I wrote the following statement last November, for my own conscience and for my fellow elders at King’s Church, who read it at that time and gave it their approval. Until now it has been a private document. In recent days, AI companies have begun embedding invisible marks in the text their tools generate, so that such text can later be identified, and the news has many pastors and writers thinking through these questions afresh. It seemed the right time to make this public. Apart from one short addition at the end of section 5, acknowledging that development, the statement appears here exactly as I wrote it on November 19, 2025.

Personal Statement on My Use of AI Tools in Ministry

November 19, 2025

1. My Responsibility before God and His People

God has called me to preach His Word, shepherd His people, and serve His church with integrity. I alone will give an account for what I teach and write. For that reason, anything that appears under my name, whether sermons, articles, books, or public posts, is something I must personally understand, believe, and be willing to stand behind.

No tool, whether a commentary, software, or artificial intelligence, removes that responsibility. I am accountable first to the Lord, then to my fellow elders, and then to the congregation I serve.

I know that many pastors today are thinking through whether to use AI at all, and if so, in what way. Brothers will make different decisions in good conscience. This statement is simply my attempt to set out, before the Lord and before others, the boundaries within which I believe I may rightly make use of these tools.

2. What AI Is to Me

I use AI tools as I would use a fast research assistant, editor, or highly capable secretary. These tools can help me:

• Clarify wording so that difficult truths are communicated more clearly.
• Tighten, organize, and refine material I have already studied and thought through.
• Suggest alternative ways to phrase or illustrate a point.
• Summarize or structure content that I intend to revise in my own voice.

In that sense, AI functions for me like an elite but fallible secretary that works very quickly, yet must always be checked. In my situation, given the responsibilities God has entrusted to me, it would be poor stewardship to ignore such help altogether, but it would be far worse to rely on it blindly. My task is to supervise its work carefully and to test everything by Scripture.

AI is a tool, not an authority. It does not replace Scripture, personal study, prayer, or the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It does not replace the counsel of godly elders or the wisdom of the Christian tradition. For me, AI now sits in the same common grace category as libraries, software, and reference works, a real help for study and communication, but always subordinate to the Word of God.

3. How I Actually Use AI

In practice, this means:

• I come with my own convictions, exegesis, outlines, ideas, and often rough wording.
• I may ask an AI tool to help sharpen an argument, structure an article, improve flow, or assist with grammar and clarity.
• I always review, edit, and adjust the result so that it truly reflects my theology, tone, and pastoral intent.
• I do not simply copy and paste material and call it “mine”. I carefully review, understand, and own all I write or preach, knowing I will answer to God and to His people for every word.

In short: I write the content, structure the arguments, and make all theological and editorial decisions. I use AI tools to refine wording, check clarity, and explore alternative phrasings, the same way I might use a thesaurus, grammar checker, or ask a trusted friend for feedback.

If I would not be comfortable preaching a sentence out loud or signing my name under it, I will not keep it, no matter how polished it sounds.

4. What I Will Not Use AI For

To guard my conscience and my ministry, I commit that I will not use AI tools to:

• Fabricate academic work, qualifications, or original research and present it as if I did it myself.
• Preach sermons I have not personally studied, prayed over, and shaped with my own mind and heart before God.
• Manufacture “spiritual experiences” or emotional manipulation for effect.
• Replace Scripture, confessions, or sound theology with whatever happens to sound clever or impressive.

AI may help with form, but it does not decide the substance. That belongs to God’s Word. Like any other tool that comes to us through God’s common grace, it can be used wisely to serve the church or carelessly in a way that confuses or misleads. My aim is to use it in a way that honors Christ and genuinely helps His people.

5. Truth, Transparency, and Trust

If a church member, elder, or friend ever asks whether I use AI in my work, I want to be able to answer peacefully and plainly:

“Yes, I do use AI tools as a helper in my writing and preparation. They assist me with clarity, structure, and wording. But I study the Scriptures, check the content, and only publish what I truly believe and am willing to stand behind. I am responsible for every word you hear or read from me.”

I do not believe using modern tools is dishonest in itself. Dishonesty would be pretending I had done work I did not do, or preaching what I do not understand or believe. My aim is to walk in the light, not to hide.

Added August 2026: Since writing this, AI companies have begun embedding machine-readable marks in the text their tools generate, so that assisted text can be identified even after it is copied elsewhere. I welcome this. A mark indicating that a tool helped me with wording confirms nothing beyond what I have stated here openly. Transparency of this kind is a friend to honest men, and I am glad to see the whole conversation moved further into the light.

6. Invitation to Accountability

I welcome the oversight of my fellow elders and the honest questions of God’s people. If there is ever a concern about how I am using these tools, I am willing to:

• Explain my process.
• Adjust my practices if my brothers in leadership judge that something is unwise.

The best way to picture this in my study is simple. I sit at a large wooden desk with an open Bible, my confessions, and my library around me. AI is nothing more than a readily available world class secretary at a desk nearby in the study, fast and capable, but always fallible and always checked. I lead. I decide. I am accountable before the Lord for every word. Everything I write or preach under my name is mine before Him, and I will answer to Him for it.

John Samson

Pastor-Teacher, King’s Church, Peoria, Arizona