Just because “everybody” is doing something doesn’t make it right. Chances are, your parents repeated something like this at the dinner table numerous times when you were growing up. If you have kids, you’ve no doubt shared this sentiment with them: “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?”

I used to think that following the crowd was something kids and teenagers felt pressured to do. I now know that this feeling of “everybody’s doing it” doesn’t go away with age, even if the reasons change over time.

When I was going to college, “everybody” was taking out massive student loans. When our kids were entering their teen years, “all” of their friends’ parents were giving their kids unfettered access to social media. And now, “everybody” is using AI programs like ChatGPT or Claude to do their thinking for them.

Several days ago, The Gospel Coalition published a couple of articles explaining that as a rule, they will not publish any content that is produced with the assistance of AI. I’ve always been slow to adapt to new technology, so I was a little surprised that they felt the need to create this policy. I had assumed that serious, published authors would be against the use of AI in writing. But what surprised me even more was that some people (even Christians) criticized their stance.

Apparently, an increasing number of Christians are relying on AI programs to write articles, sermons, and Sunday school lessons in the same way you might use ChatGPT to generate some code or create a slide deck for a presentation at work.

I can’t see how this could be a good thing. For one thing, if a minister is using AI to write content but doesn’t explicitly say that that’s what he’s doing, that’s deceptive. It’s passing off someone else’s work as your own.

For another thing, it sacrifices long term benefit for short term gain. When I was in seminary, I learned that I really hadn’t thought carefully about a topic until I wrote about it. We would listen to lectures and read thousands of pages of dense academic writing on a given topic. I would feel confident in my knowledge. But then I had to write five or six thousand words defending a thesis on that topic. That was a whole different experience! Writing forces us to think.

When preachers use AI (or more pedestrian sermon research tools that have been available for years, or re-preach another man’s sermons), that may seem harmless in the short run. But think about the long-term consequences. A preacher who relies on someone else to do his preparation for him will preach platitudes and cliches. His sermons will fail to apply in real life because they weren’t forged in real life.

For that reason, I’m glad that influential organizations like The Gospel Coalition are drawing a “line in the sand” on this issue. I can tell you that I don’t use AI for sermon study, writing, preparation, or evaluation after the fact. I don’t use it to prepare for Equipping Classes or to write discussion guides and I don’t use it to write newsletter articles (probably obvious given the typos and run-on sentences and such!).

I do rely on AI to help me manage projects (such as planning an event). I probably use it without really meaning to on occasion (Today I used Google to verify some facts for a sermon illustration, and I read the AI-generated summary at the top of the results). If I were more creative and forward-thinking, I’m sure I would find other valuable uses for these incredible tools.

I realize my own practice is a lot stricter than most of my colleagues, and that’s fine. There are plenty of faithful brothers who ask ChatGPT to queue up resources for study, or give them ideas for an illustration, or suggest application questions. I may venture into some of these limited uses eventually.

But we should be cautious, shouldn’t we? And we should remind ourselves that no matter what tools we start to use, we’re still human, and that means we will always have limitations and there will always be a trade-off. I just don’t want to trade away my integrity or pastoral sensitivity in exchange for a little more flash or polish.

Meanwhile, if you’re an AI power user, I’d love to hear how these tools have helped you serve the Lord and love your neighbor. Let me know what you think!