Book Review: “AI and the Future Church” by Carey Nieuwhof
Books about AI are a dime a dozen. Not just because they’re being wholly written by artifical intelligence (although plenty of them are), but because it’s all anyone can talk about, and the subject changes so rapidly. These texts might as well come with an expiration date; they’re often outdated as soon as the ink is dry.
I’ve selectively read a handful of these books. Most are far too excitable about AI’s prospects and ignore obvious pitfalls; most others swing too far in the other direction and bemoan humanity’s inevitable fate. Which is unsurpising, because this is the two categories most people fall into on this ever-present subject.
The best books on AI, including Carey Nieuwhof’s AI and the Future Church, do the difficult work of finding a middle road. They acknowledge both the technology’s promise and shortcomings. They eshew both hype and gloom in favor of pragmatic skeptisim. Which I believe is the best approach, at least because that’s the stance I’ve adopted.
The authors, like Nieuwhof, take a broader view. In this case, that meant assessing the impact that LLMs are having and will have on humanity through the lens of the local church. I was pleasantly surprised that complex topics like congitive decline, job loss, environmental impact, loss of truth, and more were addressed directly. Too many other titles brush these off as minor inconvinences.
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Instead of spending time regurgitating the same cruft about how pastors could use AI to write their sermons, Nieuwhof wrestles with real ethical issues about whether or not church leaders should. He raises serious questions that Christians of all sorts will need to face. Questions about what AI does to people’s character, motivations, and connections to one another.
The central premise of the book is this: this is an opportuntiy to provide real relationships to people who desperately need it more than ever. This rift was already widening with social media and rising political tensions. AI will elevate this need exponentially. In a world that’s increasinly artificial, people could start seeking out the comforting reality of the Gospel.
However, the church also needs to be ready for this moment. So Nieuwhof outlines three major pilars for church leaders: 1) making in-person worship unique and desirable, 2) preparing for the felt needs people will have as the world changes, and 3) safeguarding your character in a time of vulnerability. Each of these pieces was critically thought through and presented. This was a cogent human argument in a sea of artificially-generated opinions.
Too many books about AI are too limited in their scope. They focus on tips and tricks that will inevitably change. They over-hype the technology or wallow in doomerism. AI and the Future Church fights that impulse to give an informed approach to practical preparedness in an era of uncertainty.
Even if the target audience is pastors, this is a surprisingly accessable. At least 80% of it is relevant to Christians in general, and around half has value to people of any faith. I wish more books (especially about AI) were this thoughtfully considered and well-positioned. Alas, the skeptic in me fears those will become even fewer in time.
AI Disclosure Statement: even though I’ve used Claude to help review and compile book notes in the past, I didn’t this time. I transcribed my (physical) book highlights myself, and wrote every word of this review. I probably could’ve finished this a little faster with AI (it only took me about a week after finishing the book), but I felt like some time-consuming human-driven work was due here. No Secret Cyborg here (at least not in this case).
