“In the space of around a hundred years, successive waves took humanity from an era of candles and horse carts to one of power stations and space stations. Something similar is going to occur in the next thirty years.”
This quote from Mustafa Suleyman in his book The Coming Wave gives you a taste of how much and how quickly Artificial Intelligence will change the world.
The Church community does not tend to be on the front end of new technology. I can remember being in churches where an overhead projector (look it up!) was used to display worship song lyrics 15 years after PowerPoint was invented.
We are getting better at this. There is an increase in AI-powered tools that many local churches are accessing to streamline their work. However, we are missing the opportunity to think about how AI will change the world in which our churches operate and the world in which our people live.
I’m not normally an alarmist, and I’m not trying to be one now. Still, Christian leaders need to pay attention to what is going on and think critically about how to disciple and care for the men and families in our church communities.
We are missing the opportunity to think about how AI will change the world in which our churches operate and the world in which our people live.
Elon Musk recently told people that saving for retirement will not matter in ten or twenty years because AI will do everyone’s work and we will all be living on a universal basic income.
Matt Shumer is a tech founder who spent six years building an AI startup. He describes telling an AI system what he wants built, walking away from his computer for four hours, and coming back to find the work done. He says this: “I am no longer needed for the actual technical work of my job.”
There are several recent stories about AI leaders trying to get our attention and say that the world as we know it is about to change radically.
Now, I’m not trying to scare you. I still believe Jesus is firmly on the throne of Heaven and is sovereign over all things. Nothing is happening that catches Him by surprise, and every child of God will ultimately be just fine.
But if you thought the pace of change has been crazy over the past two decades, all indicators are that you haven’t seen anything yet.
Jesus is firmly on the throne of Heaven and is sovereign over all things. Nothing is happening that catches Him by surprise, and every child of God will ultimately be just fine.
While I do not have space in this article to cover everything, I do want to share some discipleship questions I’ve been thinking about, and I believe all Christian leaders should begin to consider.
How are we helping people understand and believe the intrinsic value every human has? Humans have something no tech can ever have (we know this), but AI is doing its very best to think and even communicate as though it feels like a human, and people are falling for it. A recent poll said that 10% of people in Canada said they “intentionally used AI tools to get advice or support for their mental health.”
How are we raising the value of work as an image bearer of God? Musk’s comments create a utopia where people never have to work. It builds on the dreams people have always had of a day when they can retire from work. This all minimizes what God called “very good” in His Creation (Genesis 2:1-15). Humans are made to work, and anything that leads us away from this is a direct attack on the image of God in us.
How will people react to the most rapid societal changes they have ever experienced? The data is in on how mobile phones and social media have affected people’s mental health. What will this new level of change do to people’s lives? I think it will be helpful for the Church to train people to mentor, coach, and counsel others on how to handle change and the new technology well.
How can we avoid becoming weird conspiracy theorists while being salt and light in a confusing time? This one is particularly concerning to me. Christians are not always great at having good discernment. We either go overboard and react negatively to everything, or we stay quiet and assume all change is good change. It will be essential to disciple people in discernment, teaching them what to embrace and what to reject as AI changes the world we occupy.
These are only some of the questions I think Christian leaders should be wrestling with. I would love to know which questions you think we should consider as well. This cultural moment is going to require leaders sharpening each other so we can more effectively help those we have been called to lead live faithfully as followers of Jesus.
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