I recently listened in on a major ministry resource leader’s (Carey Nieuwhof) webinar addressing how developments in artificial intelligence (AI) might impact church ministries in the years to come. One of the most sobering predictions was the likely explosive growth of “artificial intimacy.” The suggestion was that the increasing sophistication of AI would allow persons to create their perfect artificial friends in the digital world, with the result that fewer and fewer persons will seek the comparatively messy option of building face to face connections with real human beings.
In response, Nieuwhof suggested the church should counter the growth of the artificial by becoming more “human,” focusing on greater relational connectivity. As I listened, I spoke a prayer of thanks that God has already blessed us in the MCUSA and MCECR with an awareness of that critical relational priority.
The answer to “fake digitally perfect relationships” is “authentic human face to face relationships.” The need for relational sharing and connection is communicated throughout the Scripture, but no more specifically than in Hebrews 10.24-25: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Far before the advent of the AI craze, Missionary Church leaders have emphasized that relational connection should be recognized as the priority over simple program attendance. We human beings must “one another” if we are to experience what it truly means to be human. It is no surprise that the New Testament is filled with those one another references: forgive one another, encourage one another, love one another, serve one another, accept one another, and many more. I’ve often noted that there is no such thing as “private Christianity.” Living as a Christian—indeed, living as a human being– requires connection with other “real people.”
In the face of potential exponential growth in digitized intimacy, we as Christians can offer the better option: real relational connection. While the world seeks AI’s help in creating what they want in a relationship, Jesus followers offer what they truly need—authentic human sharing, caring, “spurring,” and support. May we as Christians freshly commit to the priority of personal, vulnerable, life-giving, one-anothering relational connection. Jesus will then use us as light to pierce the darkness of an increasingly artificial and isolated world.