears want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3-4) and not what you need to hear from God through your pastors and elders.
Reason # 6: Pastors Sleep
Pastors cannot preach a sermon every hour of the day and this human limitation is good for you. Yes, when you are having a hard time sleeping at 3:30 am, A.I. chatbots can give you counsel and write out an entire sermon tailored just for you in the middle of the night, but just because they can does not mean they should.
I want to argue that unlimited accessibility to what feels like an unlimited amount of information will never be better than trusting in and praying to the only truly omniscient one, the actual Lord of the universe.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’” (Romans 11:33-35).
Furthermore, instant feedback will rarely be better than a delayed conversation with a pastor after he wakes up (By the way, it is usually best to not wake him up at 3:30 am). In other words, more often than not, waiting until the sun rises to get personal pastoral counsel will be better than A.I. generated messages in the middle of the night.
Reason # 7: Pastors Abide
Pastors can preach because they abide in Christ. All Christian pastors are sinners who have been saved by grace through their faith in Jesus Christ.
A.I. does not have a soul.
A.I. does not experientially know the saving grace of Jesus.
A.I. cannot look you in the eyes and plead with you to trust in Christ.
A.I. is not communing with the Father, through the sacrifice of the Son, and by the fellowship of the Spirit.
As Jesus taught us in John 15:4-5, A.I. chatbots do not abide in Christ and cannot bear fruit.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.