New Research: Pastors Are Using AI More Than You Think

New Barna research, as part of its ongoing State of the Church initiative, paints a picture of pastoral practices that have integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into ministry life. Only 13 percent of pastors in the U.S. say they don’t use it at all. But the ways in which pastors are using AI reveals something important about how they understand their calling.

How Pastors Use AI

Half of all pastors (50%) say they use AI for brainstorming or idea generation. More than a third (37%) use it for graphic design or visual creation. About the same proportion (36%) use it to research biblical or theological topics, and roughly one in three (34%) use it for generating small group discussion questions or for administrative tasks like scheduling, emails and document preparation.

AI-assisted sermon work is growing. In early 2024, 12 percent of pastors said they were comfortable using AI to write sermons; today, 24 percent say they are actually doing it. The questions measure different things—comfort versus practice—but the direction is clearly shifting. Still, the pattern that emerges is one of AI as research and preparation partner rather than author: surfacing commentary, exploring theological angles, sketching a structural outline—not generating the message itself.

“Pastors are predominantly using AI for behind-the-scenes work—as a thought partner, a visual aid,” says Daniel Copeland, Barna’s Vice President of Research. “They’re using it to prepare for ministry, not to replace what happens when they’re actually with people.”

That pattern—AI for preparation, not for people—makes particular sense in light of other Barna research on pastoral job satisfaction. When asked to identify which parts of their work they enjoy most, enjoy least, and find most time-consuming, pastors reveal a persistent mismatch: the tasks they find most meaningful—preaching and teaching, discipling believers, developing leaders—are not the ones consuming the most hours. Organizing church events, volunteer and staff management, and administrative work collectively dominate pastors’ calendars, despite ranking low on their list of what they find fulfilling. AI, as pastors are currently deploying it, maps directly onto that gap.

The use of graphic design reflects a related reality. For many smaller churches that lack the budget or staff to support dedicated communications roles, AI appears to be filling a gap that would otherwise go unfilled. Visual content creation has become an essential part of how churches communicate, and AI has made it accessible to ministry leaders who would otherwise have to go without.

A Tool in the Study, Not the Sanctuary

Understanding what pastors do with AI becomes clearer when you consider how they feel about the emerging tech. When asked to identify their emotional response to AI, nearly three-quarters of pastors (71%) chose “cautious.” More than half (52%) said they feel curious, but that curiosity sits alongside real internal friction: 40 percent describe feeling conflicted, and an equal proportion say skeptical.

When compared to practicing Christians, pastors are significantly more likely to feel cautious (71% vs. 36%), conflicted (40% vs. 18%) and skeptical (40% vs. 25%), and considerably less likely to feel hopeful (18% vs. 34%) or excited (10% vs. 32%).

A pastoral leader with those emotional tensions may experiment with AI in low-stakes, preparatory contexts while remaining reluctant to let it touch the relational and spiritual core of the work. That reluctance shows up in the data. Nearly eight in 10 (79%) worry about AI beginning to act as a replacement for God, and nearly two-thirds (63%) worry about AI replacing the role of pastors or spiritual leaders.

Where the Line Is

The data on how pastors are using AI is less a story about adoption or resistance than about discernment. Faith leaders are feeling their way toward an answer to a question the rest of the world is also asking: what is this tool actually for, and what should it never be asked to do?

Pastors’ use of AI reveals a ministerial culture willing to use new tools in the service of enduring purposes, while remaining equally committed to keeping a clear line between the tool and the calling.

This article is part of a yearlong Faith & AI series produced by Barna in partnership with Gloo, as part of the State of the Church initiative.