What the Data Says About Pastors and AI in the Church Today

Nick Skytland, Vice President of AI Research at GLOO, has been tracking how pastors use AI for a year through a joint research initiative with Barna. The headline finding will surprise people: 87% of pastors are using AI in some form. Only 13% say they do not use it at all. But how they are using it — and where the cautions lie — is where the conversation gets important. Brainstorming, biblical research, and the Friday sermon temptation: Nick walks through the data, including the 24% of pastors who now use AI to write or edit sermons, double last year's number, and why he believes the biggest risk is not that pastors are using it but that they stop thinking critically about what it gives back. AI is biased, not theologically neutral, and trained on secular pluralistic information — using it for spiritual formation without pastoral judgment, he says, is like turning to Reddit for marriage advice. He also shares what GLOO is building to address that gap and why he believes the church's mandate for human formation has never mattered more than it does in the age of AI. Highlights Why 87% of pastors are now using AI in some form and what that actually looks like in practice The top uses: brainstorming, idea generation, biblical research, small group questions, and administrative tasks Why 79% of pastors worry about AI replacing God and 63% worry about it replacing spiritual leaders entirely Why AI is not theologically neutral and defaults to secular pluralistic responses unless specifically prompted otherwise The Friday sermon temptation and why tired pastors need to be most on guard against outsourcing their judgment Why the church's core calling is formation, not information, and why friction in human relationships matters What GLOO is building to make AI values-aligned for faith communities and where to find the full research Resources / Links / CTA 🌐 GLOO Flourishing AI research: https://gloo.com 🌐 Barna State of the Church research: https://www.barna.com/stateofthechurch 🌐 Nick Skytland Twitter: https://x.com/skytland 🌐 Follow, share, and explore more of Crosswalk Talk 👉 Follow, share, and subscribe for more faith-driven conversations on Lifeaudio Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.