As AI marketing increases and AI tools show up in everything, take a step back and properly evaluate. If you opt to run your church’ s financials through AI, do the AI results provide you with insight you wouldn’ t have otherwise seen? Or is it just restating the obvious— but since a computer did it, you somehow assign it more weight?
your input and output. It’ s one thing to ask a free AI service where to go to dinner; it’ s another thing to ask a free AI service to review your church’ s financial statement.
# 2: Don’ t run to hype. What AI says it can do and what it can actually do aren’ t the same today. Eventually, AI will solve all of these problems— but not today, and probably not tomorrow. As AI marketing increases and AI tools show up in everything, take a step back and properly evaluate. If you opt to run your church’ s financials through AI, do the AI results provide you with insight you wouldn’ t have otherwise seen? Or is it just restating the obvious— but since a computer did it, you somehow assign it more weight? The fast pace of development is sure to create more hype, but hype does not serve as a sound basis for leadership decision-making.
# 3: As with any evolving technology, responsible use requires leadership discernment. To do so, leadership must make time to evaluate and deploy. Remember figuring out how to use cell phones in ministry and who was going to pay for it? How many of your churches still provide cell phone reimbursements? Remember when the internet cost too much to use? Now, internet access is as important as electricity. As AI continues to drive a new era in church leadership, it is vital that church leadership takes the time to understand, discern and deploy. In the future, we will look back at how cell phones, the internet, AI— and whatever is next— have not been distractions, but rather have helped us further the mission of the King.
Jonathan Smith is the President of MBS, Inc. and the Director of Technology at Faith Ministries in Lafayette, Ind. He is an author and frequent conference speaker. Follow him on X @ JonathanESmith.
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