Hey ChatGPT…
In November of 2022, society was introduced to the world of OpenAi and ChatGPT. By January 2023, it had become the fastest growing consumer software in history, accumulating over 100 million users in just two months.[1] When we first started using ChatGPT, it was mostly for entertainment purposes. We would ask it to come up with funny graphics, funny song lyrics, you may have even used it for a lesson illustration or two.
But as time went on, ChatGPT usage began to shift. It went from making us laugh to helping us streamline our jobs. It became a tool to make our lives easier, and for some students to avoid classwork. While there are benefits to using ChatGPT, it’s important to consider how our younger generation is interacting with AI.
We minister to a generation of students who are considered “Digital Natives”. From a very young age, they were able to teach adults how to use remotes, how to get to whatever streaming platform they wanted to watch, etc. Basically, our students are no stranger to utilizing technology. However, with the increased use of ChatGPT, the church faces (yet another) unique problem. We are beginning to see an uptick in students turning to AI based technology like ChatGPT for things like relationship advice and companionship.
To give a brief overview on how things like ChatGPT or Snapchats My Ai operate: it feeds off what you give it. So the more exchanges you have with it, the more it learns about you and the more it can cater its answers to what you like to hear. This means that if a student is going to it for emotional support in regards to a fight with a friend or family member or even to help fight off loneliness, the bot it’s communicating with isn’t going to be objective because, well, it can’t be objective. Students end up having a one-sided conversation with something that will not only agree with them but encourage whatever they’re struggling with.
We have seen situations where this technology has led down a disastrous road, including teens who committed suicide after spending prolonged time chatting with AI.[2] In a publication published by the American Psychological Association, it says, “AI is now learning users’ preferences, likes, and vulnerabilities,” Grant said. “It is taught to learn and subscribe them to a sometimes risky and codependent type of relationship and offer guidance and advice that is not healthy—or even dangerous.”[3]
As people who walk alongside students, how do we break through the noise of AI? How do we show that human connection within a church context is better than turning to things like ChatGPT and Snapchats My AI? There are many things we can do but here are three things to help us connect with students better than AI ever could.
Be willing to listen (and really listen)
If you look up any articles on teenagers’ relationship with Ai, you’ll see one theme repeatedly come up. Teenagers are turning to AI because they want to feel heard, they want a safe sounding board that won’t judge them, and they want something that will listen and not spread rumors about them. As adults, it’s so easy to listen to teenagers and want to jump in and attempt to fix all their problems.
What we need to do is provide a space where our teenagers can feel like they can come to us with all they are carrying and to feel like we hear them. Now this doesn’t mean that if they come to us with concerning or wrong behaviors, we don’t correct them in grace and truth. But over and over we approach them with open-ended questions, rather than quick solutions. We pray with them and for them and show them that we are in their corner.
Be intentional about the small group leaders you pick.
Volunteer recruitment can be one of the most challenging things we do. It can feel like people are constantly saying no, you’ve run out of people to ask, and sometimes, it’s easier to operate with a “warm body” mentality. But when we’re intentional about the leaders we pick, we are giving students more adults to check in on them, more adults who will pray for them and with them, and more adults to show that life is better when we’re face to face, not via a screen.
Don’t assume you know what they want/need.
As people who serve in ministry to some capacity, it can be easy to assume what our congregation needs to hear. Especially in youth ministry, it can be easy to think that since we’re older and we “remember what it’s like to be a teenager”, we don’t need to check in. But I believe that youth ministry in today’s day and age requires us to connect with students in a way that we’ve never have before.
This doesn’t mean that we provide the coolest program with the flashing lights and the largest numbers. Instead, connect with a few students in your ministry and talk through what they are wrestling with, what they’d like to learn about, and how you can best support them. Again, we’re proving that life is both better together and better when it’s face to face.
AI gives students an outlet. But what this generation of students really need is someone to sit across the table from them and, in grace and truth, point them to the God who sees them and loves them. The God who sent His Son for them because of their sin, because of their brokenness, because of their confusion. Let’s be the generation of church workers that shows that reminds our students that life is done better together.
[1] ChatGPT, 2025, November 22. In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatGPT
[2][2] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3xgwyywe4o
[3] Efua, Ando, 2025, October 1. “Many teens are turning to AI chatbots for friendship and emotional support”. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2025/10/technology-youth-friendships
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