November 2025
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"Copyright 2025 Lutheran Society for Missiology. Used by permission."
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Inside This Issue
Lutheran Mission Matters is an international Lutheran forum for the exchange of ideas and discussion of issues related to proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ globally. Now over three decades old, the journal has addressed numerous themes of significance, engaging competent authors and contributors who interpret Lutheran theology focusing on missional thinking and practice. Inside this issue, we have invited authors to interact with artificial intelligence (AI), a theme that has been holding captive everyone in our generation. Issue editor William Fredstrom has provided leadership for this unique undertaking within the framework of Lutheran theology. The essays and mission observers analyze various challenges this new wave of artificial intelligence has brought about and the opportunities for ministry and mission with an innovative spirit.
Articles
The AI Divide: Benefits, Inequalities, and “Theopolitical” Response; William G. Fredstrom
Abstract:
While many proponents highlight the remarkable benefits AI technologies promise for people across the globe, a growing number of scholars and commentators have presented another kind of discourse concerning AI, describing how these technologies will actually deepen geopolitical and economic divides and intensify existing inequalities to an unprecedented degree. As a result, this article juxtaposes these two discourses concerning the present and future impact of AI technologies and offers a critical and constructive theopolitical response to this pressing global challenge.
The Education and Formation of Whole Persons in the Digital Age; Joshua Pauling
Abstract:
The continual expansion of digital technologies in education requires critical engagement with their potential utility, but, even more significantly, with the assumptions that undergird their design and use. First addressing these foundational questions creates a framework for more fruitfully considering practical implications for education and human formation. It will be argued that education at its core is a humane endeavor that, in general, does not necessitate the use of digital technologies, which frequently short-circuit the lasting learning and virtue formation that education is meant to stimulate. This especially holds true as technologies become more immersive, responsive, and human-like. While Neil Postman’s advice towards technological skepticism in education still offers a model, emerging technologies also afford us opportunities to reimagine what education can and should be, and foreground important questions at the core of the Great Conversation throughout history—questions that previously may have seemed to students: questions about God, man, and the world, which the church and her educational institutions are primed to answer.
Why Minds Are More Than Machines; Angus J. L. Menuge
Abstract:
This document examines the differences between human minds and machines, particularly large language models (LLMs), arguing that certain aspects of human rationality and creativity surpass what machines can achieve. It critiques the computational theory of mind and explores these key human faculties that machines lack: insight into truth, meta-insight, free will, access to necessary conceptual relations, and non-combinatorial creativity.
To the Ends of the Earth and To the End of the Age: Artificial Intelligence and the Missio Dei; Eugene P. Kim
Abstract:
Artificial intelligence offers convenience, efficiency, and power, yet it raises the question: Does reliance on AI threaten to replace the very heart of the pastor, or even the presence of God?
Created vs. Generated: Practical Considerations for Engaging Christian Educators in the Use of AI; Lori B. Doyle and Jill L. Swisher
Abstract:
This paper explores the distinction of that which is created versus that which is generated as the foundation on which to consider the use of artificial intelligence in Christian higher education. Given the variety of ways in which AI is already utilized, and drawing on biblical perspectives, learning theory, and leadership theory, the authors propose a practical model by which a faculty can collaborate and calibrate to establish the parameters of the role of AI particular to their specific context and institutional mission. Implications for institutions of higher education and a call to action are offered.
Virtual Reality in and for Creation; Jaron P. Melin
Abstract:
I investigate the ways in which Virtual Reality (VR) is embedded in creation and can be in service for the creation. There is a proper distinction between the virtual world and the physical world, yet there is also some sense of reality in the virtual world, as it is still part of the creation. Jaron Lanier has philosophical insights on the interactions between VR and the physical world and on how VR helps us to understand humanity better. I interact with Jaron Lanier from the perspective of creational theology and various sciences, and then I show some implications for the care of creation and the church’s mission.
Lutheran Digital Ecclesiology: A Research Agenda for Digital Ecclesiology Practices in the Lutheran Church; A. Trevor Sutton and Connor J. S. Sutton
What evidence is there that digital technology is helping or hurting Lutheran mission and ministry? Is there qualitative or quantitative data to warrant technological skepticism or optimism? For example, a pastor could set out to assess the ministry benefits or drawbacks of a congregation’s website, social media engagement, or livestream worship offerings. This would allow a pastor to validate or invalidate his technological skepticism or optimism. Similar to the overall research agenda presented in this article, pastors and congregations have many new and challenging questions to consider in this age of emerging technology.
Emerging Technologies and Mission Strategy: A Confessional Lutheran Reflection; Vernon E. Wendt, Jr.
Abstract:
Today, we stand on the brink of a remarkable technological revolution, characterized by groundbreaking advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and digital technologies. These innovations not only open new avenues for evangelism and outreach but also present profound challenges to the Church’s incarnational nature and sacramental life.
Séminaire Theologique Concordia d’Haïti; David Somers
In December 2025, 60 students, of whom 30 are slated to be ordained, will graduate from the Église évangélique luthérienne d’Haïti’s Séminaire Theologique Concordia d’Haïti. The new seminary is the largest of all confessional seminaries in the French-speaking world and yet has no physical campus and has been unknown to much of the rest of confessional Lutheranism. The sessions for a new cohort will begin in January 2026.
