Should Christian Writers Use AI to Write a Book?
Thinking about using AI to write a book? Shelley and CJ Hitz share where AI helps Christian writers, where it goes wrong, and why you should keep the pen.
Every conversation about AI and writing comes down to one question: who is holding the pen, and who is holding the plan?
The pen is your words, your stories and your testimony. The plan is the direction: what you write, who it is for and where it is going. CJ and I believe God holds the plan and you hold the pen.
So is using AI to write a book a good idea for a Christian writer? We don’t recommend letting AI write your book. Yet I use AI almost every day, and CJ uses it too. Both are true, because AI works as a tool when God sets the direction and your own words fill the page.
If you have been quietly wrestling with this, you are in good company. Many Kingdom Writers feel the pull of a tool that promises to do the hard part for them. Here is how we decided, where we draw the line, and how AI can serve your calling instead of replacing it.
Key Takeaways
- God holds the plan, you hold the pen. AI can serve as a tool, but it should never set your direction or write your words.
- We don’t recommend using AI to write a book. We do use it for marketing, brainstorming and feedback.
- Pray before you prompt. Ask God for the strategy before you open any AI tool.
- Let AI interview you instead of writing for you, so the stories come out in your own words.
- Verify everything AI tells you. It can give wrong answers and even invent testimonials.
Is Using AI to Write a Book Wrong for a Christian Writer?
Using AI is not wrong in itself, but we don’t recommend using AI to write a book for you. AI can be a helpful tool. The moment it starts holding the pen or the plan, something has gone wrong.
Writers fall along a whole spectrum here. Some Kingdom Writers use no AI at all, and we respect that. Others let AI draft entire chapters. CJ and I sit in the middle. I use AI for marketing, brainstorming and feedback, and I keep it out of the writing of my books.
Here is the line we draw. AI may help you think, organize and edit, but the words on the page should come from you and from your time with God. That line also matches how Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), its self-publishing platform, separates AI-assisted books from AI-generated ones, which we cover below.
How Did We Decide Whether to Use AI?
We prayed before we decided to use AI, and we keep praying, because the tools change constantly. I resisted for a long time. I worried Google would penalize our blog posts, I had no margin to learn something new, and letting a machine write for me felt wrong. It still does.
Then our copywriter stepped down to start his own business. Copywriting, the writing that helps you sell, drains me in a way teaching never has. For six or seven months I wrote every email, social post and sales page myself.
In November 2024, within days of each other, a close friend and one of my coaches both asked whether I had tried ChatGPT for my copy. I don’t think that was a coincidence. I prayed, sensed the Lord say “check it out,” and have been learning to use it responsibly ever since.
What Does “God Holds the Plan” Mean When You Use AI?
God holding the plan means AI never sets the direction for your book. As CJ puts it, there are good ideas and there are God ideas, and one God idea beats a thousand good ones. AI is a tool, not a guide or a compass.
CJ compares AI to a knife. A knife can hurt someone or cut someone free, and the hand holding it decides which. Moses had a staff and David had a sling. The power was never in the tool.
1 John 2:27 reminds us, “you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you.”
When the Spirit sounds a warning bell, we pay attention. So CJ’s habit is simple: pray before you prompt. Like the prophet in Habakkuk 2:1, “climb up to my watchtower” and “wait to see what the Lord says” before you open any tool.
Why Don’t We Recommend Letting AI Write Your Book?
We don’t recommend letting AI write your book because your book needs to carry your voice, your experience and your stories. You also can’t fully know where an AI tool’s words came from.
You will hear slick internet marketers promise you can write a book in a weekend with AI. It is tempting, because the writing is the hard part. But a book God placed on your heart is meant to come through you.
There is a practical reason too. Amazon’s KDP content guidelines require you to disclose AI-generated text, images or translations, “even if you applied substantial edits afterwards.”
AI-assisted content, where you wrote the words and used AI to brainstorm, edit or error-check, needs no disclosure. Nobody knows yet what Amazon may do with that information later. Part two of this series walks through the rules in detail.
How Can AI Help You Write Without Writing for You?
AI helps most when it asks you questions instead of answering them for you. Here is my interview method for a chapter that won’t come:
- Pray and ask God what the chapter needs to say.
- Open ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and paste in your chapter outline.
- Ask it to interview you.
- Answer in your own words, out loud or on paper.
I often do this in voice mode on a walk, earbuds in.
AI also works as an editing companion. My self-editing tool won’t rewrite your work. It flags crutch words or a scene missing emotion, and you do the rewriting, the same principle behind our five steps to self-editing.
Heather, a member of our community, said AI “is great for generating ideas for things that are not our actual writing–but things like ideas for social media posts, marketing copy, etc. that just give inspiration, and then you use your own writing and ideas to actually create the content.”
Where Does AI Go Wrong for Writers?
AI goes wrong in two ways: it gives wrong answers, and it can change how we think. Even OpenAI’s own Terms of Use, which govern ChatGPT, warn that output “may not always be accurate.”
I found this out researching live-streaming software for our YouTube channel. The AI steered me toward one tool. When I dug in myself, I found another with the same features for $30 a month less.
Invented content is worse. We have gathered hundreds of testimonials since Christian Book Academy began in 2015. More than once, I have handed an AI tool those testimonials and watched it write a new one. When I asked, it admitted it had made it up.
Let AI do first-pass research, then verify everything it tells you, especially anything about a person. You can train a tool with memory or saved instructions, but you still need to stay involved.
Can Using AI Make You Feel Like a Fraud?
Yes. When AI does too much of the thinking or writing, many writers start to wonder whether the work is theirs. Kingdom Writers feel this sharply, because authenticity matters so much to us.
I learned it firsthand. While testing AI so I could teach our members, I asked it only to brainstorm a book. It took over and started writing the book for me. They were my ideas and my stories, yet I felt like a fraud right away. After that, I put strict guardrails on how I use AI.
The other risk is dependence. People call it brain rot: we stop exercising the muscle of our own mind. A one-on-one client recently told me she had leaned on AI too much. Think of yourself as the conductor of an orchestra, with AI as one instrument. If something feels off, you don’t have to use it.
What Does It Look Like When AI Serves Your Calling?
AI serves your calling in three places, CJ says: marketing, brainstorming you bring back to God, and feedback on words you already wrote. Most writers we serve would rather write ten chapters than one social post.
Susan came into our Author AI Workshop afraid of AI. Afterward she wrote, “the fear is gone – can’t wait to try AI and make it my assistant – this is what I’ve been needing.” Tammy said, “I’m not afraid of it now in helping me without doing all of my writing and taking away my voice.”
Patty used our outline AI tool for her novel. It gave her “the starting conversation,” and she added that “my characters are led by the Spirit more than an outline sometimes.” That is the right order: the tool offers ideas, and the Spirit leads.
Paula put it this way: “Now I know I can ALWAYS ask the Holy Spirit in to this process, and not feel enslaved to the AI leading.”
Where Are You on the AI Spectrum?
Picture a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means no AI at all and 10 means AI does the writing. CJ and I land around a 5. We use AI to brainstorm and give feedback, and never to write the book.
| Task | Our approach | Who holds the pen |
|---|---|---|
| Prayer and book direction | No AI | God and you |
| Brainstorming titles or outlines | AI can help | You decide |
| Getting stories out of your head | AI interviews you | You |
| Drafting chapters | No AI | You |
| Self-editing feedback | AI flags, you rewrite | You |
| Marketing emails and social posts | AI helps most here | You approve |
Wherever you land, give other writers grace. Many Kingdom Writers choose no AI, and thoughtful Christians make that case well. In a Christianity Today essay from April 2026, Nadya Williams calls using AI to write “a disordered and deforming means of fulfilling a good desire.” These are our convictions, held with open hands.
Want Help Using AI Without Losing Your Voice?
AI can’t do the most important part for you. You still have to sit down and write. That is why we host the free 15-minute Writing Restart call on the first Wednesday of every month, where Kingdom Writers set aside time and write together.
If you want guardrails built in, come join us inside Christian Book Academy, our membership community for Kingdom Writers.
Members get 17 AI tools for brainstorming and feedback that are instructed not to rewrite your words, plus our AI for Christian Writers guide. We pay for the AI usage, so the tools cost you nothing extra. You will also find monthly virtual writing retreats, Progress Pods and 15-minute writing challenges.
Use coupon code AIWRITERS to join Christian Book Academy for $1 your first month. After that, membership is $49 a month.
Final Thoughts
Whatever you decide about AI, remember the order. God holds the plan. You hold the pen. AI, if you use it at all, is a tool in your hand and never the voice on the page.
If you want a place to start, our four steps to writing a Christian book begin with prayer, not a prompt, and so do these prayers for writers.
The Lord did not call a machine to write your book. He called you. Climb the watchtower, listen for His direction, and then write the next sentence in your own words. He is faithful to finish what He started in you.
Next week, in part two of this series, we walk through exactly what Amazon KDP asks you to disclose about AI, including your cover and illustrations. Where are you on the AI spectrum? Bring your number to our next Writing Restart call.