On Preaching: Preaching with an Artificially Intelligent Companion
David Lower
David Lower is the senior pastor and head of staff at St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
I began my vocation in information technology during the birth of the modern Internet, and now as a pastor I am captivated by the next great shift: from the Information Age to the Age of Intelligence, with its potential to transform not only how we live and work, but also how we preach.
I have spent significant time as a pastor in the Artificial Intelligence sandbox, as I suspect many of us have, and continue to reflect on the opportunities and pitfalls this technology poses for the craft of our calling. I have used ChatGPT for quick answers, NotebookLM for podcast-style theological dialogue, Claude for relational insight, and Grammarly for writing support. When engaged with care, each has constructively supported my preaching practice.
While the field is vast and evolving, I share these reflections to invite fellow preachers into an urgent and hopeful conversation about how we can faithfully integrate AI into preaching. Preachers must engage the tool and the topic of AI in our preaching, discovering new potential for proclamation while maintaining a distinctly human witness. I believe it is imperative for us to understand AI and use it wisely—which includes advocating for clean, renewable energy to power it, seeking justice through fair and equitable access, and reflecting on the spiritual and ethical ways our congregations are already engaging these tools. I remain convinced that when faithfully and carefully used, AI can expand and enhance our potential as preachers in today’s world—but it must always remain a servant of the Spirit’s work, never its substitute. Preaching is still “work of the people.”
Preaching is the Spirit-powered proclamation of God’s Word, bearing human witness to Christ’s redemptive action for a particular community in a particular moment.1 Anna Carter Florence characterizes preaching as testimony, as the human expression: “This is what I have seen and heard.”2 Howard Thurman claims that faithful preaching should facilitate the human journey of encounter with God—wonder, exploration, and discovery—inviting listeners to experience the presence of the living God, too.3 The human medium is essential for gospel proclamation, both for what it is (witness) and what it offers (invitation).
AI then has an interesting but sometimes uneasy place in preaching. It can be helpful at times, but it cannot do the most important parts of bearing witness. AI lacks consciousness, experience, and spiritual insight. It cannot believe, feel conviction, or testify from life. It only echoes the past, never the present—and never with presence (although robotics is bringing this possibility). Because of this, things like discernment, testimony, and invitation are still the preacher’s job. Still, as with any new tool, we need to ask what AI can truly add and where it might risk taking away from the heart of preaching.
Even with its limits, AI can be a helpful partner in preparing, illustrating, and refining sermons. AI can summarize historical backgrounds, trace patterns in the text, highlight theological themes, and surface perspectives that broaden the conversation. Preaching on Luke 15, for instance, it can place patristic, Reformation, and liberation readings of the Prodigal Son side by side, giving a richer horizon than any one voice alone. This is especially important for preachers in privileged contexts who need help hearing voices too often unheard. When it comes to illustration, Fred Craddock reminds us that images are not ornaments but part of the sermon’s logic. Here, AI can suggest metaphors from history, science, or literature to spark imagination and memory, though these always require checking for accuracy and resonance. Finally, AI can also edit, smoothing transitions and clarifying grammar. Sermons must be not only true but artfully shaped, and here AI can assist, though always under the preacher’s discernment.
But there are real challenges in these assisted tasks, too. AI sometimes makes things up or gives false information, so you always have to double-check what it offers. It cannot share stories, show authenticity, or offer pastoral care. Overreliance risks losing your own voice. Drawing from massive datasets, it can also repeat cultural or theological biases uncritically. Even when it helps with writing, it can take away some of the subtlety. That’s why the preacher always needs to be the assertive conversation partner, the final editor, and the decision-maker.
Given its virtues and limits, what does faithful use of AI look like? A few guiding practices emerge from my experience. Begin with Scripture, not AI—let the Word speak first. Use AI for breadth, not as a source of authority. Push it with questions and test its claims. AI is not the Internet; it is a conversation partner. Verify everything. Keep your voice. Edit the editing. Resist dependency, for wrestling with the text is part of our calling. And be transparent: integrity means letting people know AI is a servant in our study, not a ghostwriter in our pulpit.
One practice I commend is to preach an AI-generated sermon and then evaluate it openly with your congregation. When I tried this, the AI sermon sounded clear and well-structured, but it failed in crucial interpretive ways, and most importantly, it could not offer human witness. That contrast proved instructive. It was, in a sense, collaborative preaching with AI, but the exercise revealed how much interpretation, discernment, and proclamation belong uniquely to the preacher. The practice engaged the technology, acknowledged its limitations, and reclaimed the essential human nature of preaching the gospel. It has been a couple of years since I first tried this, and my congregation still recalls and values both the sermon and the community reflections that have followed since.
AI is already part of our world, and the people we preach to are using it, too. If we approach it with humility, good judgment, and care, AI can be a helpful partner in our work. It can help us understand Scripture, express ourselves better, make new connections, and use our time well. Still, it can never replace the preacher’s voice, personal witness, or the deep engagement that comes from real faith.
The preacher’s timeless challenge is to proclaim human witness to the divine Word with clarity, courage, and love. AI may help us do better in that task, but it must never take the preacher’s place. The Word became flesh, not code; preaching remains incarnational, embodied proclamation. May we preachers embrace AI as a tool, not a substitute, and let it serve the holy calling of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen. I look forward with great hope and intrigue to continued engagement, conversation, and discernment together in the company of preachers.
Notes
1. Thomas G. Long, The Witness of Preaching, 3rd ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), 19–27.
2. Anna Carter Florence, Preaching as Testimony (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007), 87.
3. Howard Thurman, The Living Word (Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 1981), 3–12.
4. Fred B. Craddock, As One Without Authority, rev. ed. (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2001), 63–70.
5. Long, The Witness of Preaching, 185–202.
