Your church board needs to understand AI. Not because they need to become technology experts, but because AI is already affecting your ministry — in how your pastor prepares sermons, how your communications are written, how your congregation members are using technology in their daily lives — and your board needs a framework for making decisions about it.
This curriculum gives you a complete one-hour workshop you can run at your next board meeting. It requires no outside facilitator, no technical background, and no special equipment beyond a laptop or phone with internet access. The pastor or a designated leader can facilitate it.
Pre-Session Reading (15 minutes before the meeting)
Send this reading to board members one week before the meeting. Ask them to read it before they arrive. It gives everyone a common baseline so the meeting time can be spent on discussion rather than explanation.
What to send:
- Church AI Policy Template: Free Download and Complete Guide — the full guide (15-minute read)
- Or, if time is limited: the first two sections only (“Why Every Church Needs an AI Policy Now” and “What a Church AI Policy Should Cover”)
Also send the free policy template so board members can see what a church AI policy looks like before the meeting.
Opening Discussion (10 minutes)
Start the meeting with two questions. Give everyone a chance to respond briefly — one or two sentences each. Do not debate yet. Just listen.
Question 1: What AI tools, if any, are you currently using in your personal or professional life?
Question 2: What is your biggest question or concern about AI in the context of our church?
These questions accomplish two things. They establish that AI is already present in the room — most board members are using AI tools in some form — and they surface the concerns that will need to be addressed in the policy discussion.
AI Demonstration Exercise (15 minutes)
This is the most important part of the workshop. Board members who have seen AI tools in action make better decisions about them than board members who are working from assumptions.
What to demonstrate
Open ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini on a laptop or phone. Project it if possible. Run through three demonstrations:
Demonstration 1: What AI does well. Ask it to draft a bulletin announcement for an upcoming church event. Read the result aloud. Ask the board: “What did it get right? What would you change?”
Demonstration 2: Where AI fails. Ask it a question about your specific church — something only someone who knows your congregation would know. Notice how it either makes something up or acknowledges it does not know. This demonstrates the limits of AI and why human oversight is essential.
Demonstration 3: The disclosure question. Ask it to write a pastoral letter from the pastor to a grieving family. Read the result. Ask the board: “If this letter were sent to a family in our congregation, would you want them to know it was AI-generated? Why or why not?” This question opens the disclosure discussion that is central to any AI policy.
Policy Discussion Framework (15 minutes)
Using the pre-session reading as a foundation, work through five questions as a board. The goal is not to write the policy in the meeting. It is to reach agreement on the key decisions the policy needs to reflect.
Question 1: What AI tools should we approve for use in our ministry? Start with the tools your staff and volunteers are already using. Are those uses appropriate? Are there tools you want to explicitly prohibit?
Question 2: What should AI never be used for in our church? Common answers include: pastoral care communications sent without human review, entering personal information about congregation members, counseling or crisis response, and presenting AI-generated content as original human work without disclosure.
Question 3: What is our disclosure standard? When AI is used to generate content that will be presented to the congregation, do we require disclosure? If so, what does that look like?
Question 4: Who is responsible for AI oversight? Designate a person — typically the pastor — who is responsible for reviewing the policy, handling questions, and addressing violations.
Question 5: When will we review this policy? AI tools change rapidly. Commit to an annual review date.
Use the free MinistryPlace Church AI Policy Template as the starting point for your board’s policy discussion. It covers all five questions above in a format your board can review and adapt.
Next Steps and Assignments (5 minutes)
Close the workshop with clear next steps. Assign specific actions to specific people with specific deadlines.
If the board is ready to adopt a policy: Assign someone to draft a policy using the free template as a starting point. Set a date for the board to review and vote on the draft — typically the next regular meeting.
If the board needs more time: Assign the pre-session reading to any board members who did not complete it. Schedule a follow-up discussion at the next meeting. Do not let the conversation die without a next step.
For the pastor: Commit to sharing your personal AI use with the board — what tools you use, for what purposes, and how you are thinking about disclosure. Modeling transparency is the most effective way to establish a culture of transparency around AI use.
Nine documents for small churches navigating AI: policy framework, congregation disclosure letter, staff training guide, pastoral care guidelines, vendor evaluation checklist, and more. Everything your board needs to make informed decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does an AI workshop for church leaders take?
The one-hour format in this guide is designed for a regular board meeting. It can be extended to 90 minutes if your board wants more discussion time, or compressed to 45 minutes if time is limited. The most important element is the discussion, not the presentation. If you have to choose between covering all the material and having a genuine conversation, choose the conversation.
Do I need to be an AI expert to facilitate this workshop?
No. The facilitator’s job is to guide the conversation, not to be the expert. You need to understand the basics of what AI tools are and how they work, which the pre-session reading in this guide covers. You do not need to know the technical details. If a board member asks a question you cannot answer, say so and offer to find out. Honesty about the limits of your knowledge is more valuable than a confident answer that turns out to be wrong.
What decisions should come out of an AI workshop for church leaders?
At minimum, three decisions: whether to adopt an AI policy, who is responsible for AI oversight, and when to review the policy. Ideally, the workshop also produces a draft policy or a commitment to develop one. The free MinistryPlace Church AI Policy Template gives you a starting point that the board can review and adapt rather than starting from scratch.
How do I handle disagreement in the board about AI?
Disagreement is healthy and expected. Some board members will be enthusiastic about AI. Others will be skeptical or concerned. The goal of the workshop is not consensus on whether AI is good or bad. It is a shared understanding of what AI is, what the risks and opportunities are for your specific church, and what guardrails are appropriate. A policy that reflects genuine board discussion and addresses real concerns is more durable than one that was adopted without engagement.