News brief
Aligned’s October results offer a window into existing users, not a national count of pastors adopting AI.
A new survey from Aligned Leader offers a useful but limited view of how church leaders approach AI. Its October 5–26 fieldwork collected answers from 420 people with Aligned Leader or Aligned Church accounts. Participation was voluntary, results were unweighted, and respondents already used an AI tool in ministry. The report is by AlignedAI founder Jonathan Bodnar. Source: aligned.church
The denominator changes with the question. Of 414 respondents, 212 said congregants had asked them about approaching AI as believers, either occasionally or often. The report’s 68% figure for research and Bible study instead describes 78 of the 115 people who voluntarily described an AI use in written answers. It is not 68% of all respondents, let alone all pastors. Source: aligned.church
The report also acknowledges that introductory material before two questions may have encouraged caution. These disclosures matter: the findings describe this sample’s answers under these conditions, not a representative national adoption rate. Source: aligned.church
Barna’s June 15 report used a different design: an online survey of 442 U.S. Protestant pastors conducted in December 2025, with quotas for church size, denomination and region. It reported 36% using AI for biblical or theological research. The research series is produced with Gloo. Source: barna.com
Comparing that percentage directly with Aligned’s 68% would manufacture a trend. The samples, dates and questions differ, and an open response about a use is not the same measurement as a structured usage question. Neither figure tells a church whether an AI-generated interpretation is accurate.
The distinction makes the newer survey more usable, not worthless. It can help a leadership team identify questions worth asking locally without supplying the answers for that congregation. For example, a church could separately ask whether people use AI, what tasks they use it for, and what help they want evaluating an answer. Those are suggested questions, not a survey this publication has conducted.
For Christian leaders discussing these results publicly, numerical precision is a form of care for listeners. Ephesians 4:25–32 connects truthful speech with life together and words that serve others’ needs. The passage concerns relationships within the Christian community; it is not a statistical method or proof of an AI tool’s reliability. Ephesians 4:25-32 (NIV)
Our application is to keep the population attached to the percentage. Saying who answered prevents an interesting finding from becoming pressure on congregants to follow a supposed majority. It also leaves room for those whose experience differs.
Before putting a survey number in a sermon slide or policy paper, check three things: who was eligible, who actually answered that question, and exactly what was asked. Use the result to open a conversation, not to claim that everyone else has already settled it.
Aligned Leader: The 2026 Pastors & AI Survey
Source-led brief on October survey results and their measurement limits, with explicitly older Barna context. No new survey, interviews, product test or independent reproduction of the data. Practical questions are editorial analysis. Produced with AI assistance under human editorial direction. The editor shapes the coverage and takes responsibility for the final published content. AI-generated illustration of an imagined church office; the papers do not depict actual survey responses or results.
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