10 AI Hacks to Transform Your KidMin

As a children’s ministry leader, you juggle a million responsibilities—preparing lessons, training volunteers, and planning events, just to name a few. What if AI could help lighten the load? Here are ten AI tips and tricks that can make your job easier and more efficient.

1. Fix Copy-and-Paste Formatting Issues from PDFs

Ever tried copying text from a PDF only to end up with a jumbled mess of formatting issues? AI can help! Simply copy and paste the text into ChatGPT and use this prompt:

Prompt: “Repeat this back to me verbatim, but clean up the formatting and put it in a Word document.”

AI will return the text in a clean format, saving you hours of frustration.

2. Create Captivating Stories from a Character’s Perspective

Storytelling is at the heart of children’s ministry. Instead of just summarizing a Bible story, bring it to life by having AI retell it from the perspective of a character. Try this prompt:

Prompt: “Imagine you're Peter in the boat when Jesus walks on water. Recount that story to a room full of elementary-age kids.”

You’ll get a vivid, engaging story that makes Scripture more relatable and memorable.

3. Use AI Personas to Tailor Your Resources

Need specific guidance for your unique ministry challenges? AI can adopt different personas to provide tailored advice. For example:

Prompt: “Imagine you're a children's ministry leader who has 25 volunteers struggling with classroom management. Create a training guide with a 5-step action plan to help them regain control. Include discussion and follow-up questions.”

This approach allows you to get customized solutions that fit your exact needs.

4. Customize AI to Better Understand You

ChatGPT allows you to turn on custom instructions, which means it can remember who you are, your role, and the type of responses you need. To enable this, go to 'Settings' in ChatGPT, click on 'Custom Instructions,' and fill out the fields about what you’d like ChatGPT to know about you and how you'd like it to respond.

This helps AI generate more relevant suggestions, saving you time and effort. Setting this up helps AI generate more relevant suggestions, saving you time and effort.

5. Unlock AI’s Full Capabilities

For maximum benefit, make sure to enable all of AI’s capabilities. To do this, go to 'Settings' in ChatGPT, click on 'Features,' and toggle on the options for Browsing, DALL-E, and Code Interpreter. These features include:

Browsing for up-to-date information, which can help you stay informed about the latest ministry resources, trends, and theological discussions.
DALL-E for generating images, which can be useful for creating custom Bible story visuals, lesson illustrations, or promotional materials for events.
Code Interpreter for analyzing data or organizing schedules, which can assist in managing volunteer sign-ups, tracking attendance, and streamlining event planning.

6. Explain Complex Theological Concepts to Kids

Children’s ministry often requires simplifying big theological ideas. AI can help break down difficult topics for young minds. Try this prompt:

“Explain the Trinity to a 6-year-old using a simple analogy.”

This ensures that deep biblical truths are communicated in an age-appropriate way.

7. Improve Your Prompts for Better Results

Sometimes, the hardest part of using AI is knowing what to ask. If your prompt is too vague, the response might not be helpful. If it's too detailed, you might get something overly complex. A great way to get better results is to refine your prompts with AI’s help. For example:

“Here is my prompt: ‘Write me a family devotional on Moses and the Burning Bush.’ I want you to improve it and explain why you made those improvements.”

This will help you craft better prompts that yield stronger, more useful responses.

8. Ask for Step-by-Step Explanations

When tackling a complex task, AI’s responses can sometimes feel overwhelming. To simplify things, add “step-by-step” to your prompt. Example:

“Explain how to set up a volunteer training program, step-by-step.”

This makes AI’s answers more structured and actionable.

9. Plan Your Next Conference Itinerary

Heading to a conference? Let AI help you plan your entire trip, from arrival to departure. Try:

“Here’s my travel schedule and the conference agenda. Create a detailed itinerary that includes when to arrive at the airport, transportation suggestions, must-see sites during downtime, moments to debrief with my team, and a structured plan for attending sessions and networking.”

This ensures you make the most of your time while avoiding stress and burnout.