The Church’s Competitive Advantage Isn’t Your Sermon Anymore
If you look at the social media channels of a variety of churches, most churches are still leading with the sermon as their main way to attract people. And, for sure, the sermon is one of the most important things the pastor spends their time on.
Here’s the problem. A lot has changed in the last few decades. And the changes explain why even great preaching may no longer be the competitive advantage it once was.
Here’s why.
The Great Scarcity Flip
For centuries, access to information was scarce, but friendship and human connection were plentiful.
If you wanted to hear a sermon, you had to physically attend church or order the cassette tape. Hence the scarcity. It wasn’t easy to find or get good preaching.
Conversely, most people also had close relationships. People would drop by unannounced, and most people were surrounded by friends and family.
Now, that equation has flipped.
Today, people spend more than seven hours a day online, while time spent with friends has dropped by nearly twenty hours per month since 2003. Despite our constant digital connection, rates of loneliness have doubled in the last fifty years. Nearly half of Americans report feeling lonely.
And the consequences aren’t only emotional. The social isolation we’re experiencing raises the risk of premature death by 29 percent, and loneliness does the same by 26 percent. The health impact is equivalent to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. These statistics are from prior to the AI age, which means the effects of loneliness are likely to only intensify.
Fast-forward to today, and anyone can access an endless library of sermons from the best communicators in the world—free, instant, and on demand. As AI develops, we’re sure to see a proliferation of theological content and even AI preaching surge.
This means the competitive advantage of the local church might no longer be content. What if it’s community and connection?
We’re Still Dropping Sermons Like It’s 1999
Still, most churches operate as if it’s the 1990s… when the message was the main event.
Scroll through church websites and social feeds, and you’ll find lines like this: “Join us for our new series Sunday at 9 and 11.” “Don’t miss last week’s message—available on demand.” “I can’t wait to share a brand-new message with you!” In fact, that’s often all you’ll find on church social platforms.
We’ve built entire models around the sermon as the centerpiece. As though dropping information was the unique thing we offer as a church. Why would we market what’s abundant and neglect what’s scarce? It might be a habit, but it’s not a strategy.
Please take preaching seriously. The Word of God never returns empty. But also know that we live in an era when tens of thousands of other sermons are every bit as accessible as yours.
Here’s what most leaders still miss: scarcity drives value. It always has and always will.
It’s true of waterfront property, a LeBron James rookie card, skilled labor, rare wines, vintage stamps, or toilet paper during a COVID lockdown—anything in limited supply is more valuable than things that are plentiful.
So yes, the preaching of the Word in and out of season is a nonnegotiable. We cannot and should not stop pouring our hearts into faithfully preaching the Word.
But preaching is not the only valuable thing we offer. Community is the new scarcity, and the church is literally sitting on a storehouse of relational gold.
Technology Connects Devices. Community Connects Souls.
For almost nine decades, researchers at Harvard have studied what makes people feel successful. The answer isn’t your résumé. It’s your relationships. The people who had close relationships in childhood and at midlife were the healthiest and happiest at age eighty. Not just emotionally, but physically.
Jesus, when asked what the greatest commandment was, said it was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Both of these commandments are relational.
It makes sense, then, that as AI depersonalizes life and moves us deeper into synthetic relationships than social media ever did, the church should focus on human connection as a priority.
Many churches have neglected true community and connection. We think we’re doing okay as long as attendance and views are trending up and people are being baptized.
The church’s future direction is human connection. As the world becomes more artificial, the church’s calling is to become more human.
But scarcity isn’t what it used to be. Your sermon isn’t your competitive advantage anymore: community is.
Maybe it’s time to start thinking more deeply about how to elevate community in your church.
AI and the Future Church is Carey’s new book on the ministry, strategy, theological, and ethical issues AI poses for church leaders in the age of AI.
The book releases September 15, 2026.
Pre-order and get free pre-order bonuses at AIFuture.Church.
