Acclimatising church leadership to the thrills and spills of artificial intelligence in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) demonstrates extraordinary operational speed and has, paradoxically, brought both exciting opportunities and catastrophic challenges that could affect humanity on a global scale. While the Church is not of the world, she is in the world and also affected, like everyone else, by technological advancements. Consequently, it is progressive to acclimatise Church leadership with AI. Contemporary African ecclesiology will be retrograde if we neglect AI. Despite the integral position of leadership in determining the adoption of AI in the Church, little research has been done in Zimbabwe about ecclesiastic leadership and AI. This study employed a qualitative case study, engaged with the skills theory of leadership and conducted in-depth interviews with 15 randomly sampled leaders of different evangelical and Pentecostal members of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe. It uncovered that the majority of ecclesial leaders have limited understanding and adoption of AI. Using a descriptive and interpretive approach, this study reviewed the benefits, (mis)use and concerns regarding the management of AI in the Zimbabwean context of Church leadership and made recommendations for how AI should be managed. While we appreciate both the thrills and dangers related to AI, we conclude that Church leaders can, if they hone their application skills, optimise their work by using AI, or they can ruin themselves and their churches if they misunderstand and misuse it.

Contribution: This article enlightens and empowers Church leaders to engage with AI from an informed position for inclusive development.