Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 2026 · 69th Convention, Phoenix › Page 330
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2026, Page 330

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

LIFE TOGETHER

330

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
WHEREAS, 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
WHEREAS, 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
WHEREAS, 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, inperson 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
WHEREAS, 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

2026 Convention Workbook

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
WHEREAS, 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