Barna to Investigate AI’s Impact on Ministry
By Movieguide® Contributor
The CEO of the Barna Group, a company that facilitates research on “faith and culture, leadership and vocation, and generations,” announced the group’s plan to study artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on ministry.
“For some time, our team has been using the phrase ‘digital Babylon’ to describe our complex, algorithm-driven, always-connected culture,” said David Kinnaman, Barna’s CEO. “Just a few years ago, in our book Faith for Exiles, my co-author Mark Matlock and I asserted that ‘screens disciple.’ At the time, we wrote, ‘Digital Babylon moves at the pace of fiber optics, and the idol is fitting in and being up to speed.’”
Kinnaman acknowledges that AI will inevitably impact ministry and believes that research on the topic is increasingly important. As more AI advances integrate into Christians’ lives, believers will need to know how to navigate the “digital Babylon.”
“Our hope is to cut through the noise and to provide clarity and creativity in an ever-evolving culture,” the CEO said.
“At Barna, we believe in the power of asking good questions.” Kinnaman continued. “And our team is hard at work with plans to produce fresh research and thoughtful resources about technology and AI.”
Pastor A. Trevor Sutton, author of “Redeeming Technology: A Christian Approach to Healthy Digital Habits,” said, “It won’t be long before generative AI technology is woven into the background of our church lives—which is why it’s important to learn how to engage with it wisely rather than try to avoid it altogether.”
Barna’s Ideas series, which explores the future of churches, recently published an excerpt from Benjamin Windle’s book, “Digital Church in a Lonely World:”
Churches are typically instinctively resistant to change. However, a protectionist or obstructionist mindset will not age well. That’s why we need a thoughtful, considered framework for how to assess new digital solutions as they arise…
By asking the right questions, we can better understand the impact of a new technology and not be distracted by the convenience benefits. It gives us a more well-rounded perspective than just blindly accepting every new digital trend or online platform that is marketed to the church world.
Movieguide® recently reported on an AI artist that “wrote” a gospel song about God’s love and Christians’ responses:
According to Relevant Magazine, the latest gospel music artist is not human.
The artist is named J.C. and is artificial intelligence. The algorithm wrote “Biblical Love,” the first gospel song recorded and performed by a digital artist…
[A Facebook user wrote], ‘We are called to worship God in spirit and truth worship comes from our heart to God a computer can’t replicate true worship.’
‘This is not worship. This is business,’ another user said.
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