Introduction
Four billion adults use some form of artificial intelligence at least once a month. This is approximately 48.6% of the world’s population, although the figure refers to adults aged 16 or older and uses a broad definition of AI.[1] This indicates that global society is entering a stage in history in which artificial intelligence will cease to be a technological novelty and become a regular part of everyday life. We are no longer talking only about machines capable of performing complex calculations or programs designed for specific tasks. Today there are systems capable of conversing, writing, translating, summarizing books, producing images, analyzing information, generating presentations, creating music, and answering questions on practically any subject.
This transformation raises important questions for the church. What does it mean to disciple people in a culture in which a person can obtain an immediate answer to almost any question? How should the church teach when its students can consult artificial intelligence before, during, or after a class? What place will the teacher have when a machine can explain a biblical passage in a matter of seconds? How should the pastor prepare to minister to a generation that has grown up interacting with increasingly intelligent technologies?
But perhaps there is an even deeper question: How can the church take advantage of the possibilities of artificial intelligence without allowing technology to transform what constitutes the heart of the Christian faith? The answer should be neither fear nor fascination. The church does not need to demonize technology, but neither should it surrender to it. It needs to develop a Christian posture of discernment.
Artificial intelligence can become an extraordinary tool in the service of education, communication, and mission. However, a powerful tool is still a tool. It cannot become the source of our authority, our spiritual wisdom, or our dependence. The church is called to use the resources available today to fulfill the mission of Christ, but always under the authority of the Word of God and under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
1. Artificial Intelligence Is Not Merely a Tool: It Is a Cultural Transformation
“At its core, AI is defined as the ability of machines to perform tasks that traditionally require human intelligence, such as learning, language comprehension, and problem solving. In the educational context, AI seeks to revolutionize and improve various aspects of the educational system.”[2] Therefore, one of the first mistakes we can make is to consider artificial intelligence simply as a new application installed on our phone or computer. The definition cited above indicates it is much more than that. AI is beginning to change the way people seek information, learn, work, write, communicate, and make decisions. This presents important opportunities. But it also means that the church is ministering within a different culture. Technology does not merely change our tools; it can ultimately change our habits.
For this reason, the church must not only ask itself, “What can we do with AI?” but also “What is AI doing to us?” Technology may help us save time, but it can also make us impatient. It can facilitate access to knowledge, but it can also diminish our willingness to study in depth. It can help us produce content, but it can also lead us to depend on content produced by others. It can facilitate communication, but it can also reduce our willingness to engage in personal conversations. Therefore, the challenge for the church lies not only in learning how to use AI, but in learning how to live as a Christian within a culture transformed by it.
2. Information Is Not the Same as Wisdom
Here we find one of the greatest challenges for Christian discipleship. We have never had access to as much information as we do now. But having access to information does not mean possessing wisdom. The Bible establishes an important distinction between knowledge and wisdom. Proverbs 9:10 declares, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” Artificial intelligence can provide information. It can compare opinions. It can explain concepts. It can summarize books. It can present arguments. But it cannot produce in us the fear of God.
Biblical wisdom does not simply consist of knowing many things. It consists of learning to live rightly before God. Therefore, one of the responsibilities of the church in the age of AI will be to teach believers to distinguish among information, knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual discernment.
A person can ask an AI, “What does the Bible say about forgiveness?” and receive an extraordinarily well-written answer. But that person will still have to ask, Is the answer correct? Do the Scriptures really teach this? Is the text being used within its context? Does the interpretation correspond to the overall message of the Bible? For this reason, anyone who uses AI should not trust it blindly. AI is neither omniscient nor infallible. It can make mistakes, and in fact, it does. Therefore, the abundance of information and misinformation makes discernment more necessary, not less.
3. The Authority of Scripture Cannot Be Delegated to a Machine
This point must be especially clear for the evangelical church. Our final authority is not a technological platform. Our final authority is the Word of God. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV).
Artificial intelligence can help us locate information about the Bible, but it cannot become our authority over the Bible. An AI can produce theological answers that seem convincing and yet contain errors. It can combine different interpretations, present as a consensus something that represents only a particular tradition, invent references, attribute statements to authors who never said them, or misinterpret a text. In this regard, when engaging in theological reflection, AI should never replace the frameworks of discernment that guide our understanding of the faith. For example, John Wesley proposed a quadrilateral for theological study based on Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. In our Pentecostal context, we can speak of a hermeneutical model that recognizes the importance of the Holy Spirit, Scripture, and the community of believers.
Therefore, the more we use AI in biblical study, the more important it becomes to return to the source. The Bible must be open before the believer. AI may say, “This passage means this.”
The believer must ask, “Where does the text teach that?” AI can provide an interpretation. The student must examine it. The teacher must verify it. The pastor must discern it. The Christian community must evaluate it. Technology can collaborate with the study process, but it cannot take the place of Scripture.
4. The Holy Spirit Cannot Be Replaced by Artificial Intelligence
For a Pentecostal church, this issue takes on an even deeper dimension. We believe in the active work of the Holy Spirit. As our statement of faith says, “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who eternally proceeds from the Father. He is Teacher, Comforter, Helper, and Giver of spiritual gifts.” Therefore, we believe in His direction. We believe in His power. We believe in His gifts. We believe in the necessity of prayer and dependence on God. Therefore, we must be careful not to use artificial intelligence as a substitute for our spiritual dependence, a dependence that rests in the Spirit.
A person can ask an AI, “What should I preach on Sunday?” It can provide ten excellent suggestions. But that does not mean that the person has received a word from God for the congregation. The person can ask AI to write a prayer. It can produce a perfectly structured prayer. But a prayer generated by a machine does not replace the prayer of a believer who seeks God. The person can ask it to produce a message about revival and receive an excellent sermon, but a technically excellent sermon is not necessarily a message born from a life that seeks God.
Paul wrote, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:4). The Pentecostal church should take advantage of technology without losing its dependence on the Holy Spirit. AI can help prepare a sermon; it cannot replace the preacher’s prayer life. It can help organize a class; it cannot produce the teacher’s anointing. It can generate content; it cannot generate spiritual transformation. It can provide information; it cannot produce regeneration. It can imitate religious language; it cannot have fellowship with God. Here we must establish a very clear boundary: Technological efficiency must never become a substitute for spiritual dependence.
5. The Christian Teacher Will Not Disappear
I would like to begin this point by quoting the following words:
[AI] is not merely an addition to our work, but a travel companion that opens doors to unexplored landscapes within the educational setting. The true compass on this journey remains the teacher, whose vision and decisions are fundamental in guiding each lesson. The teacher marks the learning route, while [AI], as copilot, offers tools and support to enrich the educational journey. As educators, we have the task of being selective, of exercising sound judgment in choosing what [AI] proposes to us, ensuring that each resource and each piece of new information aligns with the reality of our students and the pedagogical objectives we seek to achieve. Technology gives us a range of possibilities, but it is our hand that must direct its use and our vision that must filter its content.[3]
In the same regard, the Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana [Central American Technological University] in Honduras, states the following:
It is equally important to analyze how AI . . . impacts the role of teachers. Although these tools can reduce workload and increase productivity, they also carry the risk of dehumanizing the educational process and limiting personal communication between teachers and students. Institutions should promote a balance in which technology acts as complementary support rather than replacing the teacher’s work.[4]
As you can see, artificial intelligence is causing institutions to initiate legislation regarding the future of education. In this same regard, if a machine can explain practically any subject, will we still need teachers? The answer is yes; but we will probably need better teachers. The teacher of the future will not simply be someone who transmits information. The teacher will be someone who helps students interpret, discern, connect, and apply that information. In this era, more than ever, the teacher will act as an integrator—helping to connect and make sense of information in order to transform it into knowledge, thereby guiding that knowledge toward wisdom. In other words, “The student is an active subject, and it is the teacher’s task to create stimulating environments to develop and guide this capacity for action. Thus, it is the teacher who must connect the contents of the curriculum with the students’ interests.[5]
Jesus did not call His disciples simply to accumulate information. He called them to follow Him, took them along to walk with Him, confronted them, corrected them, asked them questions, and sent them out; He taught them through words, but also through His own life. Discipleship is deeper than the transfer of information. Artificial intelligence can explain what it means to “love your enemy,” but it cannot personally accompany a believer while that person struggles to forgive. It can explain what compassion means, but it cannot visit the sick. It can generate a study on prayer, but it cannot kneel beside a family going through a crisis. It can produce a sermon about hope, but it cannot weep with a person who has just lost a loved one. Christian teaching needs information, but it needs much more than information. It needs relationship, example, guidance, and community.
Artificial intelligence represents one of the great cultural changes of our time. The church cannot stop this change, but neither does it need to fear it. Part 2, which provides additional insight and helpful information, will be printed in an upcoming issue of the White Wing Messenger.
Note: In preparing this article, ChatGPT (OpenAI) was used as a support tool for the initial generation of ideas, organization of the content, drafting, and revision of the text. The author reviewed, edited, and verified the content, references, and quotations, and assumes final responsibility for the published content.
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1 Simon Kemp, “Digital 2026: Mid-Year Global Update Report,” DataReportal, 2026, https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2026-mid-year-global-update-report (accessed September 14, 2026).
2 Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Guía para el uso de la Inteligencia Artificial Generativa para docentes de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Lima: Vicerrectorado Académico de Pregrado, 2025), https://viceacademico.unmsm.edu.pe/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/008449-2025-R-VRAP-Gu%C3%ADa-para-el-uso-de-la-Inteligencia-Artificial-Generativa-para-docentes-UNMSM.pdf.
3 Estefanía Hita, ChatGPT 3.5 en educación: Guía práctica para el trabajo docente, [no date].
4 Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana (UNITEC), ChatGPT en el aula: Guía para docentes innovadores (Tegucigalpa: UNITEC, 2024), ISBN 978-99979-0-992-3, https://www.unitec.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/chatgpt-en-el-aula-guia-para-docentes-innovadores.pdf
5 Eugenio Víctor Doria de la Terga, El método pedagógico (Ibarra, Ecuador: Editorial Universidad Técnica del Norte, 2024), 5.
