While pastors have differing opinions of the merits and trustworthiness of artificial intelligence (AI), one theme stands out in Barna’s newest data on the topic: Three in four U.S. pastors (77%) agree that God can work through AI.

Many pastors are beginning to see AI as a helpful tool for the administrative needs of the church, and there’s growing potential to use the pulpit as a way to shepherd congregations in the wise use of AI-based tools.

In light of this recent shift, this article explores recent data collected in our AI and the Church study—conducted in partnership with Gloo—to offer three takeaways on how pastors can use AI.

1. U.S. Pastors Are Comfortable with Some Use of AI in the Church In many ways, AI is making crucial (but often impersonal) administrative and marketing tasks easier through design, transcription, data and social media tools—and pastors are demonstrating an increasing willingness to use AI in this way. Nearly nine in 10 pastors (88%) say they’d be comfortable utilizing AI within the realm of “assisting in graphic design,” and over three-quarters (78%) are okay using the technology to “assist with marketing and marketing materials.” In the marketing-adjacent realm of church communication, nearly three in five pastors (58%) tell Barna they are comfortable using AI to assist in communication.