Should AI have a role in sermon preparation? – Church for Vancouver

Should AI have a role in sermon preparation? – Church for Vancouver

A thoughtful look at pastoral use of AI. A few highlights:

AI can assist with logos, but it cannot deliver pathos or ethos. In faithful Christian preaching (particularly gospel-centred preaching that aims to get to the heart of the hearer), those missing elements are not optional.

The power of preaching is not in information alone.

Preaching is a spiritual act: a moment where the Word of God meets real people, in a real place, through a real preacher, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Preaching is grounded in divine revelation, mediated through a redeemed messenger, and aimed not merely at minds, but at hearts and lives.

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Preaching is more than explanation, it is proclamation. It is heralding good news to real people in real time, in a particular place and season. It requires emotional discernment, pastoral warmth and Spirit-filled urgency. This is pathos, and it’s where AI falls flat.

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Perhaps the most striking limitation of AI in preaching is its lack of ethos. Ethos refers to the moral credibility of the speaker. In Aristotle’s model, a message is persuasive in part because the audience trusts the one delivering it.

This principle is deeply biblical. Paul repeatedly grounds his apostolic authority in his conduct: “You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake” (1 Thessalonians 1:5). The preacher’s life lends weight to the message, not because the messenger is the point, but because the messenger must not contradict the point.

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Don’t let AI become a replacement for prayer and wrestling with a text. You cannot outsource the heart. Don’t neglect the formation of a godly life. Let your sermons be formed not just by algorithms, but by adoration of the one who called you to preach.

Read the whole thing, some good thinking here.

Photo by Jackson Sophat on Unsplash