Pastor Lee took off his jacket and immediately slumped into the living room sofa. It was four o’clock on Saturday afternoon. The heat had been sapping his energy and goodwill. He had returned home after the funeral service at the crematorium. He stared in silence at his own weary face on the television screen. He dozed off.
The noise in the kitchen woke him up. The domestic helper was washing the vegetables and chopping the onions and garlic. The rhythmic tok, tok, tok gently reminded him that the Sunday sermon had not been prepared.
He reviewed the week, as though to seek an excuse for not being prepared yet.
On Monday, he ran errands and met his wife in town for lunch. It was his day off, but he had many boxes to tick.
Tuesday’s staff meeting went on for the whole morning. Evaluating the worship service, hearing reports on the events and ministry of the previous week. The staff discussed problems and pastoral matters. Finally, they prayed together for the various needs of the church. Administrative work continued after lunch, and by 4pm, Pastor Lee slid into his comfortable office chair and shut his eyes.
On Wednesday, he worked from home and began by looking at the scripture text for Sunday. He read too quickly. The second and third time, he lingered over each phrase and sentence, going back and forth to reread and ponder. He groped for the main idea without success because, as yet, he had a few unanswered questions about the cultural background of the text.
That was when a WhatsApp text informed him of a member’s hospitalisation. He called the church office and asked a pastor to visit the member. He had a prior meeting with a denominational committee that was planning the 70th founding anniversary of the organisation. The meeting continued for several hours, and he returned home at 7pm. He gulped down his dinner, went into his study, and wrote out a bulletin message and some announcements. That was when news arrived to inform him that the hospitalised member had passed away.
It was a close friend, and he could not even be there for him. “How has modern ministry evolved into this monster that takes him away from real ministry?” he thought to himself. Thankfully, another pastor was with him and the bereaved family.
On Thursday, Pastor Lee went to supervise the wake arrangements, bereavement notices, and to visit the bereaved family. Other pastors would take the two-night wake services, while he would do the final funeral service.
Pastor Lee postponed a few appointments, but he could not escape the training session he had to conduct for the cell leaders. He was relieved he could use the old materials he had prepared a few years back. He referred to them and added some new dimensions and reflections to give it freshness and relevance. The questions about the Sunday sermon text remain unresolved as he returned home on Friday night from the wake.
That Saturday morning, he slept in and had a late breakfast. He researched the Sunday text and managed to tie down two possible trajectories for his sermon. However, he did not have the time to finalise the central truth for his sermon.
It was getting late. He had to run through the funeral liturgy and sermon one last time before he drove to the Mandai crematorium.
And here he was, emotionally drained, eyes still half-shut. Only a few minutes ago, he was awakened by the noise that the domestic helper made in the kitchen. He wished he had asked a colleague to stand in for him as the Sunday preacher. Too late for regrets, he determined to get ready for Sunday.
He opened his laptop and clicked on ChatGPT. He typed, “You are a seasoned evangelical preacher. Please supply an analysis of 2 Corinthians 4 and two alternative sermon outlines with three points each, including expositions, illustrations, quotations and applications. Let the tone be conversational and let the sermon inspire hope and build faith.”
Within twenty seconds, Pastor Lee saw two full sermon outlines, each with three points, and bullet points giving explanations, illustrations, quotations and applications.
It was 11.30pm and Pastor Lee felt a tinge of anxiety and guilt about using the material from ChatGPT. He was too tired to fight temptation. He copied and pasted the one he preferred. He set the alarm for 6.30am tomorrow, so that he could modify and edit some parts of the A.I. sermon and stamp his thumbprint upon it. He prayed, “Lord, help me. Use this sermon to edify the church and glorify your name. Amen.”
The moment he lay his head on the pillow, Pastor Lee fell into a deep sleep.
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This post set me thinking about ChatGPT and sermon prep.
I agree with Andrew Foo that this was happening even before ChatGPT comes into play. The write up is a sad but accurate glimpse of an overworked pastor with little or no time with the Lord. More doing than being. Easy to comment but the truth is that the shepherding ministry has been crowded out by urgent to do list! No easy answer to this monstrous challenge. Lord, have mercy on us!
But it surfaces many questions! Are preachers not prophets, bringing God’s Word to his people? If ChatGPT is the source of inspiration for info, structure etc for a sermon, has ChatGPT replaced God? Would the sermon then become an information dissemination exercise? An eloquent preacher can fool the congregation, but not the Lord.
Is there a place for ChatGPT? Perhaps more as a secondary source, like commentaries etc, rather than the primary source for God’s inspiration through the Holy Spirt. There’s no short cut except to carve out blocks of time with the Lord and to make it non negotiable – an appointment with the Lord and blocked out in our diary.
Hi pastor SC, your last paragraph is a great concise admonition for Pastor Lee and all pastors reading this post and the comments. Is is sound wisdom from a wise man.
I will use three tests to evaluate Pastor Lee’s situation:
1. The Messenger’s Priority Test: Acts 6:4 teaches that ministers must put prayer and the ministry of the Word first. Failing to do so means failing in their calling as preachers.
2. The Message Test: Jeremiah 23:28 and 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 show the sermon must faithfully communicate God’s truth and be Spirit-led. A message not aligned with this fails to come from God’s heart.
3. The Method Test: Relying on shortcuts like AI, poor preparation, or lacking spiritual power shows failure of the method. Scripture calls for preaching with the Spirit’s power and faithful teaching (1 Corinthians 2:4-5; 2 Timothy 4:2), which cannot be replaced by human strategies alone.
Hi Ps Gabriel, thanks for reminding us pastors that we are exhorted by apostle Peter to devote ourselves to prayer and preaching the Word, not copying and pasting the Word.
😀 you are describing a fictional pastor?
The issue is not whether to use or not use chat gpt
We can get idea from books or other pastors or AI.
The issue is what is the role of a pastor. Teacher? Care? CEO? etc.
The counter issue is the expectations of members of the local church.
Depending on the configuration of perspectives, the following actions can be considered:
1. Don’t preach.
2. Preach don’t feel guilty.
3. Find assistant pastor if local church got money.
4. Worship without preaching.
5. Bible Discussion during sermon time instead of preaching.
6. Watch a sermon video.
7. Cancel worship service and meet in cell groups on Sunday.
8. Any combinations of the above.
9. Any other creative way to di-conflict.
System thinking
Whether he preach with AI (chat gpt) or preach with what he can preached with limited time, or don’t preach, he already will have problems.
The local church system has shaped and constrained him and set him up with this problem.
Either way, the local church will crucify him.
It is a matter which subgroup will crucify him.
Whether he survives the crucifixion depends on God to resurrect him to continue the ministry and his willingness to be a living sacrifice
Finally, it may be time to leave since the local church system set him to fail.
There are considerations but I will not introduce them. Sufficient for thinking about the scenario.
😅
I chuckled and smiled when I read this: “Whether he preached with AI (chat gpt) or preached with what he can preach with limited time, or don’t preach, he will have problems. The local church system has shaped and constrained him and set him up with this problem. Either way, the local church will crucify him. It is a matter which subgroup will crucify him”
Thanks Ps Eng Hwa for opening up the issue’s multi-faceted dimensions.
Actually, even before chatgpt was available, pastors copy other people’s sermons already. I find it really wrong to copy sermons as every pastor needs to receive Gods specific Rhema for their specific church group. Sometimes, I get seed ideas from things I read, but I still got to perspire
to put a sermon together. Cut and paste doesn’t work for me, as it’s not mine, but someone else’s ideas. As for the pastor’s other duties, on top of preaching Gods Word, he needs to work this out with the church Board and relevant leadership. A pastor can’t possibly run around doing everything and still do a good job with ministering God’s Word too.
I like what you said about getting seed ideas from what you read. I do that too, Ps Andrew. Besides the books in my shelves, I used to scan Sermon Central for relevant illustrations and stories for my sermons. Sometimes, after having developed my own outline, or after being stuck with a challenging text, I will snoop around to see how other preachers handle the same text. I find myself learning from better preachers and teachers. However, taking a whole sermon never sat right with me.
In view of Google, AI n chatgpt – in revival days,we got revelations from Holy Spirit. Like u prached from Holy Spirit anointing. These man made methods are helpful but has no life, no anointing only informative. The poor Pastor Lee…needs a break…..otherwise burn-out.
Thank you for your comment, Joyce. AI is indeed helpful and informative but carries no anointing.