ChatGPT is the natural language processing tool that's taking the tech world by storm. It's an AI chatbot that is part of a growing wave of artificial intelligence programs released to the public and is already helping countless people with content creation. If you're a pastor, this program can greatly benefit your work in ministry.
Below are 11 ways you can use Chat GPT as you write your next sermon, plus a cool BONUS way. I've provided effective prompts for ChatGPT that I use and step-by-step instructions. Read on for a comprehensive ChatGPT Sermon Writing 101 Bootcamp!
For my demonstration, I will be preaching a sermon on the topics of God's love and adoption. I already know my primary verse - Ephesians 1:5. I will be using ChatGPT as an aide as I draft an outline, come up with a good sermon title, develop memorable illustrations, research other verses, and other common tasks I do as I prepare a sermon.
In each section, I will share the prompts I entered so you can use them too. I recommend you experiment and try your own prompts to discover what works for you.
Note: The prompts you'll find in this article are just suggestions to get you started. Fill in your information or needs as you copy and paste them into the program. The rule of thumb is: Give ChatGPT everything you already have so it can incorporate it into its results.
Everyone gets hit by writer's block now and then, including pastors. If you need a little inspiration for your next sermon or series, ask ChatGPT for ideas.
Asking something like "What are some great sermon topics?" is a start, but will only give you very generic answers. Take your prompt further by feeding ChatGPT specific topics or passages in your requests.
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Sermon Inspiration
ChatGPT can help you structure your thoughts by providing a sermon outline complete with headings, subheadings, and bullet points. This will also give your sermons better flow and composition.
However, this requires more than just feeding ChatGPT a topic and verse and letting it run. You need to "stage" the program to enhance the content it creates. Read the prompts section below for instructions.
Here is what I requested for my Ephesians 1:5 sermon and a snippet of what ChatGPT provided:
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Sermon Outlines
Most pastors treat the sermon title as an afterthought. I used to until I realized something crucial: We only have one chance to get people's attention. Even though we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, most people determine whether they will take the time to listen to your sermon by the title. So we have to maximize the title's ability to catch their interest.
This is a strength of OpenAI's program. If there's anything ChatGPT knows, it's what people on the internet have spent their time and attention on.
In the same conversation, tell ChatGPT you need a title for this sermon. You can add qualifiers like "humorous" or "thought-provoking", as well as tell it what you want it to mention (i.e. mention the cross).
Here is what I entered for the Ephesians 1:5 sermon:
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Sermon Titles
Story-telling is one of the most effective devices for conveying truth. So let's add a good illustration to our sermon.
ChatGPT can not only give you great illustration ideas but can write the entire script for that illustration.
Here is what I entered for the Ephesians 1:5 sermon:
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Sermon Illustrations
In the same conversation, ask ChatGPT to feed you more verses around the main topic or theme of the lesson.
In the past, I would head straight to Google and search something like "Bible verses about adoption", then have to sift through a series of links to find useful verses. Instead of requiring you to click several links to find one that has what you're looking for, ChatGPT will compile all of the relevant verses together, even in different Bible translations, saving you an enormous amount of time.
Writing "Are there Bible verses that mention adoption?" yielded four great passages. You can further modify similar requests by asking for verses only from the Old/New Testament or by specifying which book you want to search from.
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Bible Research
Use ChatGPT to plot an entire sermon series or schedule the next few weeks/months of sermons. It can go so far as to give you sermon ideas for each Sunday in a series, give you a focal passage for each sermon, then plan when you preach them.
Here are the steps:
Here are the prompts I used for my series on God's love and adoption:
The answer ChatGPT gave me retained the entire conversation I had with it before these prompts. The final sermon in the series it offered was titled "The Call to Care of the Orphan" with a focus on James 1:27 and a call to get involved in adoption and foster care. That was something I brought up when asking for an outline! It recalled that request and added it to this series without me prompting it to do so. Impressive!
Below are prompts you can use to get started.
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Sermon Planning (if you already know the sermon titles)
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Sermon Planning (if you don't know the sermon titles)
OpenAI not only trained it to know a lot of data but to communicate it in a conversational style. So you can have a back-and-forth dialogue that feels very natural. Take advantage by turning the program into a conversation partner by employing the Feynman technique!
I've found this prompt to be very effective at staging ChatGPT to work as a conversation partner:
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Topic Research
Poor grammar can distract from the important truths you're trying to convey.
Ask ChatGPT to assess the grammar of your sermon script or outline. The program can highlight grammatical errors and help you deliver your points with confidence.
Here are the prompts I have used when asking ChatGPT to check my grammar.
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Topic Research
OpenAI trained its language model on 95 languages and they add new languages in their updates. That means you can use it to translate your sermons to share the Gospel with more people!
It can also act as an English translator for Greek and Hebrew. You can use this tool to better understand the original languages of Scripture, helping unlock a deeper understanding of the text.
Translating text from one language to another is simple.
Best ChatGPT Prompt for Translating Text
Translating from your native language to the ancient biblical languages is also very simple.
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Ancient Greek/Hebrew
OpenAI also created Whisper. You will need some coding experience to install and run it. But if you or someone in your congregation has the know-how, it is well worth the time to set it up. Here are some helpful Whisper setup instructions to get you started. The best part is that it's free!
If your sermons are posted to Youtube or other social media platforms, creating a concise summary of the sermon will help increase the video watch rates. It can also help the sermon rank higher in a Google search if you add the right keywords.
But a sermon summary can be added anywhere! You can include it in your email newsletter, the church bulletin, discussion guides, social media posts, and anywhere else people may encounter the sermon.
Just add your sermon notes into the program and ask it to summarize what you entered. You can also specify how many words you want the summary to be!
Best ChatGPT Prompt for Sermon Summaries
Even the best church websites overlook one fantastic opportunity for church website SEO: the sermon! All you need is an SEO-rich sermon summary.
Do some keyword research ahead of time. I typically rely on Google Keyword Planner and also spend time scanning Google search suggestions. Once you find two or three good search terms, enter them into ChatGPT as you ask it to summarize your sermon and the program will add those terms to the summary.
I found this local SEO guide to be very helpful for anyone just getting started.
Here's what I did for my sermon, and below are the steps I followed to get to this point:
Steps for Sermon SEO
ChatGPT offers plenty of opportunities to serve your needs as you serve your church. All it takes is a little practice with the program to see what it can do for you.
To learn more about ChatGPT, its limitations, some causes for concerns, and tips for how to use ChatGPT effectively, read my Chat GPT: Your Sermon Writing Sidekick, Not Replacement post.
ChatGPT is a remarkable and powerful tool. Its text-based output is especially useful for ministers tasked with sharing the Gospel. As new updates are released, you may find even more ways you can use ChatGPT for ministry!
Matt
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