Note: This blog expresses the opinion of the pastor and is not an official church policy. The church leaders have started discussing the topic of appropriate uses of AI in the church and will put out a more official policy later on.
In Psalm 150:6, the psalmist proclaims, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” But what about things that do not have breath? Specifically, artificial intelligence (AI). Can AI praise the Lord?
My worship director and I recently had a conversation about whether or not songs written by AI could potentially be sung at a church service. At this point, we have never knowingly used a worship song that was written by AI. But times are changing very quickly, and AI is growing bigger by the day. (And believe me, as someone who grew up in the era of the Terminator movies, the idea of AI becoming more popular does come with a little concern… but that is for another discussion). So the main question for this blog is: Should the church sing songs during corporate worship that have been written by AI?
Before I give my thoughts, let me just say ahead of time that this is not a primary doctrine. Meaning, this is not a foundational truth that is considered essential to the faith. We can still disagree and be friends. We can even worship together… though I guess singing together may be problematic depending on where you fall on this.
What Is Praise?
The best place to start is to answer the question, “What is praise?” Theologically speaking, praise is not merely the words spoken, but the heart behind the words. Praise, in its truest form, is both an outward expression and an inward affection.
Let’s look at that more closely.
First, praise comes from the heart. Jesus said, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me…” (Matthew 15:8-9). The implication here is that words, in themselves, are not true worship. Worship comes from the heart.
However, it’s not that simple. Because, second, praise includes words. The author of Hebrews said, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Hebrews 13:15).
One form of worship is speaking (or singing) words to praise God. Words alone are not praise, but we do praise using heartfelt words. This means that words DO play an important part in praise. It also means that two people could be saying the exact same words, and one would be praise while the other is not.
Third, praise is spirit-led. Jesus said, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Jesus is saying that worshipping God has a spiritual element to it. The spirit is involved in the process of you praising God.
Fourth, you must be a Christian to be spirit-led. To worship God in the spirit means that you must have the spirit in you, which means you must be a Christian (see John 3).
Corporate Worship
With the first part established, let’s move on to the second part: corporate worship. Since the main question has to do with singing worship songs written by AI in a corporate setting, we need to talk about what corporate worship is.
Corporate worship refers to the practice of gathering together as a church community to worship God publicly. It involves a shared experience of singing, prayer, Scripture, and the two ordinances (baptism and the Lord’s Supper).
For the purpose of this blog, the main part we need to focus on is the singing. Corporate worship involves, “…addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (Ephesians 5:19). Notice that the singing involves “addressing one another” with the songs while also “making melody to the Lord.”
With Ephesians 5:19 in mind, we can see that corporate singing has not just one direction/purpose, but two. First, singing is vertical. Meaning, singing is focused on praising God. That one makes sense, given that the singing is taking place in a worship service. However, the next direction/purpose is a little surprising. Second, singing is horizontal. The words of the songs that are sung are intentionally chosen to instruct and encourage those in the congregation. God is worshipped both ways in corporate worship… as we instruct each other and as we praise God.
Putting This All Together
Knowing what praise is helps us understand the role of words in singing songs to God. First, and foremost, it comes from the heart. It includes words but the praise is not solely in the words. Knowing what congregational worship is helps us understand the role of singing during Sunday morning service. One aspect is praising God (the vertical). But a second aspect is edifying others in the congregation (the horizontal).
What does all this have to do with AI and worship songs? Now that we have a basic understanding of singing praise, particularly in the context of congregational worship, we can now examine whether songs written by AI can fit within the guidelines we have established for singing praises in congregational worship.
A while back, I wrote a blog about why we choose to sing songs at church that are theologically sound but come from churches or groups that are not theologically sound. (You can read that blog here.) My conclusion in that blog was that we decided to simply judge songs based on their lyrics, not their author. If they are Christ-exalting, theologically sound words, then we will use the song, no matter who wrote it. In other words, the content is far more important than the source.
This method of choosing songs fits with the above descriptions of praise and corporate worship. Even though the theologically sound song was written by someone who is theologically off (like songs written by Catholics), or fell into sin (like the recent issues with the Newsboys), or walked away from their faith (like Horatio Spafford, who wrote “It Is Well With My Soul”), the words they wrote can still be used to praise God in a congregational setting. Why? Because our praise does not come from them! Their words are a tool that is being used to praise God from the heart.
Taking that one step further then, the same would be true of words written by AI. If AI written words are Christ-exalting, theologically sound words, then it is a logical conclusion that they can be used as well.
AI written or not, praise begins with the heart. The content of the songs are absolutely important, but they are not true worship unless they are sung with a heart of worship by spirit-filled individuals. If they are sung with a heart of worship by someone looking vertical (praising God) or horizontal (edifying others), I do not see why it would matter if it was written by AI or a person.
Obviously, all songs used in church need to be thoroughly evaluated by wise, biblically-minded leaders. They should not be put before a congregation until they have been vetted. Popular or not, AI or not, we should be very intentional about having a thorough screening process. But if the song passes the “test”, then I do not see a reason why it should be withheld simply because it was written by AI.
Conclusion
To conclude, the words of Jesus in Luke 19:40 come to mind. Jesus is told to silence the people who are praising him and he tells them that if they don’t praise him, even the rocks will cry out. While he is certainly using figurative language, the very reference to inanimate objects praising him builds a case for AI. God can and will be praised, no matter what. If we feel there is not a good human-written song option, let’s use another option so we can praise him! Jesus was willing for rocks to cry out and praise him. Praising him is what is most important. So let’s do that! Let’s praise him, using whatever the source of the words help us do that, as long as we are followers of Christ who are praising him from the heart.
Appendix 1: But What About…?
Whenever we discuss something new, especially in church, it’s natural to pause and ask good questions. And that’s a good thing. So I wanted to take a moment and briefly respond to a few concerns that some people may have when it comes to using AI-generated worship songs.
“But AI isn’t made in the image of God.”
That’s true. Humans are uniquely made in the image of God. That means we reflect his creativity, his relational nature, and his ability to worship. AI doesn’t do that. It doesn’t have a soul or emotions or any desire to glorify God. But remember, we’re not asking AI to worship. We’re just using it as a tool, like a pen or a piano. The worship still comes from people. If someone sits down with a guitar and writes a song, we don’t say the guitar did the worship. In the same way, AI is just helping generate lyrics or ideas. The heart behind the worship still has to come from us.
“But AI can’t feel anything.”
Correct again. AI doesn’t feel joy, sorrow, conviction, or wonder. It can’t cry out to God in desperation or celebrate the beauty of his grace. But it can still produce words that express those things. And if those words are theologically sound and point us to Christ, then I believe God can still be honored by them, if we sing them with true hearts of worship. God is not worshipped because a songwriter once cried while writing a lyric. He is worshipped when his people sing those lyrics in faith.
“Aren’t we opening a can of worms here?”
Maybe. And I get that. The moment we start talking about AI in church, people’s minds go to sermons written by AI, or AI-generated pastors on screens, or churches being run by AI robots. That’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m simply suggesting that lyrics created with the help of AI are not automatically off-limits.
As with anything in church, we need to be wise. We need spiritual leaders who are rooted in the Word and can tell truth from error. We need prayer and discernment. But we don’t need to avoid something just because of the complexity of the subject and the possibility it may open up the option of something different in the future that is bad. We can evaluate each “can of worms” separately and be OK with one while not OK with another.
And just in case you were wondering, I don’t think pastors should use AI written manuscripts of sermons. But this is not an “all or nothing” situation. AI can help a pastor in a number of ways. For example, I use AI like a research assistant. I may ask it to find a particular story from World War 2 that works with the point I am trying to illustrate. I also use it to help write a summary of the sermon, tags, SEO keywords, and other important data when posting the sermon to our website. However, I don’t ask it to write out a sermon for me, and I never will.
“Can AI songs really match the depth of human-written songs?”
That’s a fair question. The greatest songs often come from a place of deep spiritual experience. Think about the story behind “It Is Well with My Soul” (he wrote the hymn after his children died). That kind of heartache and hope can’t be faked. And I agree that many AI-generated songs will probably fall flat emotionally. But that’s why we evaluate each song on its own. Not all human-written songs are rich or helpful either. Some are shallow or confusing. Some are just plain bad. Every song, AI or not, should be evaluated to make sure fits within the established guidelines.
Appendix 2: Practical Considerations
As we think about how AI might help with worship songwriting, it’s important to be clear about what we’re actually talking about, and what we’re not talking about. Here are two thoughts to help set some helpful boundaries and give clarity for the future.
We’re talking about a tool, not a replacement.
AI is not a worship leader. It’s not a replacement for the Holy Spirit. It’s not a substitute for calling, gifting, or spiritual discernment. It’s simply a tool, just like a rhyming dictionary, a thesaurus, or music notation software. If a worship leader uses a songwriting assistant to generate ideas, then thoughtfully edits and refines those lyrics through prayer and biblical discernment, that’s not lazy or unspiritual. That’s using a tool to serve the church.
But the tool needs a craftsman. Without wise, Spirit-led leadership, AI can easily produce lyrics that sound nice but say very little, or worse, say something wrong. That’s why human oversight matters. We should never put lyrics on a screen that haven’t been read, studied, and wrestled through by real people who care deeply about truth.
Focus on the lyrics.
If your church is ever considering using a song written in part by AI, the same standards should apply as any other song. The best question is not, “Was this written by AI?” Instead, we should ask, “Is this true?” or “Does this line up with Scripture?” or “Does this point people to Christ?” If the answer is no, don’t sing it. Period.
Every lyric should be filtered through God’s Word and evaluated with care. Whether it came from an AI tool, a famous worship artist, or someone in your own congregation, the standard is the same.