Preparing faith leaders to prepare others to use artificial intelligence in a faithful way

LOUISVILLE — It turns out an engineer whose career included stops at Boeing and Amazon — and who happens to be a person of deep faith — has plenty to say about how faith leaders can use artificial intelligence in places of worship.

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Jovonia Taylor-Hayes took to the lectern Wednesday during Faithful Futures: Guiding AI with Wisdom and Witness, which is being offered online and at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis. The PC(USA)’s Office of Innovation is among the organizers and sponsors, which also includes The Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Think of all the varied ways everyday people use AI, Taylor-Hayes said, including as an aid to streamline grocery shopping and resume building; by medical teams for note-taking; for virtual meetings and closed-captioning, which is getting better, she said; and in customer service.

“The question is, what does it look like when we stop and think about what AI means to me personally? Where does your head and heart go?” she asked. One place where hers goes to is scripture, including Ephesians 2:10 and Psalm 139:14. “God has prepared us,” she said, “to do what we need to do.”

During the first of two breakout sessions, she asked small groups both in person and online to discuss questions including where AI shows up in their daily work and life and why they use AI as a tool.

One participant said AI can be a “game-changer” for people who are neurodivergent. Another said it’s like the printing press, “which changed the world, but only for people who could already read.”

An online group discussed fear “of how AI will shape the future, especially when it comes to the workforce and entry-level jobs. We also acknowledged the importance of the church not ignoring or burying our heads in the sand, but being actively involved in the discussion.”

“Big Data has more information about us than we have about ourselves,” another noted.

Faithful Futures 2025 Day 2

“I want us to go deeper into how we analyze these tools,” Taylor-Hayes said. “How do we become more innovative and inclusive, and use the tools to inform and transform our teams and our communities?”

“God calls us to understand what these apps are doing,” she said. “What does it look like for God to be at the center of AI tools? What does it look like for the data to be purpose-led and Spirit-driven work?”

She urged attendees to balance technology adoption with spiritual values for three reasons:

• Careful integration of AI ensures that technology supports, not replaces, spiritual beliefs and ethics.
• Faith community leaders play a crucial role in ensuring that technology use is aligned with faith and human values.
• Preserving human connection and maintaining human relations are vital outcomes amid advancing automation and AI.

She asked: What does it mean to have Christ at the center of these tools?

“If, for example, our main goal as Christians is converting others to our version of Christianity or saving them from hell in the afterlife, that may lead to one use of those tools,” said an online participant. “For others, where the focus may be justice or wholeness in this life, the tools would have a different use. I suspect they are not compatible.”

“[AI] can only be trustworthy and useful if it is trained on reliable sources, and the users know (and can validate) the trustworthiness of these sources,” said another. “We need AI that is trained on sources that we trust within our church context.”

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One participant said he’s been thinking about the nation’s loneliness epidemic. “I know people who use AI as a friend,” this participant said. “As a pastor, what have I done or what have we done that created this need?”

Taylor-Hayes encouraged attendees to use the voice they have, including on the boards on which they sit. “It’s a check and balance on how [organizations] use their information for the greater community,” she said. “How are you leaning in and challenging these other organizations to lead holistically?”

Companies talk about “doing no harm to communities. I say, challenge them,” Taylor-Hayes said. “What does ‘no harm’ mean? Your voice has a ripple effect” alongside that of other faith communities, she said.

During a second breakout session, participants were asked how they can implicitly and explicitly use AI to build out communities “and various forms of outreach to glorify God.”

“AI is great for brainstorming and ‘engine-starters,’ but should never be trusted to be the final word,” one online participant said. It’s “great for routine, repetitive tasks (if you can clearly describe what you want) but not for anything subtle or anything that engages creativity. …”

“My hot take/takeaway from our discussion: workaholism does not glorify God!” said another. “Finding ways to get space, time and freedom to pay attention to human connection — new possibilities exist if we can find a way to use them. Tech is a great servant [but a] terrible master.”

“Tools don’t work instantly out of box. There is give and take learning along the space, and that’s where your voice matters,” Taylor-Hayes said. She encouraged participants to reach out to companies and elected officials and offer them feedback. “You’ll be surprised. You’ll actually get an answer,” even though it might be AI-generated, she said. “The door is opened, and that allows for dialogue.”

“We [faith] leaders are challenged to make sure we are responsible for the technology … so we don’t allow for trust [among congregants] to erode over time,” she said. People may fear that robotic arms will one day replace them on the assembly line. “The conversation is how does it come alongside us, not replace us,” she said. “We humans have to evolve. Autonomous taxis are a real thing now.”

“It’s our job to make sure we’re ready before we can get others ready.”

Read stories reported previously by Presbyterian News Service on the “Faithful Futures” summit here and here.