Lutheran Mission Matters Call for Papers

Liturgy, Mission, and Music: Exploring how Context, Music, and Text Affect the Worship Life of a Community, May 2026

The editorial committee of Lutheran Mission Matters (LMM), formerly Missio Apostolica, invites you to submit an article for May 2026 on the chosen theme: Liturgy, Mission, and Music: Exploring how Context, Music, and Text affect the worship life of a community.

This issue of Lutheran Mission Matters seeks to explore the conversations of liturgy, mission, and music around the fundamental influence of context on text and music.

Many acknowledge the significance of a sturdy text, one that is faithful to Scripture, theologically robust, and poetically expressive. Similarly, many acknowledge the significance of an accessible melody, an engaging harmonic structure, and a supportive instrumental accompaniment. However, few acknowledge that context matters fundamentally.

One is always evaluating a text or a piece of music through a particular cultural lens. In our best discourse around liturgy, mission, and music, our contextual values are named and applied to our subsequent evaluations of music and text. We would do well to even acknowledge contextual values that may exist beyond our awareness, conditioning how we fundamentally consider a text or a tune. For instance, the evaluation of the text and music of “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” is conditioned by contextual measures and tools. Were the measures and tools for evaluating text and music derived in an African community, the standards, and ideals themselves might well have been oriented with different values.

Writers are encouraged to submit essays that address the contextual analysis of a musical genre or musical text in relation to the liturgical missiology of the church. Contributions on musicology, composition, hermeneutics, confessional discourse, translation, and many other disciplines will enrich the perspectives curated in this issue.

LMM articles are generally up to 3,000 words in length, although longer articles will be considered. The deadline for the submission of essays, mission observers and book reviews February 2026. This date is negotiable.

Send your submissions of the theme Liturgy, Mission and Music: Exploring how Context, Music, and Text affect the worship life of a community to the editor of the journal, Dr. Victor Raj (rajv@csl.edu) with copies to the issue editors Dr. James Marriott (jim.marriott@concordia.edu) and the Editorial Assistant at LSFMdesk@gmail.com.

Submission Guidelines:

  1. Manuscript Length: Articles, including endnotes, should be between 3,000 and 5,000 words. Book reviews should be 650 words.
  2. Submission Process: Send your articles, mission observers, and book reviews concerning the theme “Liturgy, Mission, and Music: Exploring how Context, Music, and Text affect the worship life of a community" to the editor of the journal, Dr. Victor Raj (rajv@csl.edu), with copies to the issue editor, Dr. James Marriott (jim.marriott@concordia.edu), and the Editorial Assistant at LSFMdesk@gmail.com. Please send book reviews to Dr. Joel P. Okamoto (okamotoj@csl.edu).
  3. Peer Review: All submissions will undergo a double-blind peer review process.
  4. Important Dates: Please submit final articles and book reviews by February 1, 2026.

In Christ’s mission to the world, and on behalf of the editorial committee,

Rev. Dr. Victor Raj

Editor of Lutheran Mission Matters

 

Lutheran Mission Matters: Three Decades of Ministry, November 2026

The editorial committee of Lutheran Mission Matters (LMM), formerly Missio Apostolica, invites you to contribute to the 2026 November issue on the theme “Forward in Remembrance.” With this theme we propose that the people of God in the 21st century consider openness, curiosity, and understanding in sharing and living according to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This issue addresses situations like those in much of Europe and the Americas, where a kind of “climate change” has taken place. The social and spiritual climate no longer favors the Church. Like melting glaciers, fewer attend worship, support congregations and missions, and identify as Christian. Like rising temperatures, more give up on religion entirely, or mix and match divergent spiritual beliefs and practices. Like those threatened by storms and droughts, those still devoted to traditional ways and communities often are bewildered and disheartened.

For Lutheran Mission Matters, now is a time to listen and learn as much as to speak and instruct. Now is a time for openness, curiosity, and understanding about these situations, so that we might share, teach, and live according to the gospel clearly and faithfully.

We are thinking about articles and shorter essays along these lines:

  • Contributions about those whom Christians should listen to. Perhaps you have first-hand experience with the so-called “Nones” or with those who seek their own paths toward meaning and transcendence. Have you been impressed with a particular approach or studies about them? How does interest and curiosity about non-Christians matter to evangelism and mission thinking?
  • Contributions about the “climate” and the “climate change.” All of us know something is going on. But what? What are helpful ways to think about our situation, and how do they advance witness and church life?
  • Contributions about larger factors that may not get much attention. For example, how does digital media matter?
  • Contributions from a global perspective. For example, what does the growth of Christianity in the Global South show us? How might we listen and learn along with church leaders and scholars?
  • Contributions about insights and ideas from outside the Christian community. For more than a century, scholars in several fields, including anthropology, sociology, political theory, psychology, and cultural studies, have studied religious and spiritual life. What insights and ideas might they have for mission thinking? What are the most interesting, provocative, or imaginative ideas, theories, and findings from non-Christian thinking and practice for Christian life, witness, and thinking?

We especially hope to receive substantive contributions from parish pastors, mission practitioners, church leaders, and theologians who share our common confession. Articles are generally about 3, 000 words in length; however, longer and shorter essays of substance will be considered. Mission observers and book reviewers are encouraged.  The deadline for the submission of essays, mission observers and book reviews is August 31, 2026.  This date is negotiable.

Submission Guidelines are included in each journal issue and are available on the website. Your submissions may be sent to editor Dr. Victor Raj at rajv@csl.edu for consideration.

Lutheran Mission Matters is a peer-reviewed journal published twice a year by the Lutheran Society For Missiology (LSFM). LSFM was founded in 1992 to provide a Lutheran perspective on the theological and practical working out of Christ’s mission to and in the world. Our publication is indexed in the ATLA Religion Database on the EBSCO platform, along with the full text of the articles. LMM articles are also available under “Publications” tab on the Society’s web page at www.lsfm.global.

Submission Guidelines:

  1. Manuscript Length: Articles, including endnotes, should be between 3,000 and 5,000 words. Book reviews should be 650 words.
  2. Submission Process: Send your articles, mission observers, and book reviews concerning the theme “Liturgy, Mission, and Music: Exploring how Context, Music, and Text affect the worship life of a community" to the editor of the journal, Dr. Victor Raj (rajv@csl.edu), with copies to the issue editor, Dr. James Marriott (jim.marriott@concordia.edu), and the Editorial Assistant at LSFMdesk@gmail.com. Please send book reviews to Dr. Joel P. Okamoto (okamotoj@csl.edu).
  3. Peer Review: All submissions will undergo a double-blind peer review process.
  4. Important Dates: Please submit final articles and book reviews by August 31, 2026.

In Christ’s mission to the world, and on behalf of the editorial committee,

Rev. Dr. Victor Raj

Editor of Lutheran Mission Matters

 

Christian Witness and Islam - May 2027

The editorial committee of Lutheran Mission Matters (LMM), formerly Missio Apostolica, invites you to submit essays, mission observers, and book reviews for the May 2027 issue on the chosen theme: Christian Witness and Islam. Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world and expected to reach parity in population by mid-century. In addition, Christianity and Islam are each exclusive and mission focused religions that share a history of competition and conflict. Islam is often seen by Christians as an impossible missionary endeavor. From Islam’s rise in the seventh century, Christian apologists, theologians, and missionaries have engaged Muslims with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today Christians are still called by Jesus to proclaim the gospel to all nations, including Muslims, and to love their Muslims neighbors. This issue of Lutheran Mission Matters explores Christian witness and Islam by focusing on the good news of Jesus for Muslims and the following suggested areas of scholarship and missional reflection:

  • Christian and Muslim relations: past, present, and future;
  • Christian witness and Islam in church history;
  • Quran and Scripture, and comparative teachings of confessional and missional engagement;
  • Hadith and the role of tradition in Islam and Christian mission;
  • Muslim and Christian understandings of Jesus and the prophets;
  • Muslim and Christian ethics and praxis;
  • Christian and Muslim interactions in secular and political contexts;
  • Christian witness among Muslims and Muslim witness among Christians;
  • Challenges and opportunities for Christian witness among Muslims;
  • The Global South and Christian witness to Islam;
  • Christianity in the Middle East and Islam.

Submission Guidelines
1. Manuscript Length: Articles, including endnotes, should be between 3,000 and 5,000 words. Mission observer entries should be around 2,000 to 3,000 words. Book reviews should be 650 words.
2. Submission Process: Send your articles, mission observers, and book reviews concerning
the theme “Christian Witness and Islam” to the editor of the journal, Dr. Victor Raj (rajv@csl.edu), with copies to the issue editor, Dr. Joshua Hollmann
(hollmann@csp.edu), and the Editorial Assistant at LSFMdesk@gmail.com. Please send book reviews to Dr. Joel P. Okamoto (okamotoj@csl.edu).
3. Peer Review: All submissions will undergo a double-blind peer review process.
4. Important Dates: Please submit final articles and book reviews by February 1, 2027.