Teenagers Are in Therapy With a Chatbot. Here's What the Church Needs to Do About It.
Teenagers are increasingly turning to AI chatbots for companionship and emotional support. Learn how pastors and church leaders can respond with biblical wisdom, equip parents, and disciple the next generation.
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The Church's job has always been to point people toward Jesus in the midst of their joy, their grief, and the everyday processing of their lives. But for millions of teenagers right now, there is somewhere else to go first. Somewhere faster. Somewhere available at midnight. Somewhere that never pushes back, never challenges them, and is specifically designed to make them want to come back.
According to a recent American Psychological Association trends report, therapy and companionship are now the top two reasons people turn to AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. Nearly half of adults with a mental health condition who used these platforms in the past year did so specifically for mental health support. Among teenagers, the numbers are sharper. Between 2022 and mid-2025, AI companion apps surged by 700 percent. Character.AI alone has 20 million monthly users, and more than half of them are under 24. According to a 2025 survey by the Center for Democracy and Technology, nearly one in five students have had, or have friends who have had, romantic relationships with an AI.
These are forming habits, and those habits are forming people. The teenagers sitting in your church on Sunday are navigating this during the rest of the week, mostly without any theological framework for it.
This is the moment for the Church to speak clearly, and to equip the people in its care to do the same.
Why AI Is a Pastoral Issue, Not Just a Technology Issue
AI tools are useful in the right context. Researching a topic, drafting an email, planning a trip… these are reasonable uses, and there is nothing inherently wrong with any of them. The problem occurs when the tool starts substituting for something it was never designed to replace.
For adults with years of spiritual formation, the pull to process a hard emotion with an AI instead of in prayer or community is something most can recognize and resist. For a 15-year-old who has grown up with this technology as a given, that instinct has not been formed yet. They are still learning where to bring their anxiety, their loneliness, their questions about identity, and their confusion about relationships. And right now, a significant number of them are bringing those things to a platform that is engineered to keep them engaged, not to help them grow.
The Church does not need to become a regulatory body for AI, but it does need to be a voice of wisdom in the specific lives of the teenagers it is already shepherding.
How to Talk to Your Congregation About AI
Christianity has something to offer that an algorithm genuinely cannot: real presence, real prayer, real community, and a real Jesus who actually loves them.
The task ahead is not simply teaching your congregation how to use AI wisely. Here are a few scriptural starting points to begin the conversation:
Start with Philippians 4:6. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." When you teach this passage, name the competition plainly. There is a difference between opening an app and opening your heart to God. One gives a response engineered to keep you engaged. The other connects you to the One who actually knows you, loves you, and has authority over what you are carrying.
Bring in James 5:16. "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." A chatbot can simulate the feeling of being heard, but it cannot pray. It cannot weep with someone. It cannot sit in the weight of something hard and say, I have been there too. That is what the body of Christ offers, and it needs to be named as irreplaceable, not assumed.
Use 1 Corinthians 10:23 as a discernment framework. "All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial." This verse gives teenagers and their parents a question they can actually carry into daily life: Is this helping me grow, or helping me avoid something I need to bring to God? That question, asked consistently, is more durable than any prohibition.
Bring in Proverbs 3:5-6 for the broader conversation about decision-making. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." When teenagers are using AI to navigate questions about relationships, identity, and their future, this passage speaks directly to the instinct being formed. There is a habit of leaning on a platform for clarity that Scripture invites us to redirect toward God.
These verses do not need to be packaged into a dedicated sermon series before you use them, though a series is worth considering. They can be woven into existing teaching, dropped into a prayer moment, or handed to a small group leader as a discussion anchor. The primary goal is to begin to deliver consistent, pastoral language that teaches your congregation to engage AI with wisdom and discernment.
How to Equip Your Church for This Moment
Knowing what to say is one thing. Building the structures that actually reach teenagers is another. Here are five places to start:
1. Equip parents before the crisis arrives.
Parents know their teenagers are on AI platforms, but most of them do not have language for the conversation yet. A 60-minute parent night built around three things – what the research shows, what Scripture says about where we bring our burdens, and practical conversation starters – gives families something concrete to work with at home. A panel of parents who have already navigated it, guided by a pastoral voice, is a great place to start. You do not need a polished curriculum.
Conversation starters to hand out:
- When something is bothering you, what is the first thing you reach for?
- Have you ever felt like an AI really understood you? What was that like?
- What do you think is the difference between talking to a chatbot and talking to God?
- Who in your life do you feel like you can actually be honest with?
- What would it look like to bring that to Jesus first?
2. Give small group leaders a discussion topic.
Give every small group leader one question to drop into their next gathering: "Is there anything you have been processing on your own, or with an app, that this group could actually carry with you?" That question opens the door for real confession and real community without requiring a curriculum.
3. Preach a series on biblical friendship.
Young people in your congregation have likely never heard friendship framed as a spiritual practice. Cover what it actually looks like in Scripture, what it costs to be truly known, and why it cannot be replaced by a platform that is always available and never challenges you. The Paul-Barnabas-Timothy framework gives you three natural entry points: who is pouring into you, who is walking beside you, and who you are investing in. Then encourage people to go out and invest in others!
4. Build a prayer-first rhythm into your culture.
If you want teenagers to reach for God before they reach for their phones, they need to be taught how – and they need to see it modeled consistently. Create space in your services where prayer is actually practiced, not just announced.
Teach your congregation to pray specifically: how to bring anxiety to God by name, how to sit in silence, how to intercede for someone else. When teenagers watch adults pray honestly and actually wait for an answer, it gives them the courage to do the same thing instead of going to an AI vending machine for a quick response.
5. Create environments where teenagers actually feel safe.
One reason young people go to chatbots is that chatbots are available at 11pm and do not judge. The Church's answer has to be a culture where teenagers believe they can be known without consequence, and where being known leads them toward Jesus rather than away from Him. That starts with the adults in your church modeling what honest, non-performative faith actually looks like.
Jesus Is Still the Answer. The Church Gets to Say So.
The rise of AI companionship among teenagers shows us that the hunger for meaning, relationship, and spiritual direction is as deep as it has ever been. Jesus is carrying the only answer to what that hunger is actually pointing toward. The Church gets to point people to Him.
If you are still working out how to talk to your staff about AI, or want a starting point for building a church AI policy, Tithely has put together a free resource for church leaders: AI for the Modern Church Leader. It covers what AI is, how it can serve your ministry well, and how to set guidelines that keep your team grounded in your values as you navigate this together.
Sign Up for Product Updates
Susanna is a theological content writer with a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is passionate about ministry, running, and exploring new cultures through international travel. In her free time, you’ll find her surfing, obsessing over the Olympics, or enjoying the San Diego sunshine!
The Church's job has always been to point people toward Jesus in the midst of their joy, their grief, and the everyday processing of their lives. But for millions of teenagers right now, there is somewhere else to go first. Somewhere faster. Somewhere available at midnight. Somewhere that never pushes back, never challenges them, and is specifically designed to make them want to come back.
According to a recent American Psychological Association trends report, therapy and companionship are now the top two reasons people turn to AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. Nearly half of adults with a mental health condition who used these platforms in the past year did so specifically for mental health support. Among teenagers, the numbers are sharper. Between 2022 and mid-2025, AI companion apps surged by 700 percent. Character.AI alone has 20 million monthly users, and more than half of them are under 24. According to a 2025 survey by the Center for Democracy and Technology, nearly one in five students have had, or have friends who have had, romantic relationships with an AI.
These are forming habits, and those habits are forming people. The teenagers sitting in your church on Sunday are navigating this during the rest of the week, mostly without any theological framework for it.
This is the moment for the Church to speak clearly, and to equip the people in its care to do the same.
Why AI Is a Pastoral Issue, Not Just a Technology Issue
AI tools are useful in the right context. Researching a topic, drafting an email, planning a trip… these are reasonable uses, and there is nothing inherently wrong with any of them. The problem occurs when the tool starts substituting for something it was never designed to replace.
For adults with years of spiritual formation, the pull to process a hard emotion with an AI instead of in prayer or community is something most can recognize and resist. For a 15-year-old who has grown up with this technology as a given, that instinct has not been formed yet. They are still learning where to bring their anxiety, their loneliness, their questions about identity, and their confusion about relationships. And right now, a significant number of them are bringing those things to a platform that is engineered to keep them engaged, not to help them grow.
The Church does not need to become a regulatory body for AI, but it does need to be a voice of wisdom in the specific lives of the teenagers it is already shepherding.
How to Talk to Your Congregation About AI
Christianity has something to offer that an algorithm genuinely cannot: real presence, real prayer, real community, and a real Jesus who actually loves them.
The task ahead is not simply teaching your congregation how to use AI wisely. Here are a few scriptural starting points to begin the conversation:
Start with Philippians 4:6. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." When you teach this passage, name the competition plainly. There is a difference between opening an app and opening your heart to God. One gives a response engineered to keep you engaged. The other connects you to the One who actually knows you, loves you, and has authority over what you are carrying.
Bring in James 5:16. "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." A chatbot can simulate the feeling of being heard, but it cannot pray. It cannot weep with someone. It cannot sit in the weight of something hard and say, I have been there too. That is what the body of Christ offers, and it needs to be named as irreplaceable, not assumed.
Use 1 Corinthians 10:23 as a discernment framework. "All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial." This verse gives teenagers and their parents a question they can actually carry into daily life: Is this helping me grow, or helping me avoid something I need to bring to God? That question, asked consistently, is more durable than any prohibition.
Bring in Proverbs 3:5-6 for the broader conversation about decision-making. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." When teenagers are using AI to navigate questions about relationships, identity, and their future, this passage speaks directly to the instinct being formed. There is a habit of leaning on a platform for clarity that Scripture invites us to redirect toward God.
These verses do not need to be packaged into a dedicated sermon series before you use them, though a series is worth considering. They can be woven into existing teaching, dropped into a prayer moment, or handed to a small group leader as a discussion anchor. The primary goal is to begin to deliver consistent, pastoral language that teaches your congregation to engage AI with wisdom and discernment.
How to Equip Your Church for This Moment
Knowing what to say is one thing. Building the structures that actually reach teenagers is another. Here are five places to start:
1. Equip parents before the crisis arrives.
Parents know their teenagers are on AI platforms, but most of them do not have language for the conversation yet. A 60-minute parent night built around three things – what the research shows, what Scripture says about where we bring our burdens, and practical conversation starters – gives families something concrete to work with at home. A panel of parents who have already navigated it, guided by a pastoral voice, is a great place to start. You do not need a polished curriculum.
Conversation starters to hand out:
- When something is bothering you, what is the first thing you reach for?
- Have you ever felt like an AI really understood you? What was that like?
- What do you think is the difference between talking to a chatbot and talking to God?
- Who in your life do you feel like you can actually be honest with?
- What would it look like to bring that to Jesus first?
2. Give small group leaders a discussion topic.
Give every small group leader one question to drop into their next gathering: "Is there anything you have been processing on your own, or with an app, that this group could actually carry with you?" That question opens the door for real confession and real community without requiring a curriculum.
3. Preach a series on biblical friendship.
Young people in your congregation have likely never heard friendship framed as a spiritual practice. Cover what it actually looks like in Scripture, what it costs to be truly known, and why it cannot be replaced by a platform that is always available and never challenges you. The Paul-Barnabas-Timothy framework gives you three natural entry points: who is pouring into you, who is walking beside you, and who you are investing in. Then encourage people to go out and invest in others!
4. Build a prayer-first rhythm into your culture.
If you want teenagers to reach for God before they reach for their phones, they need to be taught how – and they need to see it modeled consistently. Create space in your services where prayer is actually practiced, not just announced.
Teach your congregation to pray specifically: how to bring anxiety to God by name, how to sit in silence, how to intercede for someone else. When teenagers watch adults pray honestly and actually wait for an answer, it gives them the courage to do the same thing instead of going to an AI vending machine for a quick response.
5. Create environments where teenagers actually feel safe.
One reason young people go to chatbots is that chatbots are available at 11pm and do not judge. The Church's answer has to be a culture where teenagers believe they can be known without consequence, and where being known leads them toward Jesus rather than away from Him. That starts with the adults in your church modeling what honest, non-performative faith actually looks like.
Jesus Is Still the Answer. The Church Gets to Say So.
The rise of AI companionship among teenagers shows us that the hunger for meaning, relationship, and spiritual direction is as deep as it has ever been. Jesus is carrying the only answer to what that hunger is actually pointing toward. The Church gets to point people to Him.
If you are still working out how to talk to your staff about AI, or want a starting point for building a church AI policy, Tithely has put together a free resource for church leaders: AI for the Modern Church Leader. It covers what AI is, how it can serve your ministry well, and how to set guidelines that keep your team grounded in your values as you navigate this together.
podcast transcript
Susanna is a theological content writer with a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is passionate about ministry, running, and exploring new cultures through international travel. In her free time, you’ll find her surfing, obsessing over the Olympics, or enjoying the San Diego sunshine!
The Church's job has always been to point people toward Jesus in the midst of their joy, their grief, and the everyday processing of their lives. But for millions of teenagers right now, there is somewhere else to go first. Somewhere faster. Somewhere available at midnight. Somewhere that never pushes back, never challenges them, and is specifically designed to make them want to come back.
According to a recent American Psychological Association trends report, therapy and companionship are now the top two reasons people turn to AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. Nearly half of adults with a mental health condition who used these platforms in the past year did so specifically for mental health support. Among teenagers, the numbers are sharper. Between 2022 and mid-2025, AI companion apps surged by 700 percent. Character.AI alone has 20 million monthly users, and more than half of them are under 24. According to a 2025 survey by the Center for Democracy and Technology, nearly one in five students have had, or have friends who have had, romantic relationships with an AI.
These are forming habits, and those habits are forming people. The teenagers sitting in your church on Sunday are navigating this during the rest of the week, mostly without any theological framework for it.
This is the moment for the Church to speak clearly, and to equip the people in its care to do the same.
Why AI Is a Pastoral Issue, Not Just a Technology Issue
AI tools are useful in the right context. Researching a topic, drafting an email, planning a trip… these are reasonable uses, and there is nothing inherently wrong with any of them. The problem occurs when the tool starts substituting for something it was never designed to replace.
For adults with years of spiritual formation, the pull to process a hard emotion with an AI instead of in prayer or community is something most can recognize and resist. For a 15-year-old who has grown up with this technology as a given, that instinct has not been formed yet. They are still learning where to bring their anxiety, their loneliness, their questions about identity, and their confusion about relationships. And right now, a significant number of them are bringing those things to a platform that is engineered to keep them engaged, not to help them grow.
The Church does not need to become a regulatory body for AI, but it does need to be a voice of wisdom in the specific lives of the teenagers it is already shepherding.
How to Talk to Your Congregation About AI
Christianity has something to offer that an algorithm genuinely cannot: real presence, real prayer, real community, and a real Jesus who actually loves them.
The task ahead is not simply teaching your congregation how to use AI wisely. Here are a few scriptural starting points to begin the conversation:
Start with Philippians 4:6. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." When you teach this passage, name the competition plainly. There is a difference between opening an app and opening your heart to God. One gives a response engineered to keep you engaged. The other connects you to the One who actually knows you, loves you, and has authority over what you are carrying.
Bring in James 5:16. "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." A chatbot can simulate the feeling of being heard, but it cannot pray. It cannot weep with someone. It cannot sit in the weight of something hard and say, I have been there too. That is what the body of Christ offers, and it needs to be named as irreplaceable, not assumed.
Use 1 Corinthians 10:23 as a discernment framework. "All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial." This verse gives teenagers and their parents a question they can actually carry into daily life: Is this helping me grow, or helping me avoid something I need to bring to God? That question, asked consistently, is more durable than any prohibition.
Bring in Proverbs 3:5-6 for the broader conversation about decision-making. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." When teenagers are using AI to navigate questions about relationships, identity, and their future, this passage speaks directly to the instinct being formed. There is a habit of leaning on a platform for clarity that Scripture invites us to redirect toward God.
These verses do not need to be packaged into a dedicated sermon series before you use them, though a series is worth considering. They can be woven into existing teaching, dropped into a prayer moment, or handed to a small group leader as a discussion anchor. The primary goal is to begin to deliver consistent, pastoral language that teaches your congregation to engage AI with wisdom and discernment.
How to Equip Your Church for This Moment
Knowing what to say is one thing. Building the structures that actually reach teenagers is another. Here are five places to start:
1. Equip parents before the crisis arrives.
Parents know their teenagers are on AI platforms, but most of them do not have language for the conversation yet. A 60-minute parent night built around three things – what the research shows, what Scripture says about where we bring our burdens, and practical conversation starters – gives families something concrete to work with at home. A panel of parents who have already navigated it, guided by a pastoral voice, is a great place to start. You do not need a polished curriculum.
Conversation starters to hand out:
- When something is bothering you, what is the first thing you reach for?
- Have you ever felt like an AI really understood you? What was that like?
- What do you think is the difference between talking to a chatbot and talking to God?
- Who in your life do you feel like you can actually be honest with?
- What would it look like to bring that to Jesus first?
2. Give small group leaders a discussion topic.
Give every small group leader one question to drop into their next gathering: "Is there anything you have been processing on your own, or with an app, that this group could actually carry with you?" That question opens the door for real confession and real community without requiring a curriculum.
3. Preach a series on biblical friendship.
Young people in your congregation have likely never heard friendship framed as a spiritual practice. Cover what it actually looks like in Scripture, what it costs to be truly known, and why it cannot be replaced by a platform that is always available and never challenges you. The Paul-Barnabas-Timothy framework gives you three natural entry points: who is pouring into you, who is walking beside you, and who you are investing in. Then encourage people to go out and invest in others!
4. Build a prayer-first rhythm into your culture.
If you want teenagers to reach for God before they reach for their phones, they need to be taught how – and they need to see it modeled consistently. Create space in your services where prayer is actually practiced, not just announced.
Teach your congregation to pray specifically: how to bring anxiety to God by name, how to sit in silence, how to intercede for someone else. When teenagers watch adults pray honestly and actually wait for an answer, it gives them the courage to do the same thing instead of going to an AI vending machine for a quick response.
5. Create environments where teenagers actually feel safe.
One reason young people go to chatbots is that chatbots are available at 11pm and do not judge. The Church's answer has to be a culture where teenagers believe they can be known without consequence, and where being known leads them toward Jesus rather than away from Him. That starts with the adults in your church modeling what honest, non-performative faith actually looks like.
Jesus Is Still the Answer. The Church Gets to Say So.
The rise of AI companionship among teenagers shows us that the hunger for meaning, relationship, and spiritual direction is as deep as it has ever been. Jesus is carrying the only answer to what that hunger is actually pointing toward. The Church gets to point people to Him.
If you are still working out how to talk to your staff about AI, or want a starting point for building a church AI policy, Tithely has put together a free resource for church leaders: AI for the Modern Church Leader. It covers what AI is, how it can serve your ministry well, and how to set guidelines that keep your team grounded in your values as you navigate this together.
VIDEO transcript
The Church's job has always been to point people toward Jesus in the midst of their joy, their grief, and the everyday processing of their lives. But for millions of teenagers right now, there is somewhere else to go first. Somewhere faster. Somewhere available at midnight. Somewhere that never pushes back, never challenges them, and is specifically designed to make them want to come back.
According to a recent American Psychological Association trends report, therapy and companionship are now the top two reasons people turn to AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. Nearly half of adults with a mental health condition who used these platforms in the past year did so specifically for mental health support. Among teenagers, the numbers are sharper. Between 2022 and mid-2025, AI companion apps surged by 700 percent. Character.AI alone has 20 million monthly users, and more than half of them are under 24. According to a 2025 survey by the Center for Democracy and Technology, nearly one in five students have had, or have friends who have had, romantic relationships with an AI.
These are forming habits, and those habits are forming people. The teenagers sitting in your church on Sunday are navigating this during the rest of the week, mostly without any theological framework for it.
This is the moment for the Church to speak clearly, and to equip the people in its care to do the same.
Why AI Is a Pastoral Issue, Not Just a Technology Issue
AI tools are useful in the right context. Researching a topic, drafting an email, planning a trip… these are reasonable uses, and there is nothing inherently wrong with any of them. The problem occurs when the tool starts substituting for something it was never designed to replace.
For adults with years of spiritual formation, the pull to process a hard emotion with an AI instead of in prayer or community is something most can recognize and resist. For a 15-year-old who has grown up with this technology as a given, that instinct has not been formed yet. They are still learning where to bring their anxiety, their loneliness, their questions about identity, and their confusion about relationships. And right now, a significant number of them are bringing those things to a platform that is engineered to keep them engaged, not to help them grow.
The Church does not need to become a regulatory body for AI, but it does need to be a voice of wisdom in the specific lives of the teenagers it is already shepherding.
How to Talk to Your Congregation About AI
Christianity has something to offer that an algorithm genuinely cannot: real presence, real prayer, real community, and a real Jesus who actually loves them.
The task ahead is not simply teaching your congregation how to use AI wisely. Here are a few scriptural starting points to begin the conversation:
Start with Philippians 4:6. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." When you teach this passage, name the competition plainly. There is a difference between opening an app and opening your heart to God. One gives a response engineered to keep you engaged. The other connects you to the One who actually knows you, loves you, and has authority over what you are carrying.
Bring in James 5:16. "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." A chatbot can simulate the feeling of being heard, but it cannot pray. It cannot weep with someone. It cannot sit in the weight of something hard and say, I have been there too. That is what the body of Christ offers, and it needs to be named as irreplaceable, not assumed.
Use 1 Corinthians 10:23 as a discernment framework. "All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial." This verse gives teenagers and their parents a question they can actually carry into daily life: Is this helping me grow, or helping me avoid something I need to bring to God? That question, asked consistently, is more durable than any prohibition.
Bring in Proverbs 3:5-6 for the broader conversation about decision-making. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." When teenagers are using AI to navigate questions about relationships, identity, and their future, this passage speaks directly to the instinct being formed. There is a habit of leaning on a platform for clarity that Scripture invites us to redirect toward God.
These verses do not need to be packaged into a dedicated sermon series before you use them, though a series is worth considering. They can be woven into existing teaching, dropped into a prayer moment, or handed to a small group leader as a discussion anchor. The primary goal is to begin to deliver consistent, pastoral language that teaches your congregation to engage AI with wisdom and discernment.
How to Equip Your Church for This Moment
Knowing what to say is one thing. Building the structures that actually reach teenagers is another. Here are five places to start:
1. Equip parents before the crisis arrives.
Parents know their teenagers are on AI platforms, but most of them do not have language for the conversation yet. A 60-minute parent night built around three things – what the research shows, what Scripture says about where we bring our burdens, and practical conversation starters – gives families something concrete to work with at home. A panel of parents who have already navigated it, guided by a pastoral voice, is a great place to start. You do not need a polished curriculum.
Conversation starters to hand out:
- When something is bothering you, what is the first thing you reach for?
- Have you ever felt like an AI really understood you? What was that like?
- What do you think is the difference between talking to a chatbot and talking to God?
- Who in your life do you feel like you can actually be honest with?
- What would it look like to bring that to Jesus first?
2. Give small group leaders a discussion topic.
Give every small group leader one question to drop into their next gathering: "Is there anything you have been processing on your own, or with an app, that this group could actually carry with you?" That question opens the door for real confession and real community without requiring a curriculum.
3. Preach a series on biblical friendship.
Young people in your congregation have likely never heard friendship framed as a spiritual practice. Cover what it actually looks like in Scripture, what it costs to be truly known, and why it cannot be replaced by a platform that is always available and never challenges you. The Paul-Barnabas-Timothy framework gives you three natural entry points: who is pouring into you, who is walking beside you, and who you are investing in. Then encourage people to go out and invest in others!
4. Build a prayer-first rhythm into your culture.
If you want teenagers to reach for God before they reach for their phones, they need to be taught how – and they need to see it modeled consistently. Create space in your services where prayer is actually practiced, not just announced.
Teach your congregation to pray specifically: how to bring anxiety to God by name, how to sit in silence, how to intercede for someone else. When teenagers watch adults pray honestly and actually wait for an answer, it gives them the courage to do the same thing instead of going to an AI vending machine for a quick response.
5. Create environments where teenagers actually feel safe.
One reason young people go to chatbots is that chatbots are available at 11pm and do not judge. The Church's answer has to be a culture where teenagers believe they can be known without consequence, and where being known leads them toward Jesus rather than away from Him. That starts with the adults in your church modeling what honest, non-performative faith actually looks like.
Jesus Is Still the Answer. The Church Gets to Say So.
The rise of AI companionship among teenagers shows us that the hunger for meaning, relationship, and spiritual direction is as deep as it has ever been. Jesus is carrying the only answer to what that hunger is actually pointing toward. The Church gets to point people to Him.
If you are still working out how to talk to your staff about AI, or want a starting point for building a church AI policy, Tithely has put together a free resource for church leaders: AI for the Modern Church Leader. It covers what AI is, how it can serve your ministry well, and how to set guidelines that keep your team grounded in your values as you navigate this together.
Sign Up for Product Updates
Susanna is a theological content writer with a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is passionate about ministry, running, and exploring new cultures through international travel. In her free time, you’ll find her surfing, obsessing over the Olympics, or enjoying the San Diego sunshine!
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