A Californian pastor has created an artificial intelligence version of himself to help his flock.
Pastor Justin Lester of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, Vallejo, has devised “an AI digital doppelganger” to minister to his congregation when he cannot. The idea is that can turn to an AI-generated version of their church leader to give advice and answer their questions around-the-clock, making him available 24/7.
Pastor Lester told his local TV station how he set up the AI project: “I connected on YouTube, TikTok, my Instagram and everything I’ve ever written, so all the way back to every sermon I’ve ever preached. Books, all of that are in there. Every single day it evolves.”
The head-turning initiative from the US comes as two major projects to help churches and Christians engage with the fast-developing world of AI have gone online.
They may just help Christians who find themselves puzzled, troubled or amazed by Pastor Lester’s AI replica.
The Church AI Toolkit is offering ‘pastoral wisdom in the age of AI.’ The Church AI Toolkit team was convened by the TryTank Research Institute at Virginia Theological Seminary this summer “to develop practical, theologically grounded resources for ministry in the age of AI.”
The Toolkit was designed by an ecumenical group of practitioners, including clergy, chaplains, and innovators, grounded in the Episcopalian/Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and Presbyterian traditions.
Their backgrounds and vantage points differ widely, explains their website: “Some of us serve in congregations, some in hospitals and care settings, and some at the leading edge of a changing technological landscape. What unites us is a shared, faithful hope.
“Artificial intelligence is reshaping the landscape of ministry in disruptive and often disorienting ways, and we believe practitioners should not have to navigate it alone. Our aim is to offer other care providers practical, usable tools for the place where AI and faith meet.”
The wide-ranging Toolkit offers case studies and resources, including prayers and liturgies, to help pastors respond to people impacted by AI. It offers guides for “the recurring human struggles underneath AI-related situations: grief, loneliness, fear, and meaning”.
A second important initiative has come from the AI Christian Partnership, a not-for-profit organisation made up of UK-based Christian organisations, theologians, technologists and academics.
It states, “All our members share a common concern on how AI will impact the church, work and ministry. We believe that, managed well, AI can be used to promote human flourishing and further the gospel.
“Our focus is to encourage AI literacy among Christians. We aim to help Christians formulate a practical response to AI, whether that is in ministry or in your workplace.
“This includes church leaders, church members, and Christians in employment. Where this raises ethical and theological issues, we provide thought leadership to ensure AI practices are grounded in robust theology and Biblical thinking.”
It aims to answer key questions like: what is AI? When can I use AI? And how do I use AI?
The partnership seeks to provide a forum for discussion, coordination and feedback between Christian organisations, producing and curating resources to equip and support Christians affected by the missional or pastoral impact of AI.
It also wants to address directly the theological and ethical issues that underpin this work and track what other major organisations in the space of AI and faith are doing.
Resources on offer include the free ‘AI Guidelines for Christian Ministry’, developed by the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, a Cambridge-based interdisciplinary research institute improving public understanding of religious beliefs in relation to the sciences.
Pastor Justin Lester’s initiative in California may be an outlier when it comes to Christian responses to AI. But these two important initiatives launched recently demonstrate that churches, Christian organisations and individual Christians are getting to grips with some of the many challenging issues raised by AI.
Artificial intelligence is developing fast and is likely to change our world dramatically. So it’s encouraging to hear that Christians are seeking to keep in touch with – and learn from – the new technology and its potential impact on all our lives.
Rev Peter Crumpler is a Church of England minister in St Albans, Herts, and a former communications director with the CofE.
