Artificial intelligence is shaping classrooms, conversations, and communities. At Grace Christian University, a recent workshop brought faculty, staff, and students together to talk openly about how we think about AI, how we use it, and how it connects with our identity as image-bearers of God.
The event, hosted by the Student Success Committee and senior staff, featured Professor Emily Gehman and Professor Jake Rogers. Both spoke candidly about opportunities, challenges, and biblical implications. Their insights reminded students that while AI is powerful, it can never replace the distinctly human call to think, love, and create.
Imagining the Future of AI
The conversation began with a thought experiment:
“Imagine that the next few years you marry, have a kid, and 20 years from now, they become a freshman at Grace Christian University. And they cannot be a student here unless they bring with them their own personal AI system.”
The question sparked discussion. Some thought it was a plausible scenario, just like how personal laptops and smartphones became standard for education. Others pushed back, saying it seemed extreme.
As Professor Jake Rogers pointed out:
“So it’s actually like a lot of things about technology we have today that would seem very ridiculous to certain people from 30–40 years ago. And I think it’s probably reasonable to project… there’s going to be some really crazy things that we’re not expecting.”
Technology, Prediction, and Human Limits
The workshop highlighted how difficult it is to predict the trajectory of technology. In the 1960s, humans imagined colonies on Mars by the year 2000. Instead, what emerged was something far less expected, social media platforms that shape teenage mental health in ways few foresaw.. Its benefits and problems may not be the ones we expect today. If you’re really comfortable with it, I think it’s good to be cautious just because we don’t know how to, because we don’t know what it’s going to do to us long term, socially and psychologically.
Thinking and Loving Cannot Be Outsourced
Professor Emily Gehman reminded the group that the conversation about AI is ultimately about being human.
She began with a verse:
“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
From there, she explained:
“We’re not here to tell you what to think. We’re here to teach you how to think.”
Her reflections drew from the truth that humans are created in God’s image. Gehman emphasized that some attributes belong only to God: omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence. But God also gave us communicable attributes, traits we share in part because we are made in His image. Two of the most important, she argued, are thinking and loving.
“Thinking and loving… These are two things that you should not outsource to AI.” – Prof. Emily Gehman
Writing as Thinking
Gehman, who teaches English, described how writing is inseparable from thinking:
“Writing is thinking. A lot of times I’ve sat down to write something… by the time I finish writing it, I thought differently about that issue because I spent the time working through it in my head long enough to get it on the page.”
Assignments, she explained, are not about producing a perfect paper. They are about cultivating the ability to think deeply, to wrestle with ideas, and to communicate them clearly. Outsourcing that process to AI risks short-circuiting what makes education valuable, and what makes us human.
Creativity and the Image of God
Gehman also placed creativity under the umbrella of thinking.
“Creativity comes from your human experience. It comes from a depth of emotion. from joy. and from sorrow.”
She pointed to the Psalms as examples of creativity born from deep human experience. For Gehman, when students hand creativity over to AI, they risk surrendering something sacred.
Love and Relationships
The second attribute Gehman highlighted was love.
“God is love… and he has given us the ability to love other people. This goes for community, for friendship and relationships, and it also goes for romance.”
She warned against outsourcing relationships to AI, noting that technology cannot provide accountability, presence, or sacrificial love.
Community, she stressed, is a gift from God, and one that technology can never replace.
Image of God and Human Accountability
The conversation often came back to Scripture. The imago Dei, the image of God, anchors the Christian belief that people are uniquely created by Him. As Genesis 1:27 reminds us: So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
AI may simulate thought, but it cannot bear God’s image. It cannot be accountable before Him. Only humans are responsible for their actions and relationships with God.
This distinction helps Christians discern: tools may be used, but they must not replace the human call to think, love, and flourish as image-bearers.
Professor Jake Rogers: AI as a Tool, Not a Replacement
Professor Jake Rogers offered a complementary perspective. He acknowledged the dangers but also emphasized that humans have always developed tools to extend creativity and productivity.
“Don’t offload the wrong task.” – Prof. Jake Rogers
Tools Throughout History
Rogers walked through examples: the plow, the printing press, the phone, and now the smartphone. Each innovation changed culture and carried trade-offs.
“As boats are built, people don’t lose that ability… as writing is established, it’s unlikely that writing will go away.”
Technology, once embedded, becomes part of human life. The question is not whether AI will remain, but how it will be used
Responsible Use and Guardrails
Rogers explained that tools can serve human flourishing, but only when used responsibly. For him, AI is best seen as a partner in coding, research, or organizing data. But it becomes problematic when students use it to bypass the hard work of thinking and learning.
He shared his own use case: building an app to help catalog Proverbs for a class project. AI saved him time, but he still had to think critically, evaluate, and apply discernment.
“That’s a cool way to do it. But if you just say, ‘Write me a five-page paper,’ and learn nothing in the process, that’s not right. That’s offloading the wrong task.”
Practical Applications for Students
The workshop explored concrete ways AI might intersect with academic life:
- Proofreading: Helpful for catching small errors but should not erase a student’s authentic voice.
- Research assistance: Useful for generating search terms or checking summaries, but students must still read and evaluate sources themselves.
- Coding and technical projects: AI can speed up learning and problem-solving but requires foundational knowledge to judge accuracy.
- Brainstorming: Instead of asking AI to “generate ideas,” students could ask it to “ask me questions” that spark deeper thinking.
These examples highlighted the balance: AI can be a tutor, but not a substitute.
Discernment and Christian Formation
Both professors tied the conversation back to spiritual formation.
“If you outsource your thinking, then you’re not engaging in that spiritual formation… Discernment is a marker of spiritual maturity.” – Prof. Emily Gehman
Grace Christian University’s mission is not just to teach skills, but to form courageous ambassadors for Christ. That requires cultivating discernment, not dependency.
Rogers echoed this with a reminder that Christians must evaluate tools by worldview:
“If we can’t say no to technology, then technology is the master of us. We are not the master of it.”
Wisdom for the Age of AI
The workshop closed with encouragement for students:
- Use AI with wisdom, not fear.
- Remember that technology always involves trade-offs, efficiency gained may mean something else lost.
- Protect distinctly human callings: thinking, loving, creating, and building community.
As Professor Gehman summed it up:
“When we outsource our thinking and our love, our relationships, our community to AI, we are the ones missing out. This is not just how to use AI ethically. This is how to be a holistic, well-rounded, thought-provoking, loving human being.”
At Grace Christian University, that’s the ultimate goal, equipping students not only with knowledge, but with the wisdom to live as faithful ambassadors of Christ.
