From Canva to ChatGPT: A Beginner’s Guide to AI Tools for Churches
Feeling stretched thin in ministry? You’re not alone—and AI could be the helping hand you didn’t know you needed. From writing assistance to sermon recaps, video editing, and organizing church admin, these easy-to-use AI tools are designed to save you time and reduce stress so you can focus on people, not paperwork.
Have you ever thought, “AI tools are great, but they’re just not for me?”
If so, you’re not alone. Plenty of church leaders don’t consider themselves particularly tech-savvy. And many of us don’t have a full creative team or hours to figure out a new platform.
But if you’re in ministry in any capacity, AI can be a huge asset. How do I know? Because I’m in ministry, too. I know how stretched thin and burnt out ministry leaders can be, especially when it comes to administration. I also believe that technology, used wisely and in a God-honoring way, can help us serve more effectively and sustainably.
AI cannot pray at the altar or discern vision for your next ministry season, of course. However, certain tools can help you draft that event email you've been putting off or edit your sermon into a short clip without losing your entire afternoon.
Practical AI Tools, Real Ministry Impact
Below, I’ve listed several easy-to-use AI tools, organized by category. Each includes a simple explanation and real-life examples of how it can support your ministry.
Whether you are hoping to improve communication, automate administrative tasks, or streamline content creation, there is likely something here that can make your job a whole lot easier!
AI Tools for Writing + Brainstorming
If you’ve ever stared at a blinking cursor longer than you’d like to admit, these tools are for you! AI writing assistants can help you get unstuck, organize your thoughts, and take the pressure off writing everything from scratch. They won’t replace your voice, but they can help you find it a little faster.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is like a helpful co-writer who shows up with a dozen ideas no matter what time it is. Think of it like a conversational tool. You give it a prompt, and it gives you something to work with. Sometimes that looks like an outline, and sometimes it’s a first draft you can rework. It’s fast, flexible, and surprisingly thoughtful when used well.
How to Use It:
You can use ChatGPT to draft blurbs for your church website, rewrite an event description to sound more welcoming, or brainstorm sermon titles when your creativity has hit a wall. You don’t have to take what it gives you word for word, but it’s a really good starting point, especially on a busy week.
Claude
Claude is another writing tool, but it’s a little slower-paced and reflective. It reads longer inputs more thoroughly and tends to give you responses that feel thorough and well-considered. If ChatGPT is good for quick ideas, Claude is better for longer documents and deeper thinking.
How to Use It:
Claude shines when you’re working on something that needs a thoughtful tone, like a church wide letter or a small group discussion guide. You can even paste in a transcript of your sermon and ask Claude to summarize the key points or suggest discussion questions. It’s a helpful tool when you want clarity without losing warmth.
Jasper
Jasper is a marketing assistant with built-in templates for emails, social posts, landing pages, and more. It’s a little more structured than the others, which makes it great when you’re trying to communicate something clearly and with purpose.
How to Use It:
If you’re launching a new giving campaign or trying to communicate something across multiple channels, Jasper helps you keep things consistent. You can create a short social post, a longer email, and a flyer headline that all speak in the same voice. It also works well when you're just too tired to write and need help getting that first draft going.
Design + Presentation Tools
Design can feel intimidating if you’re not a designer. But most of us in church leadership have to make things look good—slides, flyers, reports, handouts, social graphics. Thankfully, AI-powered tools make it easier to create something beautiful, even when you're short on time and inspiration.
Canva (with Magic Design and Magic Write)
Canva is already a go-to for so many churches, and now it’s even more powerful. With Magic Design, you can drop in an image or idea, and Canva will suggest layouts and styles. Magic Write helps with text, covering everything from catchy titles to full paragraphs.
How to Use It:
You can type in the name of your upcoming sermon series, and Canva will give you slide options, flyers, and social media templates in seconds. If you're tired of writing the same announcements every week, Magic Write can help you mix it up. You still get to review and customize everything, but you’re not starting from zero.
Visme
Visme is like Canva’s more professional cousin, and it’s great for presentations, infographics, and reports. It’s built for people who need to communicate clearly, not just make things pretty.
How to Use It:
When you’re presenting your annual report, pitching a new ministry idea, or sharing a vision update, Visme helps you put your content into a format that people can actually follow and remember. You can add charts, video, and custom branding if you want to get fancy, but it works well even if you don’t.
Beautiful.ai
Beautiful.ai takes whatever you want to say and makes it look good on a slide. You input the content, and it handles the formatting, alignment, and layout. It’s less about creative freedom and more about clean, confident delivery.
How to Use It:
When you're short on time but still want to present something that looks sharp (think budget updates, project timelines, or event recaps), Beautiful.ai helps you keep it clean and professional without the back-and-forth of resizing boxes or fixing fonts.
Video + Audio Tools
Video can feel like a big lift when you don’t have a media team or editing experience, but these tools make it far more approachable. Whether you're trimming sermon clips, recording devotionals, or creating announcements for social media, AI tools can help you do it faster, cleaner, and without needing to learn complicated software.
Descript
Descript is a video and podcast editing tool that works like a Word doc. Upload a video or audio file, and it instantly gives you a transcript. You can edit the video just by editing the text – cutting out filler words, reordering segments, and adding captions is as easy as highlighting and deleting.
How to Use It:
Let’s say you want to turn a Sunday message into three short clips for Instagram. You upload the recording to Descript, pick the highlights from the transcript, and trim them down without ever touching a timeline. You can also remove every “um” and “uh” automatically or add captions for accessibility. It’s a great option if your team wants to make more video content, but no one wants to become a full-time editor.
ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs creates lifelike voiceovers from plain text. You can even train it on your own voice (or someone else's) to generate custom audio clips that sound human, not robotic. It’s surprisingly realistic and takes just a few minutes to create a polished audio file.
How to Use It:
If you’ve got a weekly devotional or Scripture reading but don’t have time to record it fresh each time, you can type it out and have ElevenLabs generate a spoken version using your voice. It’s also helpful for making announcement audio, narrating slides, or creating quick explainer clips for your website.
Lumen5
Lumen5 turns text-based content—like blog posts, sermon recaps, or devotionals—into short, engaging videos. It pulls key sentences, matches them with relevant visuals, and adds music or voiceover if you want it.
How to Use It:
Say you wrote a blog post or reflection on this Sunday’s message. You can drop the text into Lumen5 and get a 60-second video that’s perfect for social media. It’s also useful for recap videos, devotional snippets, or highlighting a quote or Scripture visually during the week.
Transcription + Organization Tools
Ministry moves fast, and sometimes you just need help keeping up with the details. These tools help you stay organized, capture what was said, and turn raw input into usable resources—so you can stop chasing down notes and start focusing on people.
Otter.ai
Otter.ai is a real-time transcription tool. You can use it to record meetings, sermons, or trainings, and it will automatically generate a searchable, editable transcript.
How to Use It:
You can record your message on Sunday morning and have a full transcript before you finish your coffee. That transcript can then be used to write devotionals, blog posts, or small group discussion guides. It’s also great for volunteer or staff meetings when you want to make sure everyone’s on the same page afterward. No more assigning someone to take notes. They’re already done!
Notion
Notion is a powerful all-in-one workspace that helps churches stay organized and keep track of everything in one place, without the clutter of scattered docs and sticky notes.
How to Use It:
You can keep track of your sermon calendar, store past series notes, create planning docs for events, and assign tasks across your team. Add in the AI layer, and it’ll even help you summarize meetings, clean up messy notes, or generate to-do lists based on a brain dump. It's especially great if your team is remote, part-time, or made up of volunteers with scattered schedules.
A Quick Note on AI
Before you dive into any tool, remember that AI is still evolving. New features roll out all the time, and no tool is perfect right out of the gate. What works great for one church might not be the right fit for another.
If you’re trying something new, take a few minutes to read reviews or watch a quick tutorial first. Look for tools that feel intuitive to you. And remember, it’s okay to test and move on if something doesn’t work for your team.
AI for the Modern Church Leader
If you're ready to explore how technology can support your ministry, we’ve put together a free resource to guide you. AI for the Modern Church Leader is a practical guide to help you bring your team along and start using AI tools in a healthy, ministry-minded way.
And when you're ready for software that simplifies church communication, giving, check-in, and more, Tithely is here to help. We’re building tools that work the way real ministry works.
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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!
Have you ever thought, “AI tools are great, but they’re just not for me?”
If so, you’re not alone. Plenty of church leaders don’t consider themselves particularly tech-savvy. And many of us don’t have a full creative team or hours to figure out a new platform.
But if you’re in ministry in any capacity, AI can be a huge asset. How do I know? Because I’m in ministry, too. I know how stretched thin and burnt out ministry leaders can be, especially when it comes to administration. I also believe that technology, used wisely and in a God-honoring way, can help us serve more effectively and sustainably.
AI cannot pray at the altar or discern vision for your next ministry season, of course. However, certain tools can help you draft that event email you've been putting off or edit your sermon into a short clip without losing your entire afternoon.
Practical AI Tools, Real Ministry Impact
Below, I’ve listed several easy-to-use AI tools, organized by category. Each includes a simple explanation and real-life examples of how it can support your ministry.
Whether you are hoping to improve communication, automate administrative tasks, or streamline content creation, there is likely something here that can make your job a whole lot easier!
AI Tools for Writing + Brainstorming
If you’ve ever stared at a blinking cursor longer than you’d like to admit, these tools are for you! AI writing assistants can help you get unstuck, organize your thoughts, and take the pressure off writing everything from scratch. They won’t replace your voice, but they can help you find it a little faster.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is like a helpful co-writer who shows up with a dozen ideas no matter what time it is. Think of it like a conversational tool. You give it a prompt, and it gives you something to work with. Sometimes that looks like an outline, and sometimes it’s a first draft you can rework. It’s fast, flexible, and surprisingly thoughtful when used well.
How to Use It:
You can use ChatGPT to draft blurbs for your church website, rewrite an event description to sound more welcoming, or brainstorm sermon titles when your creativity has hit a wall. You don’t have to take what it gives you word for word, but it’s a really good starting point, especially on a busy week.
Claude
Claude is another writing tool, but it’s a little slower-paced and reflective. It reads longer inputs more thoroughly and tends to give you responses that feel thorough and well-considered. If ChatGPT is good for quick ideas, Claude is better for longer documents and deeper thinking.
How to Use It:
Claude shines when you’re working on something that needs a thoughtful tone, like a church wide letter or a small group discussion guide. You can even paste in a transcript of your sermon and ask Claude to summarize the key points or suggest discussion questions. It’s a helpful tool when you want clarity without losing warmth.
Jasper
Jasper is a marketing assistant with built-in templates for emails, social posts, landing pages, and more. It’s a little more structured than the others, which makes it great when you’re trying to communicate something clearly and with purpose.
How to Use It:
If you’re launching a new giving campaign or trying to communicate something across multiple channels, Jasper helps you keep things consistent. You can create a short social post, a longer email, and a flyer headline that all speak in the same voice. It also works well when you're just too tired to write and need help getting that first draft going.
Design + Presentation Tools
Design can feel intimidating if you’re not a designer. But most of us in church leadership have to make things look good—slides, flyers, reports, handouts, social graphics. Thankfully, AI-powered tools make it easier to create something beautiful, even when you're short on time and inspiration.
Canva (with Magic Design and Magic Write)
Canva is already a go-to for so many churches, and now it’s even more powerful. With Magic Design, you can drop in an image or idea, and Canva will suggest layouts and styles. Magic Write helps with text, covering everything from catchy titles to full paragraphs.
How to Use It:
You can type in the name of your upcoming sermon series, and Canva will give you slide options, flyers, and social media templates in seconds. If you're tired of writing the same announcements every week, Magic Write can help you mix it up. You still get to review and customize everything, but you’re not starting from zero.
Visme
Visme is like Canva’s more professional cousin, and it’s great for presentations, infographics, and reports. It’s built for people who need to communicate clearly, not just make things pretty.
How to Use It:
When you’re presenting your annual report, pitching a new ministry idea, or sharing a vision update, Visme helps you put your content into a format that people can actually follow and remember. You can add charts, video, and custom branding if you want to get fancy, but it works well even if you don’t.
Beautiful.ai
Beautiful.ai takes whatever you want to say and makes it look good on a slide. You input the content, and it handles the formatting, alignment, and layout. It’s less about creative freedom and more about clean, confident delivery.
How to Use It:
When you're short on time but still want to present something that looks sharp (think budget updates, project timelines, or event recaps), Beautiful.ai helps you keep it clean and professional without the back-and-forth of resizing boxes or fixing fonts.
Video + Audio Tools
Video can feel like a big lift when you don’t have a media team or editing experience, but these tools make it far more approachable. Whether you're trimming sermon clips, recording devotionals, or creating announcements for social media, AI tools can help you do it faster, cleaner, and without needing to learn complicated software.
Descript
Descript is a video and podcast editing tool that works like a Word doc. Upload a video or audio file, and it instantly gives you a transcript. You can edit the video just by editing the text – cutting out filler words, reordering segments, and adding captions is as easy as highlighting and deleting.
How to Use It:
Let’s say you want to turn a Sunday message into three short clips for Instagram. You upload the recording to Descript, pick the highlights from the transcript, and trim them down without ever touching a timeline. You can also remove every “um” and “uh” automatically or add captions for accessibility. It’s a great option if your team wants to make more video content, but no one wants to become a full-time editor.
ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs creates lifelike voiceovers from plain text. You can even train it on your own voice (or someone else's) to generate custom audio clips that sound human, not robotic. It’s surprisingly realistic and takes just a few minutes to create a polished audio file.
How to Use It:
If you’ve got a weekly devotional or Scripture reading but don’t have time to record it fresh each time, you can type it out and have ElevenLabs generate a spoken version using your voice. It’s also helpful for making announcement audio, narrating slides, or creating quick explainer clips for your website.
Lumen5
Lumen5 turns text-based content—like blog posts, sermon recaps, or devotionals—into short, engaging videos. It pulls key sentences, matches them with relevant visuals, and adds music or voiceover if you want it.
How to Use It:
Say you wrote a blog post or reflection on this Sunday’s message. You can drop the text into Lumen5 and get a 60-second video that’s perfect for social media. It’s also useful for recap videos, devotional snippets, or highlighting a quote or Scripture visually during the week.
Transcription + Organization Tools
Ministry moves fast, and sometimes you just need help keeping up with the details. These tools help you stay organized, capture what was said, and turn raw input into usable resources—so you can stop chasing down notes and start focusing on people.
Otter.ai
Otter.ai is a real-time transcription tool. You can use it to record meetings, sermons, or trainings, and it will automatically generate a searchable, editable transcript.
How to Use It:
You can record your message on Sunday morning and have a full transcript before you finish your coffee. That transcript can then be used to write devotionals, blog posts, or small group discussion guides. It’s also great for volunteer or staff meetings when you want to make sure everyone’s on the same page afterward. No more assigning someone to take notes. They’re already done!
Notion
Notion is a powerful all-in-one workspace that helps churches stay organized and keep track of everything in one place, without the clutter of scattered docs and sticky notes.
How to Use It:
You can keep track of your sermon calendar, store past series notes, create planning docs for events, and assign tasks across your team. Add in the AI layer, and it’ll even help you summarize meetings, clean up messy notes, or generate to-do lists based on a brain dump. It's especially great if your team is remote, part-time, or made up of volunteers with scattered schedules.
A Quick Note on AI
Before you dive into any tool, remember that AI is still evolving. New features roll out all the time, and no tool is perfect right out of the gate. What works great for one church might not be the right fit for another.
If you’re trying something new, take a few minutes to read reviews or watch a quick tutorial first. Look for tools that feel intuitive to you. And remember, it’s okay to test and move on if something doesn’t work for your team.
AI for the Modern Church Leader
If you're ready to explore how technology can support your ministry, we’ve put together a free resource to guide you. AI for the Modern Church Leader is a practical guide to help you bring your team along and start using AI tools in a healthy, ministry-minded way.
And when you're ready for software that simplifies church communication, giving, check-in, and more, Tithely is here to help. We’re building tools that work the way real ministry works.
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!
Have you ever thought, “AI tools are great, but they’re just not for me?”
If so, you’re not alone. Plenty of church leaders don’t consider themselves particularly tech-savvy. And many of us don’t have a full creative team or hours to figure out a new platform.
But if you’re in ministry in any capacity, AI can be a huge asset. How do I know? Because I’m in ministry, too. I know how stretched thin and burnt out ministry leaders can be, especially when it comes to administration. I also believe that technology, used wisely and in a God-honoring way, can help us serve more effectively and sustainably.
AI cannot pray at the altar or discern vision for your next ministry season, of course. However, certain tools can help you draft that event email you've been putting off or edit your sermon into a short clip without losing your entire afternoon.
Practical AI Tools, Real Ministry Impact
Below, I’ve listed several easy-to-use AI tools, organized by category. Each includes a simple explanation and real-life examples of how it can support your ministry.
Whether you are hoping to improve communication, automate administrative tasks, or streamline content creation, there is likely something here that can make your job a whole lot easier!
AI Tools for Writing + Brainstorming
If you’ve ever stared at a blinking cursor longer than you’d like to admit, these tools are for you! AI writing assistants can help you get unstuck, organize your thoughts, and take the pressure off writing everything from scratch. They won’t replace your voice, but they can help you find it a little faster.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is like a helpful co-writer who shows up with a dozen ideas no matter what time it is. Think of it like a conversational tool. You give it a prompt, and it gives you something to work with. Sometimes that looks like an outline, and sometimes it’s a first draft you can rework. It’s fast, flexible, and surprisingly thoughtful when used well.
How to Use It:
You can use ChatGPT to draft blurbs for your church website, rewrite an event description to sound more welcoming, or brainstorm sermon titles when your creativity has hit a wall. You don’t have to take what it gives you word for word, but it’s a really good starting point, especially on a busy week.
Claude
Claude is another writing tool, but it’s a little slower-paced and reflective. It reads longer inputs more thoroughly and tends to give you responses that feel thorough and well-considered. If ChatGPT is good for quick ideas, Claude is better for longer documents and deeper thinking.
How to Use It:
Claude shines when you’re working on something that needs a thoughtful tone, like a church wide letter or a small group discussion guide. You can even paste in a transcript of your sermon and ask Claude to summarize the key points or suggest discussion questions. It’s a helpful tool when you want clarity without losing warmth.
Jasper
Jasper is a marketing assistant with built-in templates for emails, social posts, landing pages, and more. It’s a little more structured than the others, which makes it great when you’re trying to communicate something clearly and with purpose.
How to Use It:
If you’re launching a new giving campaign or trying to communicate something across multiple channels, Jasper helps you keep things consistent. You can create a short social post, a longer email, and a flyer headline that all speak in the same voice. It also works well when you're just too tired to write and need help getting that first draft going.
Design + Presentation Tools
Design can feel intimidating if you’re not a designer. But most of us in church leadership have to make things look good—slides, flyers, reports, handouts, social graphics. Thankfully, AI-powered tools make it easier to create something beautiful, even when you're short on time and inspiration.
Canva (with Magic Design and Magic Write)
Canva is already a go-to for so many churches, and now it’s even more powerful. With Magic Design, you can drop in an image or idea, and Canva will suggest layouts and styles. Magic Write helps with text, covering everything from catchy titles to full paragraphs.
How to Use It:
You can type in the name of your upcoming sermon series, and Canva will give you slide options, flyers, and social media templates in seconds. If you're tired of writing the same announcements every week, Magic Write can help you mix it up. You still get to review and customize everything, but you’re not starting from zero.
Visme
Visme is like Canva’s more professional cousin, and it’s great for presentations, infographics, and reports. It’s built for people who need to communicate clearly, not just make things pretty.
How to Use It:
When you’re presenting your annual report, pitching a new ministry idea, or sharing a vision update, Visme helps you put your content into a format that people can actually follow and remember. You can add charts, video, and custom branding if you want to get fancy, but it works well even if you don’t.
Beautiful.ai
Beautiful.ai takes whatever you want to say and makes it look good on a slide. You input the content, and it handles the formatting, alignment, and layout. It’s less about creative freedom and more about clean, confident delivery.
How to Use It:
When you're short on time but still want to present something that looks sharp (think budget updates, project timelines, or event recaps), Beautiful.ai helps you keep it clean and professional without the back-and-forth of resizing boxes or fixing fonts.
Video + Audio Tools
Video can feel like a big lift when you don’t have a media team or editing experience, but these tools make it far more approachable. Whether you're trimming sermon clips, recording devotionals, or creating announcements for social media, AI tools can help you do it faster, cleaner, and without needing to learn complicated software.
Descript
Descript is a video and podcast editing tool that works like a Word doc. Upload a video or audio file, and it instantly gives you a transcript. You can edit the video just by editing the text – cutting out filler words, reordering segments, and adding captions is as easy as highlighting and deleting.
How to Use It:
Let’s say you want to turn a Sunday message into three short clips for Instagram. You upload the recording to Descript, pick the highlights from the transcript, and trim them down without ever touching a timeline. You can also remove every “um” and “uh” automatically or add captions for accessibility. It’s a great option if your team wants to make more video content, but no one wants to become a full-time editor.
ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs creates lifelike voiceovers from plain text. You can even train it on your own voice (or someone else's) to generate custom audio clips that sound human, not robotic. It’s surprisingly realistic and takes just a few minutes to create a polished audio file.
How to Use It:
If you’ve got a weekly devotional or Scripture reading but don’t have time to record it fresh each time, you can type it out and have ElevenLabs generate a spoken version using your voice. It’s also helpful for making announcement audio, narrating slides, or creating quick explainer clips for your website.
Lumen5
Lumen5 turns text-based content—like blog posts, sermon recaps, or devotionals—into short, engaging videos. It pulls key sentences, matches them with relevant visuals, and adds music or voiceover if you want it.
How to Use It:
Say you wrote a blog post or reflection on this Sunday’s message. You can drop the text into Lumen5 and get a 60-second video that’s perfect for social media. It’s also useful for recap videos, devotional snippets, or highlighting a quote or Scripture visually during the week.
Transcription + Organization Tools
Ministry moves fast, and sometimes you just need help keeping up with the details. These tools help you stay organized, capture what was said, and turn raw input into usable resources—so you can stop chasing down notes and start focusing on people.
Otter.ai
Otter.ai is a real-time transcription tool. You can use it to record meetings, sermons, or trainings, and it will automatically generate a searchable, editable transcript.
How to Use It:
You can record your message on Sunday morning and have a full transcript before you finish your coffee. That transcript can then be used to write devotionals, blog posts, or small group discussion guides. It’s also great for volunteer or staff meetings when you want to make sure everyone’s on the same page afterward. No more assigning someone to take notes. They’re already done!
Notion
Notion is a powerful all-in-one workspace that helps churches stay organized and keep track of everything in one place, without the clutter of scattered docs and sticky notes.
How to Use It:
You can keep track of your sermon calendar, store past series notes, create planning docs for events, and assign tasks across your team. Add in the AI layer, and it’ll even help you summarize meetings, clean up messy notes, or generate to-do lists based on a brain dump. It's especially great if your team is remote, part-time, or made up of volunteers with scattered schedules.
A Quick Note on AI
Before you dive into any tool, remember that AI is still evolving. New features roll out all the time, and no tool is perfect right out of the gate. What works great for one church might not be the right fit for another.
If you’re trying something new, take a few minutes to read reviews or watch a quick tutorial first. Look for tools that feel intuitive to you. And remember, it’s okay to test and move on if something doesn’t work for your team.
AI for the Modern Church Leader
If you're ready to explore how technology can support your ministry, we’ve put together a free resource to guide you. AI for the Modern Church Leader is a practical guide to help you bring your team along and start using AI tools in a healthy, ministry-minded way.
And when you're ready for software that simplifies church communication, giving, check-in, and more, Tithely is here to help. We’re building tools that work the way real ministry works.
VIDEO transcript
Have you ever thought, “AI tools are great, but they’re just not for me?”
If so, you’re not alone. Plenty of church leaders don’t consider themselves particularly tech-savvy. And many of us don’t have a full creative team or hours to figure out a new platform.
But if you’re in ministry in any capacity, AI can be a huge asset. How do I know? Because I’m in ministry, too. I know how stretched thin and burnt out ministry leaders can be, especially when it comes to administration. I also believe that technology, used wisely and in a God-honoring way, can help us serve more effectively and sustainably.
AI cannot pray at the altar or discern vision for your next ministry season, of course. However, certain tools can help you draft that event email you've been putting off or edit your sermon into a short clip without losing your entire afternoon.
Practical AI Tools, Real Ministry Impact
Below, I’ve listed several easy-to-use AI tools, organized by category. Each includes a simple explanation and real-life examples of how it can support your ministry.
Whether you are hoping to improve communication, automate administrative tasks, or streamline content creation, there is likely something here that can make your job a whole lot easier!
AI Tools for Writing + Brainstorming
If you’ve ever stared at a blinking cursor longer than you’d like to admit, these tools are for you! AI writing assistants can help you get unstuck, organize your thoughts, and take the pressure off writing everything from scratch. They won’t replace your voice, but they can help you find it a little faster.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is like a helpful co-writer who shows up with a dozen ideas no matter what time it is. Think of it like a conversational tool. You give it a prompt, and it gives you something to work with. Sometimes that looks like an outline, and sometimes it’s a first draft you can rework. It’s fast, flexible, and surprisingly thoughtful when used well.
How to Use It:
You can use ChatGPT to draft blurbs for your church website, rewrite an event description to sound more welcoming, or brainstorm sermon titles when your creativity has hit a wall. You don’t have to take what it gives you word for word, but it’s a really good starting point, especially on a busy week.
Claude
Claude is another writing tool, but it’s a little slower-paced and reflective. It reads longer inputs more thoroughly and tends to give you responses that feel thorough and well-considered. If ChatGPT is good for quick ideas, Claude is better for longer documents and deeper thinking.
How to Use It:
Claude shines when you’re working on something that needs a thoughtful tone, like a church wide letter or a small group discussion guide. You can even paste in a transcript of your sermon and ask Claude to summarize the key points or suggest discussion questions. It’s a helpful tool when you want clarity without losing warmth.
Jasper
Jasper is a marketing assistant with built-in templates for emails, social posts, landing pages, and more. It’s a little more structured than the others, which makes it great when you’re trying to communicate something clearly and with purpose.
How to Use It:
If you’re launching a new giving campaign or trying to communicate something across multiple channels, Jasper helps you keep things consistent. You can create a short social post, a longer email, and a flyer headline that all speak in the same voice. It also works well when you're just too tired to write and need help getting that first draft going.
Design + Presentation Tools
Design can feel intimidating if you’re not a designer. But most of us in church leadership have to make things look good—slides, flyers, reports, handouts, social graphics. Thankfully, AI-powered tools make it easier to create something beautiful, even when you're short on time and inspiration.
Canva (with Magic Design and Magic Write)
Canva is already a go-to for so many churches, and now it’s even more powerful. With Magic Design, you can drop in an image or idea, and Canva will suggest layouts and styles. Magic Write helps with text, covering everything from catchy titles to full paragraphs.
How to Use It:
You can type in the name of your upcoming sermon series, and Canva will give you slide options, flyers, and social media templates in seconds. If you're tired of writing the same announcements every week, Magic Write can help you mix it up. You still get to review and customize everything, but you’re not starting from zero.
Visme
Visme is like Canva’s more professional cousin, and it’s great for presentations, infographics, and reports. It’s built for people who need to communicate clearly, not just make things pretty.
How to Use It:
When you’re presenting your annual report, pitching a new ministry idea, or sharing a vision update, Visme helps you put your content into a format that people can actually follow and remember. You can add charts, video, and custom branding if you want to get fancy, but it works well even if you don’t.
Beautiful.ai
Beautiful.ai takes whatever you want to say and makes it look good on a slide. You input the content, and it handles the formatting, alignment, and layout. It’s less about creative freedom and more about clean, confident delivery.
How to Use It:
When you're short on time but still want to present something that looks sharp (think budget updates, project timelines, or event recaps), Beautiful.ai helps you keep it clean and professional without the back-and-forth of resizing boxes or fixing fonts.
Video + Audio Tools
Video can feel like a big lift when you don’t have a media team or editing experience, but these tools make it far more approachable. Whether you're trimming sermon clips, recording devotionals, or creating announcements for social media, AI tools can help you do it faster, cleaner, and without needing to learn complicated software.
Descript
Descript is a video and podcast editing tool that works like a Word doc. Upload a video or audio file, and it instantly gives you a transcript. You can edit the video just by editing the text – cutting out filler words, reordering segments, and adding captions is as easy as highlighting and deleting.
How to Use It:
Let’s say you want to turn a Sunday message into three short clips for Instagram. You upload the recording to Descript, pick the highlights from the transcript, and trim them down without ever touching a timeline. You can also remove every “um” and “uh” automatically or add captions for accessibility. It’s a great option if your team wants to make more video content, but no one wants to become a full-time editor.
ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs creates lifelike voiceovers from plain text. You can even train it on your own voice (or someone else's) to generate custom audio clips that sound human, not robotic. It’s surprisingly realistic and takes just a few minutes to create a polished audio file.
How to Use It:
If you’ve got a weekly devotional or Scripture reading but don’t have time to record it fresh each time, you can type it out and have ElevenLabs generate a spoken version using your voice. It’s also helpful for making announcement audio, narrating slides, or creating quick explainer clips for your website.
Lumen5
Lumen5 turns text-based content—like blog posts, sermon recaps, or devotionals—into short, engaging videos. It pulls key sentences, matches them with relevant visuals, and adds music or voiceover if you want it.
How to Use It:
Say you wrote a blog post or reflection on this Sunday’s message. You can drop the text into Lumen5 and get a 60-second video that’s perfect for social media. It’s also useful for recap videos, devotional snippets, or highlighting a quote or Scripture visually during the week.
Transcription + Organization Tools
Ministry moves fast, and sometimes you just need help keeping up with the details. These tools help you stay organized, capture what was said, and turn raw input into usable resources—so you can stop chasing down notes and start focusing on people.
Otter.ai
Otter.ai is a real-time transcription tool. You can use it to record meetings, sermons, or trainings, and it will automatically generate a searchable, editable transcript.
How to Use It:
You can record your message on Sunday morning and have a full transcript before you finish your coffee. That transcript can then be used to write devotionals, blog posts, or small group discussion guides. It’s also great for volunteer or staff meetings when you want to make sure everyone’s on the same page afterward. No more assigning someone to take notes. They’re already done!
Notion
Notion is a powerful all-in-one workspace that helps churches stay organized and keep track of everything in one place, without the clutter of scattered docs and sticky notes.
How to Use It:
You can keep track of your sermon calendar, store past series notes, create planning docs for events, and assign tasks across your team. Add in the AI layer, and it’ll even help you summarize meetings, clean up messy notes, or generate to-do lists based on a brain dump. It's especially great if your team is remote, part-time, or made up of volunteers with scattered schedules.
A Quick Note on AI
Before you dive into any tool, remember that AI is still evolving. New features roll out all the time, and no tool is perfect right out of the gate. What works great for one church might not be the right fit for another.
If you’re trying something new, take a few minutes to read reviews or watch a quick tutorial first. Look for tools that feel intuitive to you. And remember, it’s okay to test and move on if something doesn’t work for your team.
AI for the Modern Church Leader
If you're ready to explore how technology can support your ministry, we’ve put together a free resource to guide you. AI for the Modern Church Leader is a practical guide to help you bring your team along and start using AI tools in a healthy, ministry-minded way.
And when you're ready for software that simplifies church communication, giving, check-in, and more, Tithely is here to help. We’re building tools that work the way real ministry works.
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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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