Give Your Team Permission to Explore AI (Here's Our Actual Training)
You don't have to understand AI to start talking about it. The easiest way I've found to help a team adopt a new technology is almost embarrassingly simple. Just train on it. I know how that sounds. But new technology brings new questions and new opportunities, and the hardest part is rarely the tool itself. It's figuring out how to give your people permission to start using it. You don't do that by handing them a perfect, finished solution. You do it by talking about it out loud.
Here's the shift that changed things for us. I stopped trying to be the person with all the answers on AI, and I started being the person who models curiosity about it. I lean into how I use the technology, imperfectly and out loud, and the prayer is that it unlocks something for the people watching. The hope is that they start to see where AI could fit into their daily work and roles, for problems only they know they have.
Because that's the real goal. You are not trying to make every staff member an AI expert. You are trying to get them problem-solving. The moment a children's ministry director, facilities manager, or worship pastor starts asking, "Wait, could this help me with that thing I do every week?" you've won. That question is worth more than any polished rollout, and it only comes after someone gives them permission to ask it.
What Our Training Looked Like
My church recently ran an AI training to help our broader staff start actually using these tools instead of just hearing about them. A couple of honest notes before you borrow any of this.
We're a Google shop. Google is our default across the board, so our training leans heavily into the tools our staff already have in front of them every day. If your church runs on Microsoft, or something else entirely, don't get hung up on that. Swap "Google" for whatever platform your team already lives in and the principles carry over cleanly. And if you're not already using Google for Nonprofits, it's genuinely worth a look. It's a great fit for a church budget.
We also broke the training into five parts, moving from mindset to real, live examples from our own staff.
Part 1. How to think about using AI as a staff member. The mindset before the mechanics. What AI is good at, what it isn't, and how to approach it as a helper rather than a threat.
Part 2. Beginner ways to use AI. The lowest-risk, highest-comfort entry points to get people's hands on it for the first time.
Part 3. Immediate ways to use AI. The stuff you can apply to your actual job the very same afternoon, but requires a deeper understanding of how AI works.
Part 4. Advanced ways to use AI. Where it goes once the fear is gone and people start getting creative.
Part 5. Staff shares how AI makes them more productive. Real examples, in their own words. This part did more to inspire the room than anything I said from the front.
That last section is the secret. Nothing gives a hesitant team member permission quite like hearing a peer, someone at the desk next to them, say, "Here's the boring task I used to dread, and here's how I handed part of it off." Experts on a stage inspire admiration. Coworkers inspire action.
Steal This and Make It Yours
Below are our raw notes, the keynote PDF, and the PowerPoint slide file. Take them, edit them, cut what doesn't fit, and make the whole thing sound like your church instead of mine.
You don't need to feel ready. You don't need to have it all figured out. You just need to start the conversation, because that’s what gets your team solving problems you didn't even know they had.
So start training your team on AI today. Don't wait for clarity. Don't wait for the perfect curriculum. Just start talking about it.
Want the video recording of the training? Reach out through my Contact page, and I'll send it your way.
