Proactive Digital Risk Management in the Church

Sexual misconduct in modern institutional settings is a dual problem of physical and digital risk that churches need to come to terms with.

Correction: Koester was arrested last June, not in January this year. The story has been updated to correct the error.

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In the wake of two pastors of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) being arrested and charged in connection with the alleged production of child pornography, one last June and one at the end of January, the Synod and its affiliated institutions should move from reactive crisis management to proactive risk management.

2 Corinthians 6:14-17
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? / What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? / What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” ...

Sexual misconduct in modern institutional settings is a dual problem of physical and digital risk. Access to explicit content, live-streamed and commercial sexual content platforms, engagement with exploitative online communities, and participation in anonymous or semi-anonymous networks often precede or accompany more serious forms of misconduct. Governance structures must be updated to include this reality.

This is especially the case for the church, where sexual offenses or lewd behavior online and offline cause enormous harm not just to institutional reputation, but personal faith and family relationships.

Today’s digital forensics, increasingly supported by AI-driven analytics and data harvesting methods, is making everyone’s online presence and behavior discoverable and filterable.¹ Digital footprints are difficult to hide² and can often be reconstructed using commercially available tools. Many publishers also deploy detailed session recordings and replays that users are unaware of.³ Leaders should anticipate that some misconduct will probably end up being exposed publicly through those digital forensic research tools.

For example, how many Lutheran school teachers are using hook-up apps? How many pastors consume online pornography? How many church worker students at the Concordias have terrible gambling habits because of the proliferation of sports betting apps? What photos and videos do seminarians have on cloud accounts? The ability to discover this information is surprisingly simple, and the research costs are falling. The information can be used for blackmail and extortion, or simply to further discredit Christ’s Church.

Accordingly, leadership should prioritize evaluating digital risks and developing appropriate accountability mechanisms.

Each Synod-affiliated institution might consider establishing a formal, confidential digital conduct review and accountability program, administered by an independent digital risk office or a qualified external organization. The purpose of this program should not be prurient: no surveillance, humiliation, or self-protection. It aims to prevent misconduct, ensure accountability, and protect at-risk individuals.

It should apply to all Synod and partner personnel who are:

• Rostered clergy (all statuses except removed/expelled),

• Commissioned ministers,

• Elected or appointed institutional leaders,

• Seminarians, and

• Church worker and pre-seminary students at the Concordias (Luther Classical College should be brought under this umbrella.)

As a condition of enrollment, seminary students (in any track) should participate in a confidential digital conduct screening and accountability review. Focused training and refreshers are also needed on appropriate boundaries with parishioners, children, and the common vices (e.g., alcohol abuse is an observable problem in many situations.)

Reactive Crisis Management or Proactive Risk Management?

Conduct and ethics failures in institutions are usually the sum product of personal ill-discipline, disjointed oversight, haphazard management, and misplaced trust. They are often matched with organizational reticence to address uncomfortable truths head-on, without fear of the facts, even when the facts and their consequences are exceedingly unpleasant.

Whether we like it or not, the pervasiveness of digital vice requires deliberate inclusion in institutional risk management. Church organizations have a moral and fiduciary obligation to implement documented training and oversight, especially for individuals responsible for minors and other vulnerable individuals.

This is not a call for indiscriminate or reckless investigation. Rather, consistently applied and effective safeguarding upholds the Eighth Commandment by preventing the innocent from being falsely accused or subjected to baseless rumors. It also helps all of us avoid bad company and the destruction that loose morals bring.

Proverbs 4:14-15
Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. / Avoid it; do not travel on it. Turn from it and pass on by.

Conclusion

The recent arrests and criminal investigations warrant deep introspection and profound reform in and for the Synod. We cannot afford to assume the next crisis is far away on the basis of calculated low probabilities.

Cover Photo by Nik Shuliahin

1. This story was incidentally prompted after research for an article on a completely unrelated topic happened to surface an active clergyman with a pornography account.

2. The last 20 years of everyone’s online activity is stored in various formats and stitched together by data brokers and investigation services.

3. Session Replays record everything a user does on a website or app as a layer over the visual content - mouse movements, scrolling, clicks, keyboard strokes, time spent on a task/screen, and requested actions such as “rage clicks”. It is not a screen recording, but a facsimile that is very similar.