Using AI Ethically in Sermon Preparation
AI can assist with sermon research, ideas, structure, and accessibility, but it cannot replace the preacher’s soul, pastoral presence, or dependence on the Holy Spirit. Darin Mirante argues that preaching must remain rooted in genuine care for people rather than the pressure to produce polished content.
- AI can supplement sermon preparation, but it should not become the preacher or spiritual authority.
- Authentic preaching grows from pastoral care, lived experience, prayer, study, and dependence on the Holy Spirit.
- Overdependence on AI can short-circuit the formation of both the preacher and future church leaders.
by Darin Mirante
Have we settled for preaching without pastoring? What is the cost of merely bringing good information to people and calling it preaching? I was asked to write this article because we live in a day and age where there is a lack of clarity around how to use artificial intelligence in sermon preparation. What drives this question is the perceived role of content in preaching. That sounds like a ridiculous reflection, because obviously content is essential. But content alone misses the mark.
We live in a day and age where all you need to present content is to be able to use AI effectively. But people don’t need to leave their house and come to church for this. What people need is an encounter with God and his people. Preaching can accomplish this, but the mere transfer of information cannot.
If someone handed you the perfect sermon to preach, what would prevent you from using it? If you didn’t use it word for word, how would you discern how much of it to use? This is the world of everyday AI that we now live in. Access to correct, useable, even practical helpful content. Why wouldn’t we use it regularly? The better question is, what might motivate us to use it incorrectly?
Preaching Is More Than Delivering Content
In my first sermon as a lead pastor over 10 years ago, I told our congregation that one of the most impactful and formative books I had ever read was The Wounded Healer by Henri Nouwen. I wanted to begin this role with a posture of presence over pretense. I was very in tune with my level of incompetency and need for dependence on God as I stepped into this new level of responsibility. I did not want to attempt to lead, pastor, or preach from a disconnected platform, but with a heart that desired to walk alongside.
Over the course of time, in navigating Covid, a campaign, and leadership challenges, I lost my way and thought that I needed to be strong, confident, even perfect, in order to be effective. I began to believe that I needed to preach better and better because impressive sermons are what grow people. With some experience as a lead pastor, I assumed expectations only grew. To be weak and wounded is for rookies. Well, in my attempt to be stronger than what I actually was, I hit the wall over three years ago, and my weakness and woundedness became known to all.
I had begun to place more emphasis on perfectly presented preaching as opposed to care for a specific group of people God had called me to pastor. I personally believe that one of the primary motivators for using AI in sermon preparation is a pressure to “perform” perfectly. When we make our pastoral responsibility secondary, we potentially reduce our role to merely “giving a good talk.” Pastors who are more passionate about preaching than about people will naturally experience pressure, in a day and age where people can hear much better preaching by just staying at home and watching online.
The Role of the Holy Spirit in Preaching
The power of preaching is rooted in the presence of your own soul driven by the Holy Spirit. In the words of Paul, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power”(1 Corinthians 2:4-5, New International Version).
When it comes to discerning how to use AI in preaching (and in ministry), it should be common sense that there is a supplemental role for AI, whether it’s ideation when stuck or helping find illustrations. But if our motivation for using AI is merely to produce content, then we can call it “giving a talk,” but let’s not call it preaching. If my preaching merely consists of my words, then, according to Paul, it is just noise: “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-2, New Living Translation).
What a Preacher Can Bring That AI Can’t
It seems pretty clear that care for people must drive our preaching or else our words become meaningless. If AI leads the way, words are all you have, and a talking head is all you become. A sermon that is more than words places priority on presence. People should be coming to church to hear a specific word for a specific time from a specific person who cares specifically for them.
This is what you can bring that AI can’t:
- You
- Your soul
- Your love for God
- Your care for others
- Empowerment by the Spirit of the living God
At a time when AI is at its peak of influence, we need more authentic connection than ever before. AI can’t look you in the eye. Ministry is walking with people toward God. If you take away the walking, then people don’t need to come to church, because the mere transfer of information never leads to transformation. Information alone can persuade people toward truth, but God’s Word preached with conviction by a soul who has been with God prepares the way for an encounter with God.
How to Use AI in Sermon Preparation
Now, for some irony … I asked ChatGPT what the role of AI in preaching should be and AI proved to be a great assistant providing some profound wisdom: “AI can play a role in preaching—but it shouldn’t replace the human core of it. At its best, preaching isn’t just about delivering information; it’s about interpretation, moral discernment, lived experience, and a relationship with a community. Those are things AI doesn’t truly possess. So the most realistic and healthy role for AI is as a tool, not a voice of authority.”
Here’s how that can look in practice:
1. Research and preparation –
AI can help clergy or speakers explore historical context, compare interpretations of religious texts, or organize sermon ideas.
2. Language and accessibility –
It can help translate sermons, simplify complex ideas, or adapt a message for different audiences—kids, newcomers, or people from different cultural backgrounds.
3. Structure and drafting –
If someone is stuck, AI can suggest outlines, metaphors, or examples. But those should be shaped and filtered through the preacher’s own understanding and convictions.
4. Not a moral authority –
AI doesn’t have beliefs, faith, or accountability. If it starts deciding what should be preached or presenting itself as spiritually authoritative, that’s a problem. Preaching involves responsibility to a community and often to a tradition—AI can’t bear that responsibility.
5. Guarding authenticity –
People don’t just listen to sermons for content; they listen for sincerity, struggle, and lived truth. A fully AI-generated sermon risks feeling hollow or disconnected, even if it sounds polished.
So, a good boundary is: AI can support the preacher, but it shouldn’t be the preacher.
AI Should Support the Preacher, Not Be the Preacher
If AI agrees with what you have discovered in your wrestling with the text, in listening to God, and Spirit-led insights, consider using the supplemental material … just let people know the source! This is a test of our ego. Do we care more about helping people or impressing people? Whether or not you give credit where credit is due reveals your motive. What is at stake is growth of both your character and your competency. The more dependent you are on AI, the more you short-circuit your own mental, emotional, and spiritual efforts. You compromise the growth that can only come through the process of prayer and study.
What AI Could Mean for the Future of Preaching
Maybe what is most at stake is the future of preaching. If AI becomes the foundation of our preparation, then how are we influencing the future preachers of our congregations? The future of the church is at stake, and the way we lead and influence now will determine what becomes normalized later.
I know of a lead pastor who spent his first year in the role reading J. D. Grear sermons word for word. His reasoning was that he just didn’t have enough time to prepare a message in the midst of figuring out his new role. The problem with this is the assumption that good information alone is what brings transformation. If this were the case, AI could easily lead the way as it is a bottomless well of information.
Why did he do this? Possibly a failure to be led. No one communicated to him what was most important and how to go about it. It is a great responsibility, but the only pressure we should be experiencing most days is simply to bring who we are. Don’t run or hide from weakness. Leverage it so that people see less of you and more of God. If Paul’s power was made perfect in weakness, what am I doing pretending to be strong by settling for artificial power?
We need less “perfect preaching” and more sincere presence. People need to be loved before they learn. You can pastor without preaching, but if you attempt to preach without the heart of a pastor, you risk being a clanging cymbal. Performance can undermine authenticity when the focus is more on “how am I doing?” vs. the primary aim of preaching for life change that meets people where they are with the question of, “How are you doing?” What drives your passion for preaching? The platform or the people? If it’s the platform, you might be impressive, but you risk having listeners see you and miss God. Embrace the mistakes you will make that only remind people that you are a channel of grace aiming to point people to God. The goal is not having an original thought that leads to the applause of man. The goal is for the voice of the preacher to be a Spirit-empowered soul that makes it obvious to everyone our desperate dependence on God.
