How AI is changing church administration
AI is not a pastor. But it can be a thoughtful assistant. Here is how we coach churches to use it without losing their voice.
The church has always adopted technology. We moved from scrolls to books, from acoustic to amplified sound, from bulletins to apps. Artificial Intelligence is the next shift.
At Relius, we believe AI shouldn't replace ministry—it should unleash it.
1Treat AI Like an Intern (Not a Leader)
Would you let a summer intern write your theology statement without checking it? No.
The same applies to AI. It is excellent at drafting, but humans must do the deciding.
How Relius does it:
Our Content Studio will draft 5 social media posts from your sermon notes. But it won't post them. It puts them in a queue for you to review, edit, and approve. You stay in the driver's seat.
2AI for Prayer & Care
This sounds scary, but it's actually one of the most powerful uses.
Imagine you receive 50 prayer requests on a Sunday.
Without AI: A staff member spends 3 hours reading, categorizing into a spreadsheet, and emailing pastors.
With Relius AI: The system reads the requests instantly. It tags them: "Health," "Grief," "Financial." It flags the "High Urgency" ones (like suicidal ideation) and texts a pastor immediately.
The AI doesn't pray. But it ensures the prayer request gets to the person who will pray, faster.
3Sermon Planning Partner
Writer's block is real. The Relius Sermon Planner (powered by Gemini 1.5 Pro) acts as a brainstorming partner.
- "Give me 3 illustrations about 'patience' involving gardening."
- "Find Greek word studies for 'agape' in 1 Corinthians 13."
- "Suggest discussion questions for a youth small group based on this outline."
4Protecting the Pastoral Voice
Your people need to hear from you.
We train our models to learn your tone. You can upload past sermons or newsletters, and Relius will learn to write in your "voice"—whether that's formal, casual, or humorous.
But again: Never send AI output straight to your people. Always add the human touch.
The Future is Hybrid
The churches that thrive won't be the ones that reject AI, nor the ones that automate everything. They will be the ones that use AI to automate the administration so they can maximize the ministry.