A South Korean futures scholar and church leader is calling on Christians worldwide to treat artificial intelligence as a gospel tool rather than a threat — and to train ordinary believers to use it for cross-cultural mission, Christian Daily International reported.
An Jong-bae, chairman of the International Futures Studies Association and co-representative of the Jeju AI World Mission Center, told Christian Daily Korea that the church must move beyond both fear and uncritical acceptance of AI and develop biblically grounded standards for its use.
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“AI is ultimately a tool, humans are the subjects, and God is the sovereign,” An said. “Whether AI becomes a blessing or a curse for humanity depends not on the technology itself, but on the values and faith of the people who use it.”
An’s central proposal is what he calls “AI media missionaries” — a vision in which pastors, Sunday school teachers, youth, worship leaders and laypeople alike use AI to produce and distribute gospel content across languages and cultures. He described it as the most urgent task facing the Korean church in the AI era.
“Good gospel content is not created simply by learning how to use AI tools,” he said. “Conviction about the gospel, a biblical worldview, sound theology, and an understanding of people and culture are all needed together.”
Field mission and digital mission
An told the Korean outlet that AI will not replace traditional field mission but expand it. He envisions a future in which missionaries physically present in a region are complemented by digital outreach that overcomes barriers of language, geography, time and cost.
“The greatest change in the AI era is that more Christians can participate in world mission, transcending barriers of language, region, time, and cost,” he said.
Real-time multilingual translation and locally adapted content production, he said, are the areas where AI can most immediately serve mission work. He also pointed to global online discipleship training and mission administration support as areas of growing potential.
But An stressed that human oversight remains non-negotiable. “AI can transfer language, but it does not perfectly understand culture and emotion. Multilingual content must always be reviewed by local language specialists and church leaders.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was originally published by Christian Daily International.
