God In The Algorithm: Coders Are Building AI For The Church
On Aug. 21, 2025, a Nigerian developer named Dara Sobaloju posted what he saw as just another idea on X.
“I want to build a Bible presentation AI agent for church use,” he wrote. “Imagine Bible verses coming up on screen as the pastor preaches just based on what he's talking about or his paraphrases and quotes. I want to build this completely in public, starting today.”
The X post struck a nerve. Pastors, developers and churchgoers flooded the replies with questions and encouragement. Not long afterwards, Sobaloju had a brand designer, a product document, and a name for his innovation: Pewbeam AI.
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The project has become a small emblem of a growing wave of Nigerian Christians building technology tools specifically for the church, with the specific constraints of Nigerian ministry in mind.
Sobaloju said he nursed the idea for two years after watching what happens when a preacher misquotes or paraphrases a scripture verse during a sermon.
“I saw firsthand how it disorients the speaker,” he said.
The disruption is a familiar frustration in Nigerian churches, where services routinely involve live scripture display for large congregations.
Pewbeam’s design focuses on three layers: speech-to-text processing in real time with minimal delay, an offline-first architecture with optional connectivity and contextual accuracy to ensure the verse matches the preacher's intent rather than just keyword-matching words. The offline-first approach is the product's core value proposition in a country where internet access during services cannot be assumed.
“Anything that can work in Nigeria can work outside Nigeria,” Sobaloju said. “It’s a harsh environment.”
He is using Faster Whisper, an optimized version of OpenAI’s voice recognition model, to power the speech processing. The system also supports what he calls a “direct call”: When a pastor explicitly names a verse, it appears on screen instantly.
Pewbeam’s website describes the system as one that “understands meaning, not just words, to find the exact Scripture every time” and works “without internet — fast, private, and dependable anywhere.”
Not alone in the space
Sobaloju’s project is just one of several in Nigeria. Last year, the Deeper Christian Life Ministry launched Ask Kumuyi, an AI chatbot that fields questions about sermons from its Pastor W.F. Kumuyi.
The Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the world with nine million members, runs an AI chatbot called Apostle Stephen, which greets users with: “Hi there, I am Apostle Stephen, the RCCG Digital Missionary. How may I help you today?”
These institutional bots are largely focused on answering questions about doctrine, church activities, and faith. But independent developers are building tools with different ambitions — less about information retrieval and more about solving problems that arise during live worship.
Tolulope Adeniyi, another Nigerian developer, is building Spetra, a tool that also uses OpenAI's Whisper model.
“It’s powered by OpenAI Whisper and listens in real-time while the pastor is preaching. When a relevant verse or phrase is detected, the media person can instantly present it on screen with a single click — super seamless,” Tolulope said.
Olanrewaju Taiwo, a software developer, started with sermon transcription before pivoting to a Bible app called Meno — Greek for “abide” — currently in beta. Meno uses Google's Gemini model to explain Bible verses.
Practical AI — pastoral caution
Not every Nigerian pastor is rushing to integrate AI into ministry. Pastor Olalekan Folarin, who leads a Lagos-based congregation, uses ChatGPT mainly for research and administrative tasks.
“A good portion of sermon writing is research,” he said. “You're looking at the historical and cultural context of scripture, drawing references across time and cultures.”
But Folarin draws a deliberate boundary.
“I don't think a pastor should use AI to write his sermon,” he said. “AI can help you read your sermon, refine it, or find examples, but conviction cannot be generated by a machine. If you preach without conviction, you're lying to people.”
This tension — between AI as a useful assistant and AI as a spiritual substitute — features in conversations about the technology in Nigerian church circles.
Skepticism with historical roots
The hesitation is based on known patterns. Sobaloju himself noted the pattern: “When television came out, they called it the devil's box. But AI is even closer to the devil's box than a TV, and churches are open to it. That’s exciting.”
That openness has institutional critics. The Nigeria Religious Coalition on Artificial Intelligence, which includes the Christian Council of Nigeria and the Society for the Support of Islam, an umbrella group for the Nigerian Muslim Community, has warned that AI-powered platforms are being used to spread misleading claims about religion, particularly among young people.
Leaders also said the speed and reach of AI-generated content make it easier for false or harmful narratives to spread widely.
Kolade Fadahunsi of the Council’s Institute of Church and Society acknowledged that AI offers many benefits but warned that its use must reflect Nigeria's religious and cultural realities.
Philip Jakpor of the Renevlyn Development Initiative added that Africa’s limited participation in AI development — due to infrastructure challenges, funding constraints, and insufficient local data — means that many existing AI systems rely heavily on foreign perspectives that may not represent African traditions.
The bigger vision
For the developers themselves, the projects feel both practical and historic. Beyond transcription, Sobaloju and his peers imagine other applications: AI-assisted census-taking during large conventions like RCCG's annual gatherings, donation tracking and offering collections.
“We’re entering an era where the technology backbone of churches will be invisible but indispensable,” Adeniyi said.
He added that AI could help church musicians score songs, compose church hymns and explore new sounds that elevate worship.
The Great Commission Movement of Nigeria, a large evangelical network, has already moved in this direction.
“We adopted the use of AI when we launched the online missionary platform, Digital Ministry,” it reported. “Artificial intelligence would help us process seekers through our various web channels.”
Joseph Maina is a Kenyan journalist. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and media studies from the University of Nairobi. For the past decade, he has served as a correspondent for various print and digital publications in his native Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa.