Version History
Current published version
Today's Business, Issue 1. pp. 92-93. Original floor committee resolution.
No later published versions have been added.
Official Resolution Source Text
Resolution: 4-09
Canonical number: 4-09
Committee: Life Together
Source: Today's Business, Issue 1
Printed pages: pp. 92-93
PDF pages: 92-93
Version: original, current-published-proposal
Source reference: Issue 1, pp. 92-93
Line numbers follow Today's Business, Issue 1, with numbering reset on each printed page, so delegates can compare this page with the official PDF.
Page 92
- To Address Uses of Artificial Intelligence
- RESOLUTION 4-09
- Overtures 4-51–52 (CW, 329–30)
- WHEREAS, The capabilities and regular use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) have
- dramatically increased in recent years; and
- WHEREAS, AI tools are increasingly being used by churches and pastors to create and curate digital content and
- communications, to create sermons, prayers, images, hymns, and other resources for use in worship; and to perform various
- ministry functions; and
- WHEREAS, The Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) has published a study document, Online
- Technology in the Church: Study Materials (December 2024, resources.lcms.org/reading-study/ctcr-study-document-
- online-technology-in-the-church-study-materials), that urges against the use of AI in writing sermons, but does not address
- AI’s broader implications for the church, our families, or society; and
- WHEREAS, The CTCR document also encouraged “the cautious, morally responsible and theologically alert use of
- technology in a way that reflects what we know from Holy Scripture about who we are, how God has made us, how God
Page 93
- seeks to save us in Christ, and how God has ordered and directed His church to confess its faith and share its life together”
- (ibid., 2); and
- WHEREAS, AI has also been associated with many moral evils, including creation and distribution of pornography,
- solicitation of minors, and sexual and psychological manipulation; and
- WHEREAS, AI and other emerging technologies afford us unprecedented opportunities for advancement across
- industries and throughout our societies, but may also have dangerous and dehumanizing outcomes if not utilized with
- godly wisdom and discernment; therefore be it
- Resolved, That the Synod acknowledge the power of AI and other emerging technologies to harm our churches, their
- members, and the society in which we live, if not carefully and insightfully addressed with and limited by God’s Word;
- and be it further
- Resolved, That the Synod encourage all who employ these tools to do so in honest, transparent, and Christ-like ways
- that focus on loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves (Matt. 22:37–40), never seeking to willfully deceive others
- or take advantage of them; and be it further
- Resolved, That the Synod proactively engage these emerging technologies rather than simply respond to the challenges
- of AI and other emerging technologies after they have already affected our churches and communities; and be it finally
- Resolved, That the Synod ask the CTCR, in consultation with the Council of Presidents and the Office of the President,
- to produce a document that allows for appropriate theological reflection and study of the use of AI and that evaluates it in
- light of our theological assumptions, especially related to anthropology, the image of God, and Lutheran teaching on
- vocation, along with practical guidance to individuals and congregations in the use of AI in ministry and in the general life
- of God’s people.
- The Chief Financial Officer and LCMS Accounting and Financial Services staff, in consultation with the Finance
- Committee, anticipate no significant incremental costs to the Synod as the activity is understood to be within the existing
- scope of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (estimate required by Bylaw 3.1.7 [g]).
