TRAIN Framework Summary
Two pages. The five commitments of the TRAIN Framework stated plainly, with a note on why the church should set these boundaries before consumer-protection law sets them instead.
Research Library
AI and the Cross
This page collects work on artificial intelligence and the Christian church: a proposed framework for ethical AI use in ministry, a comparative review of what major Christian bodies have formally said about AI, an industry survey, and related video.
The papers marked as such are the work of Thomas Kelley. The survey report is the work of AI NEXT / Exponential and is offered here with credit to its authors. All documents open as PDFs and may be downloaded freely.
The TRAIN Framework
A confessional Reformed approach to discerning faithful AI use in the church - Transparent, Responsible, Accountable, Instrumental, Non-Pastoral. By Thomas Kelley.
The TRAIN Framework: A Theological Defense for Navigating Artificial Intelligence
The longer treatment. Develops each of the five commitments in full, beginning with the church's present technological moment and the parallel to the printing press.
Research and Review
Reformed Theology Meets Artificial Intelligence: A Providential Convergence
By Thomas B. Kelley. Why the Reformed tradition's emphasis on rigorous textual study - Scripture, creeds, and historic systematic theology - places Reformed scholars, seminarians, and pastors in an unusual position with respect to large language models. Traces the historical parallel to the printing press and the Reformation, including the discord it sowed alongside the good it did, and follows the pattern forward through radio, television, and the present moment.
Artificial Intelligence and the Wider Christian Church: A Comparative Review
By Thomas Kelley. A survey of the formal statements, advisory documents, resolutions, and study materials that major Christian traditions have produced on artificial intelligence - Roman Catholic, mainline Protestant, evangelical and Baptist, and Reformed bodies among them. The aim is descriptive rather than evaluative: what the churches have actually said, where they agree, and where they diverge. Prepared for the PCA and for any reader wanting a careful overview of the present landscape.
AI in the Church Survey 2024
Created by AI NEXT / Exponential. The State of AI in the Church survey report, reproduced here with credit to its authors. Reports how churches and ministry leaders say they are actually using artificial intelligence, and where they are hesitant.
Video
03 AI and the Reformed Church
How the questions raised by artificial intelligence land specifically within confessional Reformed churches.
AI and the Church - Perspectives
An overview of the differing perspectives Christian traditions have taken on artificial intelligence.
TRAIN Final
A walkthrough of the TRAIN Framework and the reasoning behind each of its five commitments.
I'm Just an Overture
A lighter turn on the same subject.