Can the Net Save the World? This new medium could fulfill the Great Commission of Christ, but will it rattle the traditional church in the process? Only JESUS can save... but with a God-centered strategy aimed at spreading the good news, the NET is fast becoming an awesome communication medium. Interesting article by Brian Peterson with Brian Tighe Victoria Shephard wanted nothing to do with Jesus in the early '90s. Then she began an e-mail conversation with a compassionate surfer on the Internet. As a college student, Victoria had chosen Wicca over Christianity and was even initiated as a witch in 1992. But after months of electronic conversation, she joined her new friend in a prayer of salvation. Jason, however, a Christian family man from the Midwest, encountered different kinds of surfers on the Internet. He had logged onto the Web for its researching potential, and late one evening, in exploring a common Net portal, he stumbled into a porn site. Jason followed the trail, like a zombie, into its adult chat rooms. Soon he was visiting regularly. Within weeks he was using the Net to arrange a sexual encounter while taking a business trip. Now he's fighting to save his marriage. If all the good and all the evil of the Internet were loaded onto separate sides of a scale, which side would be heavier? Will the Internet ultimately do more harm or more good for Christians-and, collectively, the church? The answer couldn't be more obvious, according to Walter Wilson, one expert of many and the author of a new book called The Internet Church (Word). "If the Internet is used properly, we could touch every man, woman and child in the world with the Gospel in the next decade," says Wilson, also chairman and CEO of Exclaim Technologies, an Internet applications company in Silicon Valley. "We lost TV. We can't lose the Internet. This could be the first time since Gutenberg that we will be on the cutting edge." Ironically, he notes, Gutenburg printed the first book ever with moveable type-and the title of that volume? The Bible. You'd Think It Was Written: Thou Shalt Be Wired Some Christian organizations already have jumped into the new technology. In fact, they've wasted no time jumping on the Internet wagon. As an example, Wilson mentions the Web site for his church, which has 1,000 visitors logging on daily from 30 countries. Most visitors are from Japan, he says, and other countries that lack a strong Christian presence. They come for the daily Bible study from the pastor, or notes on the Sunday message; to post and respond to prayer requests, check out a description of the church ministries, and for so much more. Ok...I get the point....I want to be a member of the team While most of the church Web sites are not as well developed as Calvary Los Gatos, a quick peek at the Yahoo search engine shows how fast the Net presence is growing. Under the word "churches," for instance, you can open an index of churches categorized by denomination; the Baptist category yields links to several hundred Web sites. For non-denominational churches alone, there are 745 listings. Meanwhile, other parachurch organizations are investing millions of dollars into content-rich sites-thousands of ministries, colleges and seminaries, speakers and teachers, publishers, music companies and Christian stores that have a Web presence. Why are so many Christians starting their own Web sites with the sole purpose of giving their story of salvation? Believers like Wilson say the answer's simple: People are finding biblical advice on the most embarrassing (read: sex) to troubling (think: abuse) of life's problems, as well as a sense of community with the like-minded, and easy and continuous access. Ok....I get the point...I want to be part of this team And then there's the dark side. Can You Call It Cyber Sanctuary? It doesn't take a rocket scientist, or a tech head for that matter, to see that the Internet is fast becoming a showcase for every spiritual persuasion on earth--from localized sects to major religious fortresses like Islam and Buddhism ... or combinations of each. It's a concern that Andrew Careaga, author of E-vangelism: Sharing the Gospel in Cyberspace, can't ignore. "On the topic of religion alone," he writes, "an Internet search will turn up thousands of listings--from Animism [the belief in the existence of spirits separate from bodies] to Zoroastrianism [the worship of a Persian god who requires good deeds for help in his cosmic struggle against an evil spirit], and everything in between." Careaga notes in his book that the mass suicide of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult used the Net to spread their beliefs and recruit members. Even more chilling, he says: Some groups, including Heaven's Gate, will mix in a dash of Christian beliefs, to create a more palatable message to the typical spiritual seeker. The trend worries Rev. Charles Henderson, a Presbyterian minister and founder of the First Church of Cyberspace, one of the first virtual sanctuaries. "People are inventing their own religions, like a collage," he told USA Today. "It's very chaotic." In the same article, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles lamented that on some Web pages "people claim to be priests and theologians who have no theological background. Many people are being terribly confused." The critics call this spiritual anarchy. Others see it as freedom of religion in its purest form--the kind of freedom upon which America was founded. Both the Rev. Henderson and Careaga see the freedom on the Net as more of an asset than a liability, even though they detest much of the content online. Says Careaga, "Any time we allow people the freedom to make these choices, it is healthy." The Rev. Henderson, who also serves as the Christianity guide on concurs: "While every individual and every group under the sun is free to promote a point of view on the Net, the very fact that so many different perspectives are put out there for the eye to see means people can compare and test for themselves the truthfulness of what they encounter." The bottom line is clear, critics and fans agree: If we really believe that truth will prevail in a world starving for spiritual food, the masses will find it. So the race is on to present a vibrant, relevant, practical Christian presence online. We need to take a relational approach, says Careaga, not confrontational or even proclamational. Will we do it right? E-Pastors--Just A Click Away While Christians have a good start on the Internet, Walter Wilson says that local churches still need a radical shift of ministry mindset. In his new book Wilson shows how church leaders can use Internet technology to build their outreach locally and around the world. Local churches should even consider hiring a "Pastor of Electronic Ministry," says Wilson. They should make certain their Web site includes outreach, community, and evangelism. "People rally around causes, not denominations," he observes, suggesting that chat groups be organized for divorce recovery, child abuse, kids on drugs, even everyday chat sessions with the pastor. "Churches need to be thinking about how to be their neighborhood's AOL, the creator of community for their local areas," Wilson adds--the way for a church to get out of the fortress and into the streets. It appears that the time invested by churches will be well spent. In a 1998 study of religion on the Internet for United Methodist Communication and the Louisville Institute, Ken Bedell found that 83 percent of the people who responded to his survey said they value having a local congregation provide information about services and programs online. More than 99 percent of respondents who have access to the World Wide Web said they look for information about religion on the Internet, and almost one-fourth responded that they look for information on a daily basis. The Internet is only the first phase of ministry and outreach to people, Wilson points out, but it will never replace the face-to-face experience of the church gathering as we know it. Simply, he says, "We are not concerned about people abandoning the church for the Internet." But, if the church does not respond quickly, one study suggests, that concern may be in order after all. Dare We Say "Digital Exodus"? In fact, in his report "The Cyberchurch Is Coming" researcher George Barna says his studies show that "by 2010 we will probably have 10 to 20 percent of the population relying primarily or exclusively upon the Internet for its religious input. Those people will never set foot on a church campus because their religious and spiritual needs will be met through other means--including the Internet." The most radical turn toward cyberfaith is among the Baby Busters and teenagers, according to Barna's findings. While only 4 percent of teens currently use the Internet for religious or spiritual experiences, about four times that many said they expected to use the Internet as a substitute for church in the next five years. Barna's survey of 620 teens also showed that the most likely group to switch to Internet-based faith are ones who currently attend church regularly. Barna's research seems even more profound in his recent book The Second Coming of the Church (Word), where he observes that the more people who call a cyberchurch their "church home," the more steadfastly unchurched individuals America's likely to see--folks completely isolated from the traditional church format. Indeed, Barna's study could indicate a dissatisfaction with youth ministry in a typical church, or it's a positive vote for the growing number of Christian alternatives on the Net, or, more likely, it's both. "It's definitely possible that youth will find a superior experience [to their church] on the Net," agrees author Careaga, who is also a youth pastor. The biggest attraction, he says, is the combination of community and anonymity that the Net offers: "[Young people] can talk about personal issues that they would never feel welcome to discuss in a church or youth group setting." That advantage is a double-edge sword, he admits, because "it removes a layer of accountability." So where does that leave us? Aimless, with a mouse? For anyone who visits the bulletin boards, the chat groups and the home pages, an Internet experience is sure to be found very different from what's found in the pew. So is the church ready to be shaken by this new technology--like a modern version of the uproar sparked by Luther, or by Peter and Paul in the early church? Will what many people consider a negative actually create a positive climate for advancing the claims of Jesus, and thereby building the Christian church? If history proves anything, maybe it proves this, according to what thinkers like Eugene Peterson, a professor of spiritual theology at Regent University in Vancouver, B.C., and translator of the Bible version The Message. That in the formative stages of a new era, the common people have a voice, and it's often led to something good. The good is not necessarily the capabilities for connection that the Internet itself provides, indicates Peterson in his book Subversive Spirituality (Eerdman's and Regent College Publishing). But with this multi-media communications medium, that for the first time in centuries combines seeing, hearing and touching, we move closer to communicating the way people did when the biblical material was in formation. And like those first century folks, electronic communications allow people today to experience faith not from a sermon preached on a page, but from experience, using not only intellect, but all the senses. So like the doubtful skeptics in the Gospel According to John, people can once again experience the wonder of the signs, not just the sermons, of Jesus--and they can move from a state of lacking belief to one of belief. Imagine. The Net revolution could lead to something much better than good. It could lead to things eternal. The two Brians of iBelieve.com are managing editor Brian Peterson of Orlando, Fla., who wrote this report with research from associate editor Brian Tighe of Grand Rapids, Mich. |
