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Every pastor navigating AI that I speak with asks the same questions: “What does it mean to approach AI biblically and pastorally? How can we use AI in a way that honors God, Scripture, and our congregation?”

The answer starts further back than you might expect. When pastors and church leaders approach a new issue, their heart's desire is to put God's Word at the center of the conversation — and on the question of AI, Scripture meets us at the very beginning.

At Subsplash, that’s our heart’s desire too. To approach this issue with pastoral care, Ryan Schilling, Project Manager at Subsplash, and myself recently hosted a webinar called "The AI-Equipped Church: How to Use AI & Why Your Church Needs a Policy". During this conversation, we addressed an important question: “How does AI relate to the Creation story?” 

The Creation mandate

When navigating their church’s approach to AI, many church leaders look firstly to the future rather than the past. But when we turn to Scripture, we see that God meets us there at the very beginning. 

In Genesis 1:28, we see God giving humanity a mandate in the Garden of Eden to fill the earth and have dominion over it and all of creation. And in Genesis 2:15, God places humanity in the garden to work and keep it. Genesis 1 and 2 offer us an ancient foundation for our work, reminding us that effective stewardship has always required tools. That mandate was never revoked.

Scripture is full of builders—from Noah’s ark to the tabernacle—and the mandate to be creative never expired. This means artificial intelligence is not a threat to God’s natural order; it is part of the means God has given humanity to fulfill His purposes. We build AI tools for the Church because building is part of our calling as image-bearers.

Engagement with Artificial Intelligence has gone up significantly since it was officially released to the public in 2022. For example, ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly active users in just two months. For comparison, it took Instagram 2.5 years and Netflix 3.5 years to reach that same mark!

Artificial intelligence is here to stay, and for many church leaders, the first instinct is to build a defensive perimeter. While safety is vital, we must start with a much older question: How do we fulfill the mandate God gave us in Genesis to be builders? 

Imago Dei: The non-negotiable dignity of every person

At Subsplash, we believe the goal of technology isn't to replace the ministry of the Church, but to clear the path so you can focus on what matters most—sharing the Gospel and making disciples.

Every human being is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). This conviction shapes how our team at Subsplash builds our platform and creates for the Church. AI is not a person. It does not bear God’s image. It cannot pray, repent, or weep with those who weep. It has no soul. 

The pastor is irreplaceable. Not because pastors possess information that AI cannot access, but because pastoral authority rests on knowing, living, and exercising truth, under God, in the context of a real community.

Why embodiment is not optional

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Salvation did not come through a download; it came through a body. God chose embodied presence as the ultimate medium for His message. 

This has direct implications for AI in the Church. Sacraments—baptism, communion, the laying on of hands—are physical acts that cannot be digitized without being emptied of meaning. In an era when AI promises community without commitment and discipleship without inconvenience, the Church must insist: the medium matters. Our tools must push people toward an embodied community, not away from it.

As information becomes cheaper and more accessible through chatbots and websites, your physical presence becomes more valuable. AI can transfer data, but it cannot replace a pastor who knows a member's name, visits them in the hospital, or baptizes their child. It cannot possibly replace you and your ministry. 

What we’ve learned from 300,000+ sermons

As builders, we can utilize the tools in front of us to honor God. Building AI tools that churches use has taught us things that no theoretical framework could. Here is what the data and pastoral feedback consistently show.

Mainstream AI gets theology wrong—by design. Research from Harvard’s Human Flourishing program found that mainstream AI models average a score of just 48 out of 100 on faith-related questions. They routinely replace ‘God’ with ‘higher power,’ ‘prayer’ with ‘mindfulness,’ and ‘virtue’ with ‘values.’ This isn’t bias in the typical sense, it is the natural output of models trained on broadly secular internet data. 

The Church needs tools built by people who share its convictions. The most important design decision we make when building AI tools at Subsplash is that we do not generate new theological material—we amplify that which you create.

Pastors feel depleted by keeping up with content demands. Barna data shows 70% of pastors spend 8–10 hours per week on sermon preparation alone. Then, the content machine demands more: podcasts, devotionals, social posts, newsletters, and app content. Pulpit AI by Subsplash solves the content problem without creating an authority problem. It takes your sermon video, audio, or manuscript and generates over 20 shareable pieces of content to expand the impact of your message in your tone, voice, and theology.

When a pastor uploads a sermon into the Subsplash Dashboard, the system takes what the pastor already preached—their words, their exegesis, their pastoral instincts—and reformats it into devotionals, discussion guides, social posts, and newsletters. The pastor’s voice stays primary. No new theology is generated. If your sermon is theologically sound, your content will be too.

Join the conversation around faithful AI adoption

At Subsplash, we’ve started the conversation around church and AI to give pastors a theological framework for their approach. To join the conversation, you can download our free Church AI Policy Toolkit that includes a Conversation Guide and helps leaders understand the importance of writing an AI policy.

Faithful AI adoption isn't about doing less ministry; it's about using better tools to benefit your ministry. When you simplify your processes, pastors and church leaders are freed to do what they do best and what AI can never do—be present with your people. 

Ready to take your message further with Pulpit AI? Learn more and try it for free today.