Equipping

AI for Church Growth and Outreach

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often met with skepticism and fear. While these concerns are common, most people are unaware that AI’s history stretches back to 1956 in computer science labs. British scientist Alan Turing, who helped crack the Enigma machine during World War II, first conceptualized AI. While AI itself isn’t new, it has recently become more accessible to the general public.

AI can be a useful tool in ministry—much like Photoshop, which revolutionized photography. Many photographers originally feared Photoshop would replace their work, but the software merely became a modern-day darkroom. Similarly, AI should be seen as a tool to enhance church ministry, not as a replacement for human work.

One of the most popular AI platforms today is ChatGPT, which has transformed my approach to tasks in church communications. Let’s explore how churches can use ChatGPT and other AI.

--- 1. Optimizing Writing

In my role, I often receive church articles that need to be formatted and edited for tone and grammar. ChatGPT is incredibly effective for this area of my work. For example, I use the platform to edit articles that aren’t in the third person or written according to the magazine style. I input the article into ChatGPT and instruct it to “edit for spelling, grammar, format in third person and use the latest style guide.” Now I’ve saved time and quickly transformed a rough article into a draft ready for publication.

--- 2. Generating Social Media Content

AI can also enhance your church’s social media strategy. I use AI tools to generate compelling social media posts that engage followers. By training ChatGPT to understand the tone of voice, phrasing and hashtag requirements, I can generate content that resonates with the audience and ranks well in search engines.

But it doesn’t stop there. Opus Clip is another AI tool I use to edit longform videos into short, shareable clips for social media. Videos are a great way to engage people, and Opus Clip can automatically select and trim the best segments from a sermon or event video into bite-sized clips that are perfect for platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. These shorter clips allow your videos to get more views and for users to engage more with your church’s message since 73 percent of our population prefers watching shorter videos.

--- 3. Increasing Engagement

When I shared with a group of pastors how AI tools like Opus Clip can help churches increase engagement, some were initially skeptical, but one pastor decided to test the concept. He uploaded a sermon with only 11 views on his church’s YouTube channel, created short videos using Opus Clips, and shared them on YouTube Shorts and Facebook Reels at 11 p.m. The next morning, the clip had more than 100 views on Facebook and nearly 300 views on YouTube Shorts. This experiment showed how AI can expand the reach of church messages.

There is AI in almost every digital tool we use today—from search engines to voice assistants like Siri and Alexa. AI doesn’t replace the work we do; it enhances it. Likewise, it should not be used to create important content like articles, sermons, Bible Studies, etc. If our church leaders use AI ethically, it can be a valuable asset for everything from editing articles to enhancing social media content and increasing the church’s engagement with wider audiences online.

By Courtney Herod, Carolina Conference Associate Director of Communications