Partners in Mission,

Over the past year the NT-NL Synod, in partnership with Solace (an faith centered AI firm) and initially with the ELCA Churchwide Innovation Team have been exploring the reality of faith in online and AI driven spaces. This has led us to several places including releasing in August the first iteration of the NT-NL “Lutherbot” AI assistant on our website.

The LutherBot acts as a digital assistant, offering information about church activities, worship and music suggestions, resources for bible study, and even hypothetical conversations with Martin Luther. It also serves as a resource to learn more about the Lutheran faith and for congregations that choose to participate their specific ministries. Please also note it is a “closed” system. The resources within the bot are of our choosing and reflect our Lutheran theological heritage, hymnody, confessions, and ELCA teachings and social statements. As a result, unlike other widely used AI assistants the Lutherbot will reflect more clearly our church’s teachings.

In the coming months several congregations have agreed to participate with us in personalizing this resource for themselves. Christ the Servant-Allen (Pastor Cheryl Herried) being the first to do so. Additionally, our Parish Lay Ministry Instructors have been encouraged to utilize it for their classwork. In so doing they will help us shape and learn with the bot to better serve our communities.

With any new resource there are concerns about how it will be used. What are the ramifications of it we haven’t thought about yet? Even the question of why engage this technology. There are many resources to discuss these conversations. Pastor Paul Mussachio (Preston Meadow-Plano) shared this article on ethics of AI with me from his seminary alma mater Trinity in Columbus, Ohio. This resource and many others are good for us to consider in how we use this new technology.

What we do know is that people, particularly those of the digital generations, are more comfortable asking a computer questions than going to an “expert.” So by providing this resource and sharing it we are making our play into this emerging technology that hopefully can be another entry point into Christian community.

The Lutheran Reformation spread because they engaged the technology of mass printing. The movement would likely have stayed much more localized (as other reforming movements were) if it were not for this resource. Quite frankly the ELCA has sat out or been left behind in the online world. While we are not ahead of the curve here, this is an effort to make our place in this new world and connect.

I encourage you to experiment with the Lutherbot. To ask questions, be skeptical, give feedback. As we see to fulfill our synod assembly resolution to plan new ministries we must acknowledge the online space is inhabited by real people who have real questions. So it is on us to respond and fulfill Christ’s command to go into the world and proclaim the good news and share our faith.

In Christ,

Bishop Gronberg