Official Workbook PDF page source text

LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 365

2026 Convention Workbook
330 LIFE TOGETHER
Resolved, That the COP, the  OTP, and the CTCR provide 
practical guidance to individuals and congregations in the use of AI 
in ministry and in the general life of God’s people. 
Eastern District; Board of Directors, Eastern District 
Ov. 4-52 
To Reject Use of Sermons Created  
by Artificial Intelligence 
WHEREAS, The capabilities and regular use of Artificial 
Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) have 
dramatically increased in recent years; and 
W
HEREAS, These tools are being experimented with and are now 
commonly used in many industries and across many vocations; and 
WHEREAS, These tools are advertised to pastors as time-saving 
devices for the writing of sermons; and 
WHEREAS, Pastors are called to spend more time in God’s Word, 
not less; and 
WHEREAS, Biblically based and doctrinally sound resources are 
readily available as reference tools utilized by pastors; and 
WHEREAS, It has pleased God to call flesh -and-blood men, 
created in His image, baptized and redeemed in the blood of Jesus, 
to search for lost sheep, to call sinners to repentance, to announce 
forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name, and to be His preachers and 
teachers in this world (Matt. 28:18– 20; John 20:19 –23; Acts 1:8; 
AC V; AC XIV); and 
WHEREAS, It is contrary to God’s establishment of the Office of 
the Ministry and His design and plan for His Church to be served 
by an artificial intelligence created in the image and likeness of men 
(Eph. 4:4–15); and 
W
HEREAS, AI is unguided by the power of the Holy Spirit and 
susceptible to the influence of the devil (the wolf in technological 
clothing) and can be used to deceive God’s people (John 8:44); and 
W
HEREAS, The primary duties of the called and ordained pastor 
are the in -person preaching of the Lord’s Word to the 
congregation(s) entrusted to his care, the visitation of the sick and 
dying, and the administration of the Lord’s Sacraments according 
to the Lord’s institution (2 Tim. 4:1–5); and 
WHEREAS, No AI can replace this incarnational, relational, in -
person work; and 
WHEREAS, Those pastors who would use AI and LLMs to craft a 
complete sermon are turning away from the very work of the 
ministry to which they have been called; and 
W
HEREAS, Those pastors who would use AI and LLMs to craft a 
complete sermon espouse—knowingly or unknowingly—a 
functional view of the Office of the Ministry, deny the incarnational 
reality of the Lord’s ministry among His people, and do not walk in 
concord but apart from their brothers in the Office of the Ministry 
who labor at faithful preaching and administration of His 
Sacraments; therefore be it 
Resolved, That the president of the Montana  District develop a 
communication tool that can be sent out to all congregational boards 
of elders; and be it further 
Resolved, That the elders and other leaders of each congregation 
in the district recognize the “wolf in technological clothing” and 
discuss with their pastor the great dangers of the use of AI for 
creating a complete sermon; and be it further 
Resolved, That the elders and other leaders of each congregation 
in the district declare without equivocation that the congregation 
will not accept AI -created sermons preached from their pulpits 
under any circumstances; and be it further 
Resolved, That each pastor in the district reject every public and 
private temptation to make use of this and other such tools in the 
delivery of God’s Law and Gospel to His people; and be it finally 
Resolved, That the district  in convention ask the Synod in 
convention to adopt and make this resolution their own, that the 
Synod may walk together on this issue. 
Montana District 
Ov. 4-53 
To Acknowledge the Witness of Charlie Kirk  
and Establish September 10 as Day of Prayer  
for Faithful Witnesses in Our Time 
WHEREAS, Holy Scripture commends the faithful witness of 
those who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, confessed Christ unto 
death, as seen in the souls under the altar crying for justice (Rev . 
6:9–11) and the great cloud of witnesses surrounding us in the faith 
(Heb. 12:1); and 
WHEREAS, The Lutheran Confessions honor the saints and 
martyrs not for their merits or intercession, but as examples of 
God’s grace in sustaining believers through suffering and death for 
the Gospel’s sake (Augsburg Confession XXI, “Of the Worship of 
the Saints,” which teaches that we should give thanks to God for 
their faithful testimony and imitate their confession of Christ); and 
WHEREAS, The Synod maintains a calendar of commemorations 
for prophets, apostles, reformers, and faithful witnesses who 
proclaimed the truth of Scripture amid persecution, thereby 
reminding the Church that Christ Himself is the Lord of history and 
the One who preserves His confessors; and 
W
HEREAS, These commemorations teach the faithful to give 
thanks for God’s sustaining grace, to take courage from those who 
endured opposition for the sake of the Gospel, and to be 
strengthened in the hope of the resurrection, confessing with St. 
Paul that “if we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Tim. 2:12); 
and 
WHEREAS, Charlie Kirk, a public Christian and outspoken 
defender of biblical truths on life, marriage, and religious liberty, 
was assassinated by sniper fire on Sept. 10, 2025, while addressing 
a Turning Point USA event in Utah; and 
WHEREAS, Kirk’s public efforts and final witness were 
inseparably tied to his confession of Christ, and his death occurred 
in the context of cultural hostility toward the Gospel, reminding the 
Church of the words of St. Peter: “[I]f anyone suffers as a Christian, 
let him not be ashamed, but  let him 
glorify God in that name” (1 
Pet. 4:16); and 
WHEREAS, Sept. 10 provides a fitting place within the Church 
Year to remember faithful witnesses of Christ, standing in 
continuity with the season that turns our attention to the apostles, 
prophets, and evangelists, culminating in the Feast of St. Matthew 
(Sept. 21); and 
WHEREAS, Locating this remembrance within the Church’s 
ordered calendar helps the faithful see that the same Lord who 
called and sustained the first witnesses continues to raise up