The Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) gives a clear challenge from the Lord of the entire Universe to make disciples of all nations. In the man-made virtual worlds with computer-mediated communication, the opportunities are legion. The global structure provides a unique possibility for proclamation of the gospel to the whole earth, and the number of virtual «inhabitants» will continue to grow. In one sense, the world will come to the gospel.
Yet, the Internet provides no guarantee that people will really visit the Christian sites, and one needs to ask if the home pages are really attracting non-Christian visitors. The rapidly growing population of the Internet will make it much more difficult to just «drop into» a virtual church by chance. New so-called «push» technologies will become increasingly important, for example, for commercial users of the Net.
Will the virtual churches become rather like the real ones, predominantly visited by believers? How can the gospel then be communicated--in whichever way possible--to the restless, fluctuant surfer of the Net looking for more excitement, new knowledge, new boundaries to explore? If evangelization is a prime goal, these and other questions need to be addressed.
An increasingly populated «cyberspace» does indeed present an entirely new challenge for Christian missions. If one wants to use the Internet for evangelization there are several issues to be considered.
First, the Internet will become ever more a part of daily life for a much larger group of people of most ages from nearly all over the world.
Second, the Internet will become increasingly diverse in terms of culture, language and religion as it continues to spread out over the world.
Third, the use of Internet may become more tied up to school and work and less for leisure.
Fourth, the level of mastering the Net will increase with the help of intelligent agents and search engines and make people more focused in their overall use of the medium. Fifth, the postmodern reality of the Internet will influence the life and values of more and more people from other cultures.
These and other trends will shape the future reality of the Net. Consequently, evangelization may become both easier and more difficult. In one way the «world», or large parts of it, will come to the Internet and have a theoretic possibility of encountering the gospel. However, chances are not too big that they will really want to surf into a virtual church or some other Christian ministry just by preference. Like in the real world, there are many other activities and subjects far more attractive to people than a church or something labeled «Christian.» Establishing a virtual church or a Christian ministry may be very important for whoever visits and becomes involved. Nevertheless, this is absolutely not enough.
Christian ministries and churches on the Internet need to «go out» as Jesus himself commissioned us. There are at least 20,000 different user groups and e-mail forums on the Net, and more should be established by churches and ministries to invite people to join into whatever topic of interest. Discussion groups have become popular on the Internet and do fulfill a need for interaction and community. The international and global atmosphere on the Net where one can establish relationships with people on the other side of the globe is a unique feature with great appeal to many people. It may provide unique opportunities for effective evangelization.
The Internet is not the medium for large evangelistic campaigns. Rather its strength is in the personal encounter, via e-mail, in chat rooms, etc. Evangelism on the Internet must be done with a global perspective and a focus on the individual. The main method should be friendship evangelism were one can share the gospel in a personal way as a part of a friendship relation. Often the emotional attributes connected with interaction on the Net may allow and promote a feeling of «togetherness» and intimacy that even amplifies the content and importance of the testimony.
Christian ministries and churches on the Internet have already had several opportunities to do evangelism in «cyberspace» and many more can be developed after gaining more experience. First, training people to share their testimony and do friendship evangelism will be a prime task. Second, trained people should be commissioned to use time in joining discussion groups, MUD/MOO's according to their own topics of interest. Establishing relationships is important and will normally give natural opportunities for sharing their personal testimony. Third, Christian ministries and churches may well establish forums on the Net in the same way as they have children's, youth or adult activities in the church, etc.
Evangelization on the Internet provides a unique opportunity for communicating the gospel across barriers of culture and language. An open attitude and a learning posture to get to know other people, their language, tradition and religion provide natural opportunities of sharing one's own faith without being «pushy.» Although some of the most restricted and closed countries have not really started to use the Internet it will probably not be long before intellectuals and others from these countries also have access to this worldwide community. For security reasons some Christian ministries may consider establishing separate Web sites with general names to approach these areas and people.
Christian ministries and churches also need to advertise themselves and their activities on the Internet. Listings with search engines, notes with e-mail services that tell about newcomers or new activities on the Net will become increasingly important. Also Internet-related activities themselves can be attractive alteratives for youth groups and others connected to a local church or ministry.
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