Official Workbook PDF page source text

LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 267

2026 Convention Workbook
232 
THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS  —COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
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Online Technology in the Church: Study Materials 
 
Preface 
 
2023 Resolution 5-13A asked the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR), in 
conjunction with the Council of Presidents and the Office of the President of the Synod, to 
produce a joint document on uses of online technology in the church. The document would 
provide for “appropriate theological reflection and study,” to take place over a period of “not less 
than a year that allows for much fraternal discussion.” After consulting with representatives of 
both the Council of Presidents and the Office of the President, it was decided the CTCR would 
provide a study document on the uses of online technology in the church that would then be 
shared with the above-named entities, who would disseminate it throughout the Synod. 
 
To that end, the Commission, jointly with the Council of Presidents and the Office of the 
President, submits the present study document for consideration. Rather than attempting to 
address comprehensively all technologies that are presently being used in the church, or might be 
used in the future, this document has selectively chosen only some of the more representative 
examples likely to be employed within our congregations, and which have either incited 
controversy or engendered differences of opinion and practice. The Commission has sought to 
provide a fair presentation and evaluation of these practices and has also attempted to offer its 
own theological and practical perspective on their appropriateness in the church. However, this is 
a study document and therefore does not propose an “official” position the Synod should take on 
these matters. In fact, in most cases of rapidly evolving technologies and their application in 
church life, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the Synod to take a firm position (the 
practice of virtual Communion being a notable exception — see 2023 Resolution 5-08A). 
 
The Commission asks the responsible entities — the Council of Presidents and the Office of the 
President of the Synod — to distribute this study document to those under their oversight, in 
accordance with 2023 Resolution 5-13A. The CTCR wishes to make this document available for 
Synodwide study and use. 
 
The Commission on Theology and Church Relations 
December 2024 
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Introduction 
 
Lutherans have long availed themselves of new technologies to communicate the Gospel. For 
Lutherans during the Reformation, the relatively new printing press supplied a means to publish 
Luther’s works and other theological writings that addressed biblical views of justification and 
related issues of the day.
1 LCMS pastor and professor Walter A. Maier, speaker of The Lutheran 
Hour from 1930 to 1950, became a household name for his powerful preaching of the Gospel via 
radio, and his ministry touched many lives for Christ and influenced generations of preachers to 
follow.2 The Missouri Synod even began a television ministry that notably won an Emmy in 
1980 for religious programming.3 None of these were seen as compromising the ministry or 
worship of the church, but rather as opportunities for proclaiming God’s Word to those who 
might otherwise not hear it. With respect to digital technologies, our congregations have long had 
an internet presence, even if they were not livestreaming worship services every Sunday. The 
question was never if we should use such technologies. 
 
The great question facing the church in an age of rapid technological change is how it should use 
these technologies in a way that supports rather than detracts from our understanding of its 
mission and ministry. Technology, as many like to say, is not neutral, and from a Christian 
perspective that is because sinful humans use technology. We overuse it, use it for sinful 
purposes, use it in ways that detract from the good things God has given us. Churches, families 
and society more generally may use technology to their detriment when that technology draws us 
away from contact with fellow humans created in the image of God; tempts us to seek solace in 
isolation from others or through digital means; or tricks us into believing artificial intelligence is 
a replacement for human contact, human learning or human wisdom. We dare not discourage the 
wise use of technology, which is already a necessary part of the fabric of human life. There is no 
“going back.” Yet we also must urge the cautious, morally responsible and theologically alert use 
of technology in a way that reflects what we know from Holy Scripture about who we are, how 
God has made us, how God seeks to save us in Christ, and how God has ordered and directed His 
church to confess its faith and share its life together. 
 
In this brief document, the Commission wishes to present five different applications of online 
technologies within the church and her ministry — livestreamed worship services, virtual multi-
parish arrangements, online reproof and church discipline, online-only congregational 
membership, and artificial intelligence-based sermons — for evaluation and discussion. In each 
case, these practices have emerged in recent years, received attention within the Synod, and been 
adopted or become the subject of controversy for our congregations. This document will assess 
the positives and negatives of each from a decidedly theological basis (as they relate to not only 
the doctrine we confess, but also the agreement in certain practices that those doctrines imply). It 
will also recommend where these online technologies may be helpfully incorporated into the 
church’s life in a way that furthers the shared faith and life we have together, as well as where 
 
1 See, for instance, Mark Edwards Jr., Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther (Berkeley, CA: University of 
California Press, 1994), or Andrew Pettegree, Brand Luther: 1517, Printing and the Making of the Reformation 
(New York: Penguin Press, 2015). 
2 Kirk Farney, Ministers of a New Medium: Broadcasting Theology in the Radio Ministries of Fulton J. Sheen and 
Walter A. Maier (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2022), and Paul L. Maier, A Man Spoke, A World Listened: 
The Story of Walter A. Maier and the Lutheran Hour (New York: McGraw- Hill, 1963). 
3 Ardon Albrecht, Lutheran Television: Glory Years (St. Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri  Synod, 2018). 
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they may problematize that shared faith and life. The Commission does not offer its opinion on 
these matters on a technological basis, nor does it necessarily weigh in on the larger cultural, 
social, ethical and bioethical concerns that these technologies raise. Those matters may be the 
subject of further study based upon the feedback received to this document, as the Commission 
considers a broader discussion of online technology and how the church should respond to it. 
 
1. Livestreamed Worship Services 
 
Due to church closures during the Covid-19 pandemic, many congregations began to 
broadcast their live services online using streaming technology. For some, this has raised 
questions about whether streaming services could potentially lead to privacy concerns, 
whether they might induce people to no longer gather together in a local congregation for 
worship with fellow believers, or even whether congregations or pastors might use online 
services to induce members of other congregations to join and support theirs. Should LCMS 
congregations be encouraged to use livestreamed online worship services alongside of — or as 
alternatives to — their local, in -person gatherings? 
 
Our churches have actively participated in online media for decades. Since the World Wide Web 
went online in the 1990s, Missouri Synod congregations — like  so many others around the world 
— have increasingly adopted technological means of reaching out and making their faith and 
ministries known. For years, email prayer chains, downloadable MP3 sermons and recorded 
services were the primary ways congregations used digital means as part of their work. 
Congregational websites have become ubiquitous. Churches operate social media pages now to 
promote events, share Scripture passages or church news, and celebrate milestones from the 
church’s life together (confirmations, weddings, baptisms, etc.). All of these are examples of 
extending the shared experiences of that congregation to others through digital means. These 
raise few serious concerns or engender little controversy. Other practices, like livestreaming 
services, are more complicated. 
 
On a theological level, internet technologies like livestreaming provide the congregations of the 
Synod a tangible, accessible way to do what Christ has called them to do: proclaim the Word 
(Luke 24:44–47; Acts 8:1–4). Whether spoken in open-air preaching, as by the apostles of the 
New Testament church; preached in pulpits of European cathedrals or A-frame American 
churches; signed by those ministering to the deaf and hearing-impaired; or, yes, mediated 
through fiber-optic cables, the Word is able to create and sustain saving faith in the hearts of 
those who hear it, for the Holy Spirit is at work through that Word (Rom. 10:14–17; Augsburg 
Confession 5). Online services can be used profitably to communicate that Word to all people: to 
the sick, hospitalized or homebound, whom the pastor may be unable to reach; to the wandering, 
erring or unbelieving, who are unwilling to step foot in a church; to those under political regimes 
where Christianity is forbidden and the gathering of Christians for worship prohibited. 
 
There are also legitimate hesitations on the part of many congregations. As noted above, privacy 
concerns may result from the advance of facial recognition software that those averse to 
Christianity could use to target Christians, especially children. Certain preachers or 
congregations among us may use online services irresponsibly, in such a way as to recruit 
members of other Synod congregations or to promote ideas that violate the Eighth 
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Commandment in our midst — though we hope that collegiality and mutual trust would prevail 
between fellow laborers in Christ’s harvest. The burden of digital infrastructure, upkeep and 
delivery may detract from or unnecessarily influence the pastor’s preaching, the congregation’s 
style of public worship, or even the gathered believers’ active participation in the life of the local 
congregation (for instance, one may opt for viewing services online rather than attending in 
person). Might a preacher change his sermon content if he believes the sermon will be heard 
more broadly than simply by the hearers in his congregation? Might a congregation be tempted 
to make its worship more acceptable to others viewing online (whether more liturgical or less 
liturgical)? Should communicants be shown receiving the Sacrament of the Altar, or might the 
prospect that one could be viewed online impact the way that he or she receives the Sacrament, 
or even whether he or she does? These are genuine concerns that must be considered by each and 
every congregation. 
 
The primary theological objection to the presence of online services is that they could tempt 
congregants to simply view those services online rather than attend them at their local 
congregation. It must be said that online services are no replacement for the local gathering of 
believers. Lutheran Hour speaker Walter Maier directed his hearers to a local congregation and 
did not consider his program a replacement for it. The church has always gathered locally in 
congregations to hear the Word, receive the Sacrament and be strengthened in its faith together as 
Christians in need of a respite from the attacks of the devil, the world and their sinful natures. 
The congregation does not exist for corporate weekly worship services alone — though, sadly, 
some Christians live as though it does. In the gathering or assembly of believers (as Augsburg 
Confession 7–8 describes the church), Christians are to build up one another in the faith by 
exercising the gifts God has given them (Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12:4–21; 1 Cor. 14:1–13). They are to 
support one another personally with encouragement, consolation and conversation, even with 
gifts to meet the physical needs among them (Acts 2; Smalcald Articles III 4). They are to protect 
one another from sin through reproof and correction (Heb. 10:24–25; 1 Cor. 5). This goes well 
beyond solitary worship services into the common life they share together as a congregation. 
Moreover, it simply cannot happen to a full degree behind the relative anonymity of online 
participation. 
 
Finally, while the Word may be preached profitably and to the end of salvation through online 
services — and other digital means — the Lord’s Supper itself is reserved for the locally 
gathered congregation. There, the body and blood of Jesus Christ is present for believers to 
receive with their mouths for the forgiveness of sins, according to Christ’s Word. There, the 
Word of Christ is proclaimed, and the believers can be confident that the Sacrament consecrated, 
distributed and received is the true body and blood of Christ. There, the presiding pastor ensures 
that communicants are rightly instructed in the faith, that open and unrepentant sinners and 
heretics are denied the Sacrament, and that the Sacrament is administered according to our 
Lord’s Words, to the benefit of those who receive it in faith. 
 
For these reasons, the Commission encourages the use of online services as instruments to 
proclaim the Gospel, yet it urges caution and care in doing so. Online services should not be used 
in a way that sows division within our fellowship, exposes parishioners (particularly children) to 
certain online predatory risks, replaces or makes negligible the local gathering of Christians in 
fellowship and worship, or uses any means of participating in the Lord’s Supper virtually. 
R62.6