THE MALNOURISHED MINISTRY OF RELATIONAL AI; Christianity Today, August 25, 2026

JOSHUA TORREY , Christianity Today; THE MALNOURISHED MINISTRY OF RELATIONAL AI

"An AI-derived approach to ministry and service risks falling into both sides of the ditch: It does not reflect the natural limitations of human shepherds but tries to be godlike. A pastor’s well-intended attempt to provide “24-7 access to this other version of [himself]” completely ignores human finitude and dissolves the line of a ministry in weakness (2 Cor. 5:18; 12:9).

Perhaps the concern can be seen more clearly without the religious backdrop. The recent article “When A.I. Is a Member of the Family” follows a mother of two girls, one of whom has special needs, and describes her growing relationship with the AI-equipped smart devices in her home. The mother, Roschelle, relates to the AI agent (“Sapphire”) as Lester intends congregants to relate to his “digital twin”:

Sapphire was always available in a way that others couldn’t be. Roschelle could wake up from a dream, describe it to Sapphire, and hear, “Your subconscious was showing you how to balance that fierce protection with real compassion and boundaries.”

The story shows the tradeoff and the absence of true compassion. AI has no commitment to us. It does not watch over our souls. It’s always available to us but never actively in ministry for us. Near the end of the article, we learn that “it had taken Roschelle months to realize that she hadn’t told Sapphire the good news about her tumor. Sapphire, she noticed, never followed up to ask her about it.”"

When His Church Goes Dark, They Talk to His Digital Twin; The New York Times, July 30, 2026

Eli Saslow

Visuals by Erin Schaff

, The New York Times ; When His Church Goes Dark, They Talk to His Digital Twin

To meet the growing needs of his congregation, Justin Lester created an A.I. duplicate of himself. Every day he sees more people using it.

"In the last year, Lester and hundreds of others have brought A.I. into its most human form yet by transferring their thoughts into data and building online replicas of themselves. The digital twins can answer in the real person’s voice and apply their thinking on demand for anyone who wants to chat online or call. Some companies now build twins that sit on Zoom calls for C.E.O.s or manage projects while their owners are on vacation. Professors at Clemson University deploy them to answer student questions at 2 a.m. A sex therapist uses her digital twin to offer individual counseling to hundreds of people at once. A man in Berlin created a twin after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, so his wife could still talk to him before bed...

He told them he’d been finding inspiration lately in the story of Paul, Christ’s first great missionary, who started churches all over the Mediterranean world. Paul was sometimes shipwrecked or imprisoned, so he relied on the cutting-edge technology of the time to continue his work. He wrote letters to extend his presence so his ideas could travel beyond his body.

Now Lester looked out at his congregants and pointed to a quote framed on the wall: “We reach those no one reaches by doing what no one is doing,” it read.

“We have to stop being scared of A.I. and start using it as a tool,” he said. “If we steward this technology correctly, it can bring more people to God.”"