Pastor's Page
"INTERNET Blues or Blessings"
We truly are now in the INTERNET era. The pending AOL/Time/Warner merger, which is an INTERNET takeout of a more traditional media business, confirms we are deeply into this new postmodern, post industrial, post information INTERNET age. What is the church's strategy for being part of all this?
We don't have one! To get one we must change our reactionary attitudes toward the INTERNET and shake loose of religious fears about technology. At a recent seminar of international ministers in Hong Kong I was appalled by the general reactionary opinions as we discussed the INTERNET: "It's evil..there are all those sex chat rooms" "It's impersonal, not at all like the healthy interpersonal and eyeball to eyeball relationships we have in our churches." "It will make us all vegetables, sitting before our computers in isolation." "The devil is out there in the wiring."
These responses will not help the church be relevant to the most significant technological advance since the invention of electricity. Once before in my lifetime the churches missed out on a technological advance &endash; television. The advent of the television era 50 years was greeted within churches by a similar fear and resistance. In fact, television did almost single handedly destroy the Sunday night church service and the Wednesday night prayer meetings in American Protestantism. But television only expedited what was inevitable change.
But because churchly negativity opted out of any participation in television we ended up with about 99.9% of all TV programming becoming secular.
Let's not opt out of the INTERNET era so as to guarantee that 99.9% of its usage will be non-spiritual. Unlike TV, the INTERNET is highly democratic, decentralized and readily accessible to Christians and Christian interests. We can with very little capital, unlike television, have Christian chat rooms including the dissemination of Christian views on sexuality. We are developing Christian web sites and www.cchk.net is a good example. The INTERNET gives instant knowledge and communication to Christians who are concerned with religious persecution, other human rights violations, Christian relief efforts in crisis situation..
More broadly, the INTERNET is the greatest promoter of the dissemination of general knowledge and understanding since the church promoted and exploited the invention of the printing press. Christians should welcome the INTERNET era and get with it. If we fight it we only guarantee our isolation from the vast majority of humans and how they will be obtaining their views.
I envisage Community Church in the next decade being on the INTERNET with interactive worship events, with Christian seminars and chat rooms in which the participants communicate on the INTERNET. If we go with this overwhelming advance of technology, we will, like AOL and other internet engines, see our audiences increase manifold times and our "stock" price move in the right direction .
And as we are on the INTERNET as you read this I'd welcome your comments.
Pastor Gene Preston
The Rev. Gene R.Preston
10/F Kai Kwong Commercial Building 332-334 Lockhart Road Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel : 2551 6161 Fax: 2892 2466E-mail : churpstr@netvigator.com
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