Lutheran Service Book (LSB) is the newest official hymnal of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC). It was prepared by the LCMS Commission on Worship and published by Concordia Publishing House, the official publisher of the LCMS. It is the fourth official English-language hymnal of the LCMS published since the synod began transitioning from German to English in the early 1900s. LSB is intended to succeed both The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH) and Lutheran Worship (LW) as the common hymnal of the LCMS. Supplemental and companion editions to the hymnal are scheduled for release throughout the end of 2006 and into 2007. The hymnal was officially approved by the LCMS at the 2004 LCMS National Convention in St. Louis. It was officially released on September 1, 2006, but many customers who pre-ordered the hymnal received their copies several weeks earlier.
Lutheran Service Book is, coincidentally, one of two major Lutheran hymnals that were published almost simultaneously in the fall of 2006. Evangelical Lutheran Worship, the new hymnal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, was released in October 2006. The projects were not related.
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In addition to the pew edition, several other editions of LSB are available:
In addition to the myriad editions of the hymnal, the Commission on Worship prepared an electronic edition of Lutheran Service Book known as Lutheran Service Builder. This computer program is structured in order to allow churches to easily prepare printed orders of service and electronically presented orders of service, containing readings, hymns, and service music.