Artificial intelligence (AI) has come a long way, but one thing it will never be able to do is replace the core functions of the church, which unites individual Christians together into the body of Christ. Although it can be a useful tool in certain situations, AI lacks the one critical ingredient necessary for Christian growth and discipleship: a human soul that reflects the image of God.

This topic grows increasingly relevant as a new generation of apps employs AI technology in increasingly creative ways. A new app called “Text With Jesus” invites users to “embark on a spiritual journey and engage in enlightening conversations with Jesus Christ,” or engage in conversation with other chatbots mimicking other biblical characters, from Mary and Joseph to Judas and Satan.

As a gimmick to sate idle curiosity, the app may meet with some measure of success. As an attempt to impersonate the incarnate, resurrected Son, it will fail.

One major disadvantage the app faced from the outset was the lack of Christian input in its creation. The app was designed by Los Angeles-based Catloaf Software, whose CEO Stéphane Peter (a French emigrant) describes himself as “not particularly religious at the moment.” Nor did Peter consult with any pastors during the app’s development.

As a result, “AI Jesus is less concerned with fulfilling the Law and the Prophets [Matthew 5:17] than providing answers palatable to the itching ears of 21st-century users,” argued D.L. Moody Center President James Spencer, based on his experimentation with the app.

This should come as no surprise to Christians. No one would expect a non-Christian businessman to take as much care fine-tuning the theological accuracy of a chatbot for Christians as a sincere believer. Even an unusually scrupulous unbeliever would have difficulty navigating the many theological nuances that even Christians debate.

In fact, the non-Christian stands at a double disadvantage, both because he is an outsider, and because he lacks the indwelling Spirit of God, which “will guide you into all truth,” Jesus told his followers (John 16:13).

“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned,” Paul explains. “The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16).

“Text With Jesus” has quickly branched out with less hazardous features, such as AI-powered pastors and counselors. These have “quickly become a popular part of the app because they give people a safe, approachable way to ask questions about faith, scripture, or life that they might hesitate to raise elsewhere,” Peter claimed.

But here, Peter is usurping the church’s role, hoping to corner the market through ease and anonymity. Admittedly, the church is not (or should not be) known for either.

But the church provides a superior context for safely asking important questions, for two reasons. First, it is animated by supernatural love, something you will never encounter in a chatbot.

Second, the church is entrusted with preserving authentic Christianity, both the practice and the teaching, that leads to eternal life (1 Timothy 4:16). In the church, authentic Christianity is transmitted through personal example from generation to generation. As Paul instructed the Philippian church, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us” (Philippians 3:17). Thus, the church has greater authority to define and demonstrate what Christianity teaches than an app invented yesterday.

Peter’s is not the only app bringing AI technology to Christianity. Axios reports the creation of apps to analyze congregational data to tailor outreach, apps to write personalized prayers, a $49-per-month app for “1-on-1 personalized interactions” with a bot version of prosperity preacher Ron Carpenter, and apps used to create sermons. An organ of the Episcopal Church has created an AI-powered chatbot to respond to spiritual inquiries.

However, given the astonishing breadth of technology encompassed by the term “artificial intelligence,” not every use of AI is wrong, per se. Some churches also use AI for administrative functions, like answering questions about service times and event details. Reverend Louis Attles, of La Mott A.M.E. Church in Elkins Park, Pa., created a chatbot that accelerates his sermon research (which is far less problematic than AI writing the whole sermon).

The problem comes with using AI in a way that reduces Christianity to simply a secular business, which is exactly what some people are trying to do. “Every church or house of worship is a business,” declared AI church consultant Chris Hope. “There are absolutely opportunities to generate AI bots to evangelize.”

But the church is not a business. It is a holy community of believers indwelt with the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). The Holy Spirit works supernatural change in their lives, so that they present a compelling witness to the world by the way they love, serve, encourage, counsel, bear with, and sacrifice for one another. In fact, God often uses the labors of their fellow believers as his instruments to change his disciples’ lives.

If churches begin to adopt electronic tools to replace the core functions of their members, then believers will feel less need to change, and their spiritual growth will likely be impoverished in the long run. If believers turn to chatbots for counseling, they will certainly lose out on the spiritual wisdom God has given to their fellow church members (1 Corinthians 2:6-7). They will also lose out on the prayers of other believers, because an app or a chatbot cannot pray for you.

The church is also entrusted with the responsibility to guard the message of the gospel and witness of the church, to the point of dissociating from those who persist in unrepentant sin (Matthew 18:17-20; 1 Corinthians 5:4-5). No AI program is a trustworthy guardian of these precious gifts from God — and many AI tools floating out there today are prone to make elementary mistakes quite regularly.

Most importantly, artificial intelligence does not have Jesus’s promise to the church that he will continue to build her against all the opposition of hell (Matthew 16:18), leading her on to victory until his triumphant return.

Technological advances often benefit the spread of the gospel, and churches will eventually find productive ways to use AI as a tool — not as a crutch. But while they might be able to outsource some administrative tasks, “You can’t outsource your morality,” Attles argued. “It cannot keep a covenant for you.”