57% of Gen Z Christians Want AI Guidance — Only 14% of Pastors Think It Matters

There's a moment in every pastor's life when you realize you're officially out of touch.

For some, it's discovering that "lit" no longer means adequate lighting. For others, it's learning that "mid" is an insult. For me, it was finding out that young adults in my congregation were asking AI chatbots theological questions they'd never bring to me.

Not because they didn't trust me. Because it was 11 PM, they were anxious, and ChatGPT doesn't have office hours.

The Numbers Don't Lie

Recent Barna research reveals a striking disconnect: 57% of Gen Z Christians say they want to hear from their pastor about using AI in personal communication and daily life.

Meanwhile, only 14% of pastors consider this a "very important" topic to address from the pulpit.

That's not a gap. That's a canyon.

On one side: a generation navigating AI companions, algorithm-curated feeds, and chatbots that sound increasingly like friends. On the other side: church leaders who may still be figuring out how to unmute themselves on Zoom.

(No judgment. We've all been there. "You're on mute, Pastor" should be printed on coffee mugs by now.)

They're Asking Questions We're Not Answering

Here's what keeps me up at night: when the church doesn't address something, we don't create a vacuum. We create space for everyone else to fill.

Gen Z isn't waiting for us to figure out our AI theology. They're already using these tools—for homework, for creative projects, for processing emotions, for spiritual questions.

A 2024 study found that AI-powered apps like "Bible Chat" have been downloaded over 30 million times. Thirty million. That's not a trend. That's a movement.

And while these apps vary wildly in theological accuracy (more on that another time), they share one thing in common: they're available when young people have questions.

We often aren't.

The Yoda Problem

In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker crash-lands on Dagobah looking for a great Jedi Master. He finds instead a weird little green creature who speaks in riddles and hits him with a stick.

Luke almost leaves. He doesn't recognize wisdom because it doesn't match his expectations.

I wonder if we have a reverse Yoda problem. Young people are coming to us—the ones who should have wisdom about navigating life—and we're responding with confusion about the very tools shaping their daily existence.

"AI? That's... that's for the tech people to figure out."

Meanwhile, they're looking for a guide through the swamp, and we're pretending the swamp doesn't exist.

Teach What You Know, Learn What You Don't

Here's the uncomfortable truth: you don't need to be an AI expert to shepherd your people through this moment.

You need to be present. Curious. Willing to learn alongside them.

The Apostle Peter's advice to church leaders is instructive: "Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, watching over them" (1 Peter 5:2). Watching over requires actually seeing—paying attention to the landscape your people are navigating.

Right now, that landscape includes algorithmic feeds, AI companions, and chatbots that confidently make things up. Your twenty-somethings are walking through this terrain daily. Some are thriving. Some are confused. Many just want someone older and wiser to acknowledge that the terrain exists.

What They're Really Asking

When Gen Z says they want guidance on AI, they're not asking for a seminary lecture on machine learning.

They're asking:

• Is it okay to use AI to help me pray when I don't have words?
• Am I being lazy if I use ChatGPT to help me understand a Bible passage?
• Why does talking to AI sometimes feel easier than talking to people? Is something wrong with me?
• Can I trust what this chatbot tells me about God?

These are pastoral questions wearing technological clothes.

We know how to address spiritual formation, discernment, authentic relationship, and trustworthy sources of truth. We've been doing it for two thousand years.

The delivery mechanism is new. The underlying questions are ancient.

The Deuteronomy Mandate

Moses told Israel something that echoes through the centuries: "These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up" (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

When you walk along the road. When you lie down. In other words: in the ordinary, daily rhythms of life.

For this generation, those ordinary rhythms include screens. AI. Algorithms. Digital companions.

If we only talk about faith in sacred spaces and sacred moments, we abandon them in the spaces where they actually live most of their hours.

Start With Curiosity

Here's my practical suggestion: ask before you teach.

This week, find a young adult in your congregation. Buy them coffee. (They can't afford it anyway—have you seen the economy they inherited?)

Then ask: "How are you using AI in your daily life? What questions do you have about it? What do you wish the church understood?"

Listen more than you talk.

You might be surprised. They're not looking for experts. They're looking for guides who care enough to enter their world.

Ted Lasso—the mustachioed prophet of our streaming age—put it this way: "Be curious, not judgmental."

Gen Z can smell judgment from a mile away. But curiosity? Genuine interest in their lives and questions? That's rarer than you'd think. And it opens doors that lectures never will.

The Invitation

57% are asking. 14% think it matters.

That gap represents an invitation. Not a burden—an invitation.

A chance to step into conversations that matter deeply to the next generation. A chance to offer the wisdom of Scripture and tradition to questions that feel brand new but are actually quite old: How do I know what's true? Who can I trust? What does it mean to be authentically human?

We have good answers to these questions. Ancient answers that have weathered every technological revolution from the printing press to the internet.

But answers only help if we show up to the conversation.

They're waiting. They're asking.

Are we listening?

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Sources & References

• Barna Group — "Three Takeaways on How Pastors Can Use AI"
• Barna Group — "How U.S. Christians Feel About AI & the Church"
• Barna Group — "AI and the Church: How Pastors Can Lead with Wisdom"
• Christianity Today — "An Image of God for an Era of AI"

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." — 1 Timothy 4:12