Hundreds to attend ecumenical gathering on AI, human agency: ‘Great potential for good and harm’
Two agencies of The United Methodist Church are hosting an ecumenical gathering on how churches should respond to artificial intelligence, with hundreds expected to attend in person and virtually.
UMC Discipleship Ministries and United Methodist Communications are overseeing the third annual AI & Church Summit, held from Aug. 24 to Aug. 27 online and in Nashville, Tennessee, where the two agencies are based.
The ecumenical gathering will have around 75 in-person attendees, including representatives from multiple denominations, as well as more than 300 people registered to attend online.
C. Blake Davis, who serves as executive director of Marketing & Delivery at Discipleship Ministries and the lead on AI issues for the agency, told The Christian Post via email on Tuesday that this year’s theme was that of “human agency.”
According to Davis, this theme “reflects a question that is becoming increasingly urgent as AI develops: How do we ensure that human beings remain responsible participants in decisions affecting our work, relationships, communities and faith?”
“As AI becomes more integrated into our workplaces, communication, education and everyday lives as a tool with great potential for good and harm, the questions are becoming much larger than simply, ‘How can the church use AI?’” explained Davis.
“We’re intentionally bringing together a wide range of perspectives, including theologians, technology leaders, Indigenous voices and denominational leaders. The goal isn’t to arrive at a simplistic conclusion that AI is either good or bad. It’s to create space for informed, thoughtful and faithful discernment.”
The first gathering included leaders from Mainline Protestant denominations The Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA), with the UMC joining the annual event last year. Hosting of the event rotates among denominations.
Davis recounted an interaction he had with an attendee at last year’s ecumenical gathering, who compared the conversation to discussions from the 1970s and 1980s about the rise of the personal computer.
“Like the printing press, the personal computer, social media and now artificial intelligence, the church once again finds itself asking how a rapidly developing technology might reshape our work, our communities, relationships, and our lives,” Davis said.
“We don’t know exactly where AI will lead. And the opinions of the attendees have continued to be varied on what the future may hold. I think that uncertainty makes thoughtful conversation even more important now.”
The multidenominational gathering takes place at a time when many churches are debating the use of AI technology for a host of purposes, from sermon creation to giving spiritual advice.
According to a report released earlier this year from Barna and Pushpay titled Technology for Missional Impact: State of Church Tech 2026, about 60% of church leaders said they use AI for personal use at least a few times a month, while only 24% reported never using the technology.
Davis hopes attendees "leave with better questions,” saying there is “an enormous amount of perceived certainty in public conversation around artificial intelligence right now.”
“We hear predictions that it will solve extraordinary human problems, alongside predictions that it will eliminate jobs, undermine relationships, or even threaten humanity,” he said. “We believe the reality is more complicated and nuanced and the technology itself is changing extraordinarily quickly.”
Davis wants attendees to “leave better equipped to move beyond both uncritical enthusiasm and reflexive fear” to “a clearer understanding of the real opportunities AI creates while taking seriously questions about human agency, environmental impact, economic disruption, misinformation, bias, privacy, relationships and the concentration of technological power.”
“We won’t leave with all the answers, and I don’t think we should expect to,” he added. “But if participants leave better informed, more curious, more discerning and better equipped to have these conversations in their own communities, I think the gathering will have accomplished something important.”
