With AI, we now have this unprecedented tool that scours human knowledge and discourse to instantly produce a dozen answers or ideas.

A single prompt ploughs through a week’s work. What would have been a month is made a moment instead. In a flash and a whir – we have our way forward.

But are we now so quick to take shortcuts that we’ve failed to consider whether we’re short-circuiting our walk with God? Here are a few ways to exercise discernment when it comes to using AI in ministry.

Need help? Rely on God first, ChatGPT later.

“I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me,” (Isaiah 45:5)

Any tool or blessing God gives us should remain just that – tools to bless and serve Him with. Some of us open ChatGPT more than we open the Word of God. We are quicker to make a prompt than a prayer.

We need to go to God first, knowing that it is He who equips us. When He gives us a task to accomplish, He will help us to succeed.

After all, a great deal of spiritual work is simply… waiting. Faith is frequently weighed up in the waiting rooms of life as we learn to listen and lean in, fostered among maybes, loose ends and question marks.

Let us put in the necessary effort to connect with God first and hear from Him, rather than to take the convenient way out and fail to even heed His voice.

Need creativity? Then put your trust in the Creator.

“He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers.” (Exodus 35:35)

For many of us, when we’re out of ideas – or before we even stop to think for some – it has almost become second nature to unthinkingly generate a list or table of ideas from a prompt or two. 

It’s a powerful tool and a blessing at times, but why not let God speak first?

We serve the God of Exodus who chose artisans and gave them wisdom, knowledge, understanding and all skills – He is the same God of all creativity waiting to fill you with ability for whatever it is He’s called you to do.

Don’t short-change the world of the new thing that God wants to do through you by short-circuiting the necessary faith journey of waiting, seeking and toiling. 

Need a way forward? Look to the Way Maker.

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19)

Much of the allure of AI tools like ChatGPT lies in the clarity we derive from their use. Mishmashes are pulled into something coherent at the press of a button; bullet points and tables seem to promise us a way forward out of the chaos.

There is a very real danger of becoming too reliant on AI. For many of us it has already become a trusted helper, advisor and counsellor – some even use chatbots as replacements for friends or romantic partners.

The fact is, we need to be very discerning and conscious about what it is that really guides us. Our decisions add up to our destiny, and what guides the former will decide the latter – so let it be Christ alone.