Registration now open for virtual AI & Church Summit
From Aug. 24-27, leaders from the PC(USA), Episcopal Church, ELCA and United Methodist Church will explore faithful human agency in the age of artificial intelligence
As artificial intelligence reshapes communities and workplaces, mainline Protestant church leaders will gather for the third annual timely conversation about faith, technology and human agency.
Registration is now open for the virtual experience of the 2026 AI & Church Summit, an ecumenical gathering hosted by Presbyterian Life & Witness, TryTank Research Institute of the Episcopal Church, The Innovation Lab of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Methodist Church Discipleship and Communications Ministries. The summit, themed “The Agency of the People of God in the Age of AI,” will take place Aug. 24-27 in Nashville, Tennessee, with a fully accessible online option available to participants around the world. PC(USA) participation in the summit has been organized through Presbyterian Life & Witness’ Office of Innovation.
Building on conversations launched at previous summits in Seattle and Minneapolis, this year’s event will shift from asking how churches should understand artificial intelligence to exploring how communities of faith will respond to it in practice. Organizers describe the gathering as a move from reflection to action, focusing on the decisions Christians must make as AI increasingly influences ministry, employment, healthcare, communication and civic life.
“For two years, we have asked what AI means for the Church,” said the Rev. Canon Dr. Lorenzo Lebrija, chief innovation officer at Virginia Theological Seminary and executive director of the TryTank Research Institute. “This year, we are asking something harder and more hopeful: what the people of God will decide. Machines calculate. Human beings decide. That difference is where our agency, and our witness, lives.”
The summit will bring together leaders across denominations that collectively represent more than 44,000 congregations and more than 12 million members. While in-person participation is limited to invited denominational representatives, the virtual experience is open to clergy, lay leaders, educators, nonprofit professionals, and anyone interested in the intersection of faith and emerging technologies. Online participants will have access to livestreamed keynote presentations, interactive sessions and multilingual engagement opportunities.
A central focus of the week will be the question of human agency in an increasingly automated world. Organizers have structured the summit around the four tasks of practical theology, with keynote speakers addressing what is happening, why it is happening, what ought to happen and how the church should respond.
Featured speakers include:
- Mackenzie Roberts of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, a community advocate known for protecting tribal lands amid technology-related development projects. Roberts will explore the real-world impact of the AI economy, including data centers, transmission lines and infrastructure expansion.
- Chloe Lubinski, who leads Research Partnerships with Wisdom Traditions at Anthropic. Lubinski will offer insights into the rapidly evolving AI landscape and the ethical questions emerging from frontier AI development. Her work connects theologians, ethicists and faith leaders with AI researchers, making her perspective particularly relevant for church audiences seeking to understand the technology’s trajectory.
- Dr. Brian Patrick Green, director of technology ethics at Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Green will address questions about morality and human responsibility in the age of AI.
- Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Budde will conclude the summit focus by addressing how the church can speak and act faithfully amid rapid technological change.
The gathering also will introduce two major initiatives designed to equip church leaders for ongoing engagement with AI. The first, the AI Pastoral Care Toolkit, aims to help clergy navigate emerging ethical and pastoral questions, including the use of companion chatbots and algorithmic decision-making that affects congregants’ lives. The second initiative, Pro-Human Sunday, proposes an annual observance centered on the Christian understanding of the Imago Dei and human dignity in a technologically driven society.
Virtual registration is available now at AIChurchSummit.org. The online experience costs $20 and includes keynote sessions, discussions and collaborative learning opportunities designed to help participants engage AI with theological depth, practical wisdom and hope.
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