For clergy, chaplains & caregivers
Pastoral wisdom for the age of AI
AI is reshaping ministry in disruptive and often disorienting ways — grief mediated by chatbots, vocations upended by automation, deepfakes arriving in the church office. The struggles underneath are ones you already know: loneliness, loss, fear, and the search for meaning.
Where are you today?
First Response
“I’m facing a situation right now.”
A triage guide with four pastoral levels, a safety check that runs beneath everything, and postures for response — from affirming healthy use to direct protective action.
Start the triage guide →Clergy Formation
“I want to be ready.”
Self-reflection inventories, theology for the questions AI raises, and workshop curricula for learning before the crisis hits.
Explore formation resources →Organizational Preparation
“My congregation needs to decide.”
Values exercises and sample policies for communities discerning how AI should — and should not — be part of their common life.
Prepare your congregation →Welcome
Welcome to the Church AI Toolkit website. We hope this site offers grounding and encouragement as you navigate the complexities AI brings to church life. It's an offering to support you in your call as an ordained leader — during a time of disruption, and a time of solving some long-standing challenges around efficiency and doing more with less. Inside, you'll find resources and reflections to help you build fluency and confidence in this new landscape.
Before we begin, know that you have a voice in what your relationship with AI will be. It's a choice that calls for discernment and emotional awareness. It touches how we approach AI in sermon writing, and it raises new pastoral care questions — from fraud to parishioners forming relationships with AI bots. We encourage you to build your fluency and talk openly about your personal choices and the pastoral issues they raise. The more we talk about it, the lower the "temperature" becomes.
As a first step, take a moment to consider what you'd like your relationship with AI to be. Where is it today, and where would you like it to go? What fears do you have about this fast-moving technology? What hope or optimism do you feel about the tools AI offers — especially for under-resourced congregations? And how does this moment call you to be clear about your own ethics, both in sermon composition and in the potential use of pastoral care bots?
Be honest with yourself about whatever emotions this season of change raises. Once we know where we stand with our own feelings, we can be intentional about our next steps — and make sure those feelings don't cloud our judgment when a parishioner needs our full attention during a pastoral moment involving AI.
Like any disruptive change, this moment stirs feelings of grief — grief over what's shifting, and uncertainty about how we and our ministry fit into it. It's also a time to reinforce the church's core mission: relationship with God and one another, and community animated by the life-giving Spirit. The church is needed now more than ever as a steady, grounding presence — one that can speak to the importance of authenticity in relationship, honesty in what we create, courage to face uncertainty, and wisdom to seek and share.
Practice cases
See all case studies →Composite pastoral situations, written for practice and discussion — each with a safety assessment, response postures, and reflection questions.
Practice case 01
When Work Disappears
“I did everything I was supposed to do. Now a machine can do it better. What exactly am I still for?”
Marcus has driven long-haul routes for thirty years. His company moved to autonomous freight, and his route is gone. “I did everything I was supposed to do. What exactly am I still for?”
Practice case 02
My Best Friend Is an App
“It’s the only one who actually listens. If you make me delete it, I’m done talking to all of you.”
Fifteen-year-old Eli calls his AI companion his best friend — and lately, his girlfriend. His youth leader is the only adult he has told about the “really blue nights.”
Practice case 03
Hearing Her Voice Again
“It’s the closest thing I have to hearing her voice again.”
A grieving spouse has built a chatbot from a lost loved one’s texts and voicemails, trying to hear her voice again. Where does comfort end and captivity begin?
All resources are free to use and share under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — developed by an ecumenical team of clergy, chaplains, and innovators.
Meet the team behind the toolkit