‘Our Hope Has to Be in Heaven’: Keith Getty on Faith and Worship in the AI Age

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Keith Getty, the Grammy-nominated hymn writer behind “In Christ Alone,” recently argued that Christians should place an even greater emphasis on singing Scripture and biblical truth amid the age of artificial intelligence.

Getty, along with his wife, Kristyn, will host the 10th anniversary of their annual song conference in Nashville, Tennessee, with the theme “Symphony of Scripture.”

The conference also celebrates the 500th anniversary of William Tyndale’s English New Testament and will consider how Scripture influences the worship, witness and life of the Church. 

“There are many goals with the Sing! Conference: congregational singing, to improve high artistry, but I think at the heart of it is helping people sing the Bible,” Getty told The Christian Post.

He noted how the Bible includes a mix of music and poetry, and how it has helped serve the church through teaching and preaching.

“Scripture itself is about 20 percent poems and songs,” Getty said. “The Bible is more biased towards songs and poetry than any Christian book written since. … Singing is exhilarating. It's a holy privilege. It is doxological worship to our God and Heavenly Father. But it's never less than instructional.”

He also pointed out how the implementation of artificial intelligence will affect society at large.

“As we enter the AI age, both the confusing disparity of what people have known to be true in the past and what is the new reality that they're going to discover in the next one to 10 years will be so dislocating,” Getty said. “With the internet ... rose depression, and then social media rose anxiety. And I think what AI is going to do for loneliness and just the lack of any sense of friendship is so crazy.”

At the same time, Getty encouraged Christians to grow deeply in God’s Word and in the Church's physical community rather than fear for the future.

“I think all the more important that we sing of Heaven, that we think of Heaven, that our trust is [in] eternal things. Ultimately ... our hope has to be in Heaven,” he said, noting how movements of renewal have consistently produced new songs across Christian history.

“All great movements result in doxology,” Getty said. “They result in people singing because, as the hymn writer says, how can we keep from singing? We just can't. That's how we're made.”

“The world was sung into being," he added. "Heaven is a picture of God's people singing, and we want to help equip the Church to engage more fully in worship.”

The upcoming conference, to be held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, will feature such speakers as John Piper, John Lennox and Wes Huff, who will discuss topics ranging from Tyndale’s legacy to the distinction between "biblical intelligence" and artificial intelligence.

Photo Credit: ©YouTube.com/KeithandKristyn Getty

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.