AI “Pastor Twins” and the Cure of Souls: The Shepherd Who Must Give an Account

By Bobby Macintosh · Updated October 2026

It’s late, and the thing you can’t say out loud at church is sitting on your chest. Your pastor is asleep, or away, or simply one person with hundreds to care for. And there on your phone is a chatbot that talks in his cadence, knows his sermons and never sleeps.

That’s no longer a thought experiment: a pastor in California has built an AI “twin” of himself. Hebrews says church leaders “watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account” (Hebrews 13:17, WEB). A twin can borrow a pastor’s trust. It can’t carry his accountability. This piece tells one pastor’s story fairly, asks what the cure of souls requires, and offers five questions for any church considering a twin.

A voice that sounds like your pastor

Justin Lester pastors Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Vallejo, California. He told CNN’s Nick Watt how his AI version of himself was made: “I connected on YouTube, my TikTok, my Instagram and everything I’ve ever written. So, all the way back to every sermon I’ve ever preached.” (ABC7, 25 August 2026; CNN video). Christianity Today, summarising the New York Times‘s reporting, says the twin draws on “nearly 2 million words” and “offers counsel around the clock to hundreds of people” (CT, 5 October 2026).

Be fair to Lester, because his reasons are good ones. “I went to school to preach the gospel, to teach the gospel, care for god’s people. I did not go to school to email,” he said. AI, he added, “gives me more time to be a better father, be a better husband, to be a better pastor. Hospital visits don’t have to be five minutes. They could be 20.” On whether a machine can hold human frailty, he was clear: “AI cannot feel.” He keeps the video feature off, because one person told him, “I literally thought you had a conversation with me.” ABC7 reports that the twin sticks to subjects the pastor knows about and, if someone raises suicide or abuse, tells them, “That’s too much for me. Call the pastor.”

This isn’t a story about a lazy shepherd. It’s about a busy one who wants more presence, not less.

Why people are asking chatbots first

OpenAI says ChatGPT receives “more than 70 million weekly requests that are primarily about religion”, across all faiths (OpenAI, Faith, Community & AI, October 2026). Those are OpenAI’s own figures.

In Christianity Today, Chris Butler, a pastor in Chicago, offers one reason. “A pastor who can’t see you is, for some people, exactly the pastor they want,” he writes. He’s honest that some have left churches because of “pastors who manipulated and abused people”. But his answer is the right one: “the answer to bad authority is not no authority, or an AI bot that validates our every emotion. It is accountable authority found in a local congregation.” (For the general question, see whether AI could become a new moral authority.)

The shepherd who must give an account

Hebrews 13 and 1 Peter 5

Notice who carries the weight in Hebrews 13:17. The verse asks a church to trust its leaders, but the reason it gives is their burden, not their rank: they watch over souls “as those who will give account”. Butler puts it simply: an AI clone “cannot, however, give that account to God. Nothing is at stake for it, and it answers to no one.”

Peter shows what that watching looks like. Elders are to “shepherd the flock of God which is among you”, not “lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:2–3, WEB). An example has to be seen living. Jesus is sharper still. “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,” while the hired hand “doesn’t care for the sheep”, and the good shepherd says, “I know my own, and I’m known by my own” (John 10:11–14, WEB). Knowing runs both ways. A twin can speak to you, but there’s no one there to be known.

Ezekiel shows what God looks for in shepherds: “You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken” (Ezekiel 34:2–4, WEB). That work is done with hands, over time, by someone who will answer for it.

Gregory’s “art of arts”

At the start of his time as bishop of Rome, Gregory the Great opened his Pastoral Rule by warning the unprepared away from pastoral office, “since the government of souls is the art of arts!” He lamented how often the untaught “profess themselves physicians of the heart” (Pastoral Rule I.1, trans. James Barmby, NPNF² vol. 12; New Advent). For Gregory, the cure of souls is skilled, costly and answerable work. A model can imitate its vocabulary. It can’t be examined for it, or called to repent of a wound it caused.

What a twin can’t carry

This is where I’ll be a little firmer.

Catholic teaching names the problem precisely. Antiqua et Nova says AI “must be understood for what it is: a tool, not a person” (§59), and that “misrepresenting AI as a person should always be avoided” (§62). It warns that if we replace our relationships with God and others with technology, “we risk replacing authentic relationality with a lifeless image” (§63) (vatican.va). Magnifica Humanitas adds that these systems “do not possess a body” and do not “bear responsibility for consequences” (§99). “When words are simulated,” it says, “they do not build genuine relationships, but only their appearance”, and the real danger is that people “may gradually lose the very desire to form genuine human connections” (§100) (vatican.va; see our reader’s guide to Magnifica Humanitas).

Lutherans say it in their own idiom. The LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations, in a study document, writes: “A Lutheran sermon—like a Lutheran pastor—is not replaceable with doctrinally correct data” (CTCR, December 2024). In The Lutheran Witness, Rev. Jonathan Conner, an Iowa pastor, is blunter: “A bot has no body, no soul, no Baptism, no Spirit, no ordination, no penitence, no faith” (The Lutheran Witness, 1 August 2026). The Orthodox bishops of the United States discussed AI in October without issuing a statement; their press release says only that the concerns raised “call for greater discernment and discussion” (Assembly of Bishops).

So a twin can’t repent when it gets something wrong, or be disciplined by elders, or keep a confidence the way a pastor is bound to. And because it speaks in a real pastor’s voice, it can “say” things he never said, with his trust attached.

What healthy use looks like

None of this means keeping AI out of ministry. It means keeping it on the right side of the relationship.

A question for the back pew

Rev. Dr. Adolphus Lacey, senior pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Brooklyn, writes his sermons “by hand, through prayer and study.” Then he asks ChatGPT: “Where might this sermon become unclear or difficult to follow for someone early in their walk of faith?” He makes the changes himself: “change comes from my own pen, not the robot” (BlackPressUSA, 18 October 2026). That’s AI as a test reader, serving the preacher’s care for the newcomer.

In fairness, Lacey is one of the faith leaders featured in OpenAI’s report, and his op-ed urges pastors to sign up for AI trainings. The report’s own words are worth quoting: “AI is not—and should not become—an arbiter of religious truth or a replacement for spiritual guidance. Those roles belong to individuals, religious leaders, and congregations.” The same report describes Harrison Kim, a Protestant in Seoul, who “also sees a cost if every struggle is only expressed inside a private chat: a pastor or friend may never learn that their fellow community member needs help.”

A design that hands you to a person

The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s new assistant, AKAI, announced on 13 October, takes the opposite path to a twin. According to Adventist News Network’s report, it has “guardrails in place to prevent it from offering spiritual guidance”; it “cannot pray for users”, and if asked for prayer it “connects the user to a real person in the chat” (ANN, republished by the Inter-American Division). I mention AKAI for its design only, and I haven’t tested it.

Training the carers, not replacing them

Our guide to using AI to train for biblical counselling with fictional case studies uses AI to help human carers practise, with invented scenarios and firm boundaries. The machine stays in the training room; the person in need meets a person.

Five questions to ask before your church builds a twin

No pastor twin was tested for this piece. These are questions for the people who’d build or approve one, not findings about how any product behaves.

1. Does it say plainly, at once and every time, that it isn’t the pastor? In the first line of every conversation, not the small print (Antiqua et Nova §62).
2. When someone may be in danger, does it hand off to a human, and to which helplines? Ask the builder to show you, in writing, who is contacted, how fast, and which numbers it gives. For UK users that should include Samaritans, free at any time on 116 123, and 999 if a life is at risk (NHS). A guardrail is a floor, not care.
3. Where do confessions go? Who reads the chats, how long are they kept, and do they train anything? If a twin is built from “everything I’ve ever written”, does that include other people’s confidences, and did they consent?
4. Whose stories is it telling? Does it ever relate the pastor’s memories, a hospital visit or a funeral, as if it had lived them?
5. What happens when someone asks it to pray? Compare AKAI’s choice to hand the person to someone who can.

If the answers are vague, wait. Our sermon guide’s section, AI does not replace prayer, the Spirit, or knowing your flock, is a good read for the elders’ meeting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it wrong for a pastor to make an AI version of himself?
The deeper question is accountability: a twin can speak in a pastor’s voice, but it can’t give an account for souls (Hebrews 13:17).

Can an AI chatbot give real pastoral care?
It can offer helpful words. But Catholic teaching says AI “can only simulate” relationships (Antiqua et Nova §63), and care needs a person who knows you and answers for what they say.

Is it safe to confess sins to a chatbot?
Treat anything you type as stored and possibly read. Take what weighs on you to a pastor, priest or trusted believer (James 5:16).

How can pastors use AI well in pastoral ministry?
On the preparation side: test-reading a sermon, as Lacey does, or practising with fictional case studies. Keep conversations with real people human.

Weep with those who weep

Paul’s instruction is short: “Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15, WEB). You can’t weep with someone without a face. And “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2, WEB) assumes a back that bends under the weight.

Lacey says it best: “A chatbot will not sit with a grieving family or pray with you at two in the morning.” That’s the heart of our piece on Christian morality and AI relationships too. If you’re the one awake at two in the morning, reach for a person: your pastor, a friend from church, or Samaritans on 116 123. And if you’re a pastor tempted to clone yourself because there isn’t enough of you to go round, take heart. You were never meant to be everywhere. The Chief Shepherd is, and he has given you a flock to know and be known by.

Sources and Further Reading

• Chris Butler, “AI Is Weakening Pastors’ Authority“, Christianity Today (5 October 2026).
• Nick Watt, “Vallejo pastor creates AI version of himself to help preach to church members“, ABC7 San Francisco / CNN (25 August 2026); CNN video, “California pastor creates AI twin” (25 August 2026).
• Rev. Dr. Adolphus Lacey, “OP-ED: The Black Church Writes AI’s Next Chapter“, BlackPressUSA (18 October 2026).
• OpenAI, Faith, Community & AI (October 2026); OpenAI Global Affairs, “How AI, as a tool for people, is helping people explore their faith” (8 October 2026).
• Lacey Stecker, ANN, “General Conference Announces New Apps Built for OneVoice27” (17 October 2026; republished by the Inter-American Division; ANN original).
• Gregory the Great, Pastoral Rule, Book I, trans. James Barmby, NPNF² vol. 12 (New Advent).
• Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and Dicastery for Culture and Education, Antiqua et Nova (28 January 2025), §§59–63.
• Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas (15 May 2026), §§99–100.
• LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations, Online Technology in the Church: Study Materials (December 2024).
• Jonathan Conner, “Artificial Intelligence in the Church: A Call for Real Wisdom“, The Lutheran Witness (1 August 2026).
• Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA, “AoB XV Concludes” (October 2026).
• Samaritans, “Contact a Samaritan“; NHS, “Where to get urgent help for mental health” (both accessed October 2026).

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), which is in the public domain.

Keep reading on AI Prompt Theory: Using AI to Train for Biblical Counselling: Fictional Case Studies, Real Care · Using ChatGPT for Sermon Preparation: A Complete, Theologically Careful Guide · Love Your Digital Neighbor? Christian Morality and AI Relationships · A Reader’s Guide to Magnifica Humanitas