Ligonier Ministries has launched a new Bible-study app, called Grow, that answers theological questions from a library built over five decades — but its leaders say the tool is deliberately designed to know its limits.

The Florida-based ministry, founded by the late theologian R.C. Sproul, developed Grow to help Christians study the Bible and theology. According to Charisma Magazine Online, the app's answer assistant draws on teaching from more than 800 teachers, grounded in Sproul's lifetime of work.

What sets the app apart, its president and CEO Chris Larson said, is what it refuses to do. In comments reported by Fox News Digital, Larson said the ministry does not want the tool to take the place of a pastor, a local church elder, or a parent.

Larson stressed that the app does not pretend to be a person. It is trained on Ligonier's own library, he said, and it is meant to help Christians trust the answers it gives — but only up to a point.

Those limits matter most when a conversation moves past Bible study into personal crisis. According to Larson, when users raise the subject of suicide, Grow directs them toward crisis resources and other real-world support, deferring to real human help rather than trying to counsel them itself.

"Any time that somebody tries to push it beyond the borders, we're going to deflect or defer to a real human," Larson said.

His concern goes beyond what one app can do. Larson warned that powerful technology companies are shaping answers to moral questions without always disclosing the worldview behind those answers, and he urged developers to set ethical guidelines and safeguards before technological power outruns responsibility.

"How are you determining what is right and wrong?" he asked — a question he said reaches deeper than how fast or sophisticated any software may be.

Ligonier grounds its approach in the Christian faith. Amid talk of artificial "superintelligence," Larson pointed to God as the highest intelligence, describing Him as the one who created the universe.

The launch comes as churches and ministries weigh how to use artificial intelligence wisely: welcoming tools that open up Scripture, while guarding the personal, pastoral care that no machine can give.