Talking About AI in Church: A Four-Session Adult Forum

Description

Your congregation is already using AI, and many of them are wondering what faith has to say about it. Barna Group’s 2026 research found that a third of practicing Christians want their pastor’s guidance on AI, yet only 12 percent of pastors feel comfortable teaching about it. This forum closes that gap. You don’t need to be a technology expert. The materials carry the content, so you can do what you already know how to do: gather people, open the conversation, and listen well.

What’s inside

• Leader guide (17 pages). A complete plan for each session: goals, preparation, timing, opening and closing prayers, discussion questions, activities, and notes for the leader. It also includes a plain-language glossary and honest answers to the hard questions people ask.
• Four PowerPoint decks. One per session, with speaker notes on every slide. They work without an internet connection.
• Participant handouts. A take-home page for each session and a covenant worksheet for the final session.
• Editable Word versions of the leader guide and handouts, so you can adapt them to your setting.

The four sessions

• What AI is, and what it isn’t. A shared, plain-language understanding of how these tools work, and why they can be confidently wrong.
• Made in God’s image. Human dignity, and whose image AI reproduces by default. Includes an image audit your group does together.
• Truth, trust, and discernment. Deepfakes, invented Bible verses, and the question of who we trust with spiritual advice.
• Our congregation’s covenant. Your group drafts shared commitments for how your church will, and won’t, use AI.

Written for progressive and affirming congregations

Every session is grounded in Scripture and in the conviction that every person bears the image of God. The prayers use expansive language for God. The Scripture passages are cited so you can read them from your congregation’s own Bible. And the forum takes representation seriously, asking who AI leaves out and who it adds only as decoration.

Flexible for your setting

Run it as four sixty-minute Sunday forums, a midweek series, or a single morning workshop. The guide includes adaptations for online and hybrid groups and for youth. Your purchase includes permission to copy the handouts for use within your congregation.

More

Ready for a written policy? See church AI policy resources. Explore ethical AI for churches, read five things you should never ask AI to do for your church, or visit our hub for AI for progressive churches. Explore more on how to talk to your church about AI.