I’ve recently been on a quite staggering OM webinar on the potential uses of ChatGPT in ministry and mission, and emerged blown away by the realistic, time-saving and straightforward possibilities available to all of us!
With the big caveat that one has to double check because it’s not always right and even makes things up, here are things that we were shown it could be asked to do:
Analyse event feedback for key themes and their frequency
Write an agenda for a meeting based on the previous ones you sent it
Provide a sermon illustration about forgiveness
Offer practical biblical steps for helping a bereaved person
Make suggestions to improve clarity and professionalism of an email
Create appropriate graphics
Create advertising copy
Create a video script
Create a thank you letter for a donor
Create fundraising ideas
Translate
And the point was made that, after you give it feedback, it will then produce a better version of what it’s just done (uncomplainingly!)
It was only a 30 minute webinar, superbly run by Tami Zacharias and Brandon Craig of Operation Mobilization (to whom big thanks, also for their willingness for me to circulate this!) — but I was astonished at the way they showed us it doing the following, right there and then:
They asked it to produce a conference programme (I forget the conference topic, Christian obviously), with scriptures for each session, also for each session how it could be interactive, icebreaker activities, questions for small group work, materials needed, and a 2-minute overview of each session.
They also asked it to provide, for a sermon on discipleship, 5 relevant scripture passages and what part of the topic of discipleship they applied to, along with real-life examples.
It did these things instantly.
Brandon also showed us how he had asked ChatGPT to act as a Japanese unbeliever being evangelized, for his own training, and give feedback – it certainly gave very thorough questions.
And lastly another participant mentioned it had produced when asked a children’s story on the great missionary Hudson Taylor’s life, with appropriate colouring for each section.
Wow.
It already supports a number of languages, including Spanish, French, and Russian.
Now like I say, what ChatGPT produces has to be checked very carefully for accuracy and, obviously, biblical faithfulness. You can’t just ask it to produce a sermon and then simply get up and preach what it gives you!! And it’s all too easy to see how this time-saving shortcut could all too easily cut out prayer – or cause us to seek God’s direction only once the bulk and vital shape of what we’re going to use is already decided by what has come from ChatGPT. These are disciplines we’re going to need if we use this tool!
Also, I’m not a techie (really in writing this I’m reverting to a past life as a journalist), so not the person to give practical advice on getting started with it. But the login page is https://openaimaster.com/chat-gpt-login/ , and when I googled `chatgpt start` a number of beginners’ guides came up. However, Tami pointed me in particular to a LinkedIn post from Zain Kahn on how to use ChatGPT for beginners, on
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zainkahn_everyone-is-talking-about-chatgpt-but-only-activity-7071824762078924801-2skF?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
— but it’s so stimulating I’m going to copy it here:
`Everyone is talking about ChatGPT. But only 14% of people have used it (source: Pew data). 10 beginner ChatGPT prompts to help you get started:
1. Train ChatGPT to generate prompts for you.
Use this prompt: “I’m new to using ChatGPT and I am a [insert your profession]. Generate a list of the 10 best prompts that will help me be more productive.”
2. Improve your writing by getting specific feedback.
Prompt: [paste your writing]
“Proofread my writing above. Fix grammar and spelling mistakes. And make suggestions that will improve the clarity of my writing.”
3. Create a winning resume to help you land your next job.
Prompt: Analyze my professional details below and create a persuasive resume that will help me get the job of [enter job details]: [Enter your professional details]
4. Accelerate your learning with the 80/20 principle.
Prompt: “I want to learn about [insert topic]. Identify and share the most important 20% of learnings from this topic that will help me understand 80% of it.”
5. Learn and develop any new skill.
Prompt: “I want to learn / get better at [insert desired skill]. I am a complete beginner. Create a 30 day learning plan that will help a beginner like me learn and improve this skill.”
6. Save time by summarizing long texts and documents.
Prompt: “Summarize the text below and give me a list of bullet points with key insights and the most important facts.”
[insert text]
7. Use stories and metaphors to aid your memory.
Prompt: “I am currently learning about [insert topic]. Convert the key lessons from this topic into engaging stories and metaphors to aid my memorization.”
[This one could be potentially time-saving in preparing talks – Pete]
8. Accelerate your career by learning from the best.
Prompt: “Analyze the top performers in [insert your field of work]. Give me a list of the most important lessons I can learn from these top performers to boost my productivity.”
9. Understand things faster by simplifying complex texts.
Prompt: “Rewrite the text below and make it easy for a beginner to understand.” [insert text]
[That’s another one potentially relevant to preparing talks – Pete]
10. Ask ChatGPT to help you become better at using ChatGPT.
Prompt: “Create a beginner’s guide to using ChatGPT. Topics should include prompts, priming, and personas. Include examples. The guide should be no longer than 500 words.”`
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(Zain Kahn says: If you liked this, join Superhuman – my newsletter with 275k+ readers that teaches you how to leverage AI to boost your productivity: https://lnkd.in/dVQkm5r2.)
