Using Technology to Spread the Gospel

The year 1453 saw the invention of a printing press with moveable type. A few decades later, Martin Luther and his colleagues published various editions of the Bible, and treatises promoting the message of the Reformation, which were spread throughout Europe on a scale that could not have been possible without the printing press.
The year 1900 saw the invention of the first radio device capable of transmitting the human voice. Thirty years later, the first broadcast of the “Lutheran Hour,” with Walter A. Maier as speaker, went out over the air. This was one of many examples that were to follow over the years, of Lutherans using this technology to bring the Gospel message to people at a physical distance.
The new communications technology of our time is the Internet. But the Internet differs from print and broadcast media in a very significant way: it is available to everyone. If someone wants to get his message out to the world, he does not need to persuade a publishing house to print his book, or a broadcasting company to air his program. He can go online himself and with a minimal expense—or perhaps with no expense at all—the information he wants to disseminate can be made available, either to the world as a whole (or at least to as much of the world as has a computer and an Internet connection), or to specific people at a distance whom he wants to reach.
It is very easy for a Lutheran congregation to establish an online presence. There are some website hosting companies that make it very easy for a person or organization to create and publish a site, even if the person or organization in question lacks the skills of a professional website designer. The website for the church I serve—redeemerscottsdale.org—is “Exhibit A” of this possibility! Our web space, within the very user-friendly Angelfire website hosting company, costs about $32 per year. And our domain name, acquired through the related Lycos company, costs about $13 per year. It is easy to post digital photographs and other images, and the texts of sermons, essays, and other written materials, on such a website. No special computer program is required. If a congregation is able to retain the services of a professional, it can, of course, produce a more sophisticated-looking presence on the web. But if this is not feasible, a functional website can be had for relatively little cost.
Preparing video recordings of a service or sermon for posting on a website would require a certain level of investment in recording and editing equipment, and someone with the competency to prepare such video files for posting. But posting audio-only recordings is, again, very easy. What is needed is a digital recorder, preferably one that records in the popular mp3 format. An audio editing program can be helpful too, but even that is not necessary if the audio files do not need to be modified before they are uploaded.
I am aware of several people in various states and countries who listen regularly to the recordings of worship services that are posted each week on our website. Some of these people are unable physically to attend church where they live, either because they are shut-ins, or because they live in places where there is no orthodox Lutheran church. There may be many more who benefit from these recordings, of whom I am not aware. Perhaps the Lord will grant us the privilege, in His eternal kingdom, of meeting people we never knew in this life, who were brought to faith, or sustained in their faith, by means of the sermons that were preached at our little church.
Members of our congregation who may miss church from time to time, because of illness, travel, or work obligations, are likewise able to listen to these recordings. Our members refer their unchurched friends to them as well, as an evangelism outreach.
The Internet can also be used for live, interactive meetings and classes. The Committee on ELS Worship, on which I served, held most of its meetings via the Skype internet conferencing program. The members of our committee were able to see each other and speak to each other, even though we were physically located in several different states spread out over three time zones. We were able to get more work done, at much less cost, because of the Internet and what it offered.
The Arizona congregation that I serve has taken on a regional character and is not simply a neighborhood congregation. Many of our members live at a significant distance and therefore would find it difficult to travel to the church for a mid-week Bible study. Others, too—because of a busy schedule, or difficulty in travelling at night—are not able to attend such a physical gathering at the church. So, our church has a study group that “meets” one evening per week via Skype.
Another benefit of holding a class like this over the Internet is that we can occasionally bring guests from other places into the group. We once did a study of a book that had been written by several authors. Many of them were willing to join us from their homes on the evening when the particular chapter they wrote was being discussed by our group, and to participate in that discussion. I have also conducted afternoon catechism classes in this way, for catechumens who live at a distance from me and from each other. Additional uses of the Internet in such a way could include holding occasional online regional pastors’ “winkels,” for circuits that are spread out over a large territory. There may be limitations concerning the degree to which some churches and individuals are able to use the Internet for such purposes. People with slower “dial-up” connections cannot easily connect to online programs like Skype or download large audio files. People who have no Internet connection at all obviously cannot benefit from this technology.
However, from the perspective of our Biblical, Lutheran theology, there are some things that simply cannot be done over the Internet. For example, the kind of personal pastoral oversight that is required for the proper celebration of the Lord’s Supper cannot really be exercised over the Internet, with a webcast that is (or could be) going out to people and places all over the world. The Formula of Concord also confesses, on the basis of Scripture, that the Lord’s institution requires that “his words are spoken over the bread and cup,” and that “the consecrated bread and cup are distributed” (emphasis added). The lack of physical “connectedness” between pastor, elements, and communicants that is inherent in electronic communication makes this impossible.
So, while the Internet may be used for church activities that are the equivalent of what Jesus did when He preached publicly to anyone who was there to listen, it may not be used for the equivalent of what Jesus did when He gathered with the closed circle of His disciples in the upper room, to give them—bodily, by His own hand—the Sacrament of His body and blood.
Pastors should also make sure that they are not (perhaps unintentionally) engaging in an unethical form of “sheep-stealing,” if people who belong to other churches are invited into an online study group that they lead. (Our general policy is to ask non-members who belong to other churches to inform their pastors of their desire to participate in our group.) Certain legal issues may also need to be considered if recordings of copyrighted hymn texts or hymn tunes that were sung and played in a recorded worship service are posted on a website, or if they are posted for longer than the “fair use” provisions of copyright law would allow. But a church should be able to work its way through these matters with little difficulty and find numerous and fruitful ways to utilize the Internet for outreach and education.
This new communications technology presents great opportunities that the Lord of the church—and the King of the universe—is making available to us. Let us take advantage of these opportunities—in the spirit of Luther and Maier—to His glory!
David Jay Webber is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, and a member of the ELS Doctrine Committee.