LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2026, Page 232

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232

THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

R62.6
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

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 multiparish 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
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.

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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.

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

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.

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2026 Convention Workbook