How Is, Will, or Could AI Impact Cross-Cultural Ministry to the Unreached?

Like many people today, the first thing I did when I began reflecting on this question was to ask AI. It responded confidently: “AI is already beginning to impact cross-cultural ministry to the unreached in some profound and promising ways—and it could do much more.” It then offered a detailed and well-structured breakdown of how AI is, will, and could shape missions and outreach among unreached people groups. Ironically, it concluded with the statement “AI should supplement, not replace, human relationship and incarnational ministry.”

To me, though, this did not feel so much like a warm reminder as it was a polite—if somewhat perfunctory— gesture of sympathy.

The Golden Decade

Over a decade ago, when I first witnessed the rise of social media, I was exhilarated. In places like China—where the spread of Christianity has long been tightly restricted—new media burst onto the scene with incredible speed, effectively becoming a fait accompli. It opened the door to a certain level of freedom of speech, and thanks to its inherently social nature, a degree of freedom of association as well. This inspired me to pour myself into new-media missions.

Compared to the Church, the Chinese government showed a far greater interest in understanding and mastering new media—and it had farmore resources. They quickly grasped how it worked, creating multi-account ecosystems to reach different demographics, allowing state media to shape public opinion more subtly. Meanwhile, they ramped up censorship and imposed increasing pressure—such as mandatory real-name registration—which gradually shrank the space for public discourse, including Christian content. In March 2022, China officially implemented new internet regulations, marking what I see as the end of the “golden decade” for new-media missions in China.1

Bad Money Drives Out Good

But when I say the “golden decade,” I am referring to the rare window of opportunity it provided—not the Church’s performance during it. In fact, the overall Christian presence in that space could be summed up by the conclusion of a WeChat data survey we conducted in 2017: Bad money drives out good.2

The Church was caught off guard and unprepared by this sudden freedom. In contrast, savvy entrepreneurs quickly spotted commercial potential. As a result, sensational, low-quality, clickbait-style content flooded the platforms (a phenomenon seen on Facebook and other Western platforms, too).3 Even worse, many Christians became indifferent to the truth—spreading or even fabricating false news and conspiracy theories. This damaged the image of Christianity in the digital world and compromised the public witness of believers.

Algorithms—an early form of AI—only amplified this effect. By constantly feeding users content they liked, they created closed feedback loops: information cocoons that led to increasingly narrow and extreme worldviews. This dynamic was clearly on display in recent U.S. elections, as well as among Chinese churches. And that is where my current concerns about AI come in.

My Concerns on AI: Censorship and the Abuse of Free Speech

When DeepSeek launched in January this year, it received full endorsement and backing from the Chinese government.4 Government agencies and state-owned enterprises began adopting it rapidly, much like they had done with WeChat years ago. It will certainly continue to grow in power and reach. But the cost is already evident: Immense technological power combined with strict ideological censorship is turning China into an even more tightly sealed chamber—one that could be further from the real world, and harder than ever to reach.

Whether we are talking about China’s DeepSeek or America’s ChatGPT, all these large language models share a common flaw: They still have not solved the problem of “hallucinations”—delivering false or made-up answers with complete confidence. While there’s currently some public awareness of this, I can’t help but wonder: Will these AI engines, or the giants behind them, one day invoke the First Amendment to defend the free speech (read hallucinations) they themselves generate?

One thing is certain: AI makes it easier than ever to create fake content and makes that content look even more real. Technically speaking, we can no longer reliably distinguish what is real. And when we cannot recognize what is true, we stop verifying based on fact and start filtering based more on personal bias. That is far more dangerous and far more divisive.

AI, without question, will help us reach more unreached people groups—physically or virtually. But it may also make that task more difficult because it will make censorship smarter, barriers stronger, hallucinations more convincing, biases more entrenched, and society more divided.

My Hopes on AI: Awakening Human Relationships

Three years ago, when China was about to implement strict internet regulations, I shared my thought as: “I believe we’ll see these new laws inspire Christians to treasure and value new-media missions more deeply and use the internet with greater creativity and a stronger sense of calling to share the gospel.”5

Looking back now, while the Church in China has grown quieter, I have also witnessed many Christians remain active on platforms like TikTok and WeChat. They are using more public, non-religious language to share their faith and value communicating in ways that feel closer to real, everyday life. Various online lectures and gatherings are still quietly—but steadily—taking place. Online gatherings and offline church planting have started to be integrated more strategically. And more decentralized home groups have allowed people to build deeper, more intimate, and authentic relationships. More churches have begun to focus on the depth of believers’ spiritual lives, rather than merely counting attendance.

In the same way, AI will not replace human relationships, nor will it merely serve as a passive supplement. Through meaningful interaction and collaboration between humans and AI, it can help us focus more on meaningful work.

In science-fiction movies, the most terrifying scenario is when AI becomes sentient. Personally, I do not believe that will happen in real life. On the contrary, I believe AI will awaken a deeper longing in us for real, human relationships. It is like what happens in online dating: If chemistry is real, it inevitably leads to meeting in person.

When DeepSeek launched this January, I noticed something unique: It shared its thinking process, and now, almost all the language models are doing the same. This very feature reveals a fascinating paradox: AI is helping us recover critical thinking and discernment—skills we may have been losing by outsourcing our thinking to algorithms.6

While the term critical thinking may not appear explicitly in the Bible, Scripture consistently highlights qualities such as wisdom, discernment, and prudence, as well as the call to examine and hold fast to what is true (see Prov 14:15; 1 Thess 5:21; Rom 12:2).

Conclusion: Be Real & Authentic

In late March, a trend exploded on ChatGPT—users could upload a photo and, within minutes, generate a cute Studio Ghibli-style cartoon.7 Many of my Facebook friends changed their profile picture to these adorable portraits. I resisted for a few days but eventually gave in and tried it myself. But just like the flood of AI-generated music on YouTube, the novelty wore off quickly.

Why? Even though it looked like Ghibli, it was not Ghibli. It had the style, but not the soul. It is entertaining, but not inspiring. Yet it inspired me to watch “Spirited Away” again, a Ghibli classic.

As children of the light, we are called to be real and authentic. That is how we reach the unreached, and how we resist censorship, hallucinations, false news, and any work that is all style but lacks life, in order to bear witness to the light.

New media can help us reach people we were never able to reach before, greatly expanding the range of those we can connect with. AI can make us even more capable and more efficient in areas such as translation, Bible study, and more. But mission is ultimately about encountering real lives—it’s about the heart, soul, and mind. And only a real heart, soul, and mind can truly reach another. “Deep calls to deep…” (Ps 42:7).

So, while I cannot fully agree with AI’s tidy conclusion that “AI is a tool, not a savior”—it feels a bit too grand and churchy (even though the statement is both politically and biblically correct)—I do wholeheartedly agree with the verse it quoted and its final reflection:
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” (John 1:14). Even in the age of AI, the incarnational mission remains at the center.