Christians and the Internet

By Zhang Yuanlai

The “e-age” or the “Internet era” has brought revolutionary changes to people’s lifestyles, study and work. How should Christians of this day and age deal with the ubiquitous Internet? Is it a friend or a foe? Is it a fad or a tool? A serene pasture or a noisy battlefield? How should the church change its way of thinking and adapt to the demands of the Internet era in an age of globalization, hastened by the advent of that same Internet? Here, Zhang Yuanlai attempts to demonstrate that the Internet and the spread of the gospel are interrelated.

The Internet: a tool for church workers

The Internet has already impacted every area of life in contemporary society. Closer inspection reveals three areas of strong influence: it has become the primary means of consultation and communication; it is considered necessary for people’s daily lives, and it has become a key component of social activities.

In his article, “Shifting on its Pivot,” Michael Elliott says that the basis of globalization is the increasing capacities of computers and the Internet; concepts of nationality have been undermined in ways which traditional theories of international relations cannot explain. Just a few years ago, print and television media were the primary channels of information dissemination, but now, in more and more areas, the Internet is replacing traditional media and has become the most important way of communicating news. Print and television media are slowly losing importance, including the Christian Science Monitor, which recently announced that, like many other publications, it was abandoning its print edition for an online presence. Amazon.com, the world’s biggest publisher, also concentrates its primary publishing efforts online. And, as many traditional Christian printing and publishing organizations note with alarm the shrinking of their industry, they too are shifting their focus to online publishing.

In recent years, we have seen virtual networks quickly become a tool for the life and management of society. Along with the spread of the Internet, new social structures and business models have quickly appeared and become a mainstream trend. Online sales, shopping and advertising comprise these new business models. Use of the Internet has reduced business costs, increased the speed of service, streamlined business operations, increased product choice and reduced the physical space required for shops. In addition, the Internet has become a symbol of the virtual world, as indispensable in today’s society as water or electricity. Cutting access to the Internet creates as much hardship for consumers as cutting off electricity.

As we face the rapid spread of the Internet, we can say that the world seems to have been “Internet-ized” overnight! The church should adapt appropriately to this e-age.

The Internet and the spread of the gospel

The relationship between the church and the gospel is like that of a seed to the soil; in good soil, a seed will grow, and because of its growth, the ground will be made beautiful. The DNA of a seed does not change, but the same plant can adapt very differently to various environmental conditions including weather and soil, due both to its innate ability and to natural laws established by God. As for the seed of the gospel, its DNA (the true meaning of faith) never changes, but the unchanging gospel can adapt according to the soil of different cultures. This is necessary for the existence and development of the church. Paul expressed something similar: “I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some!” The gospel Paul preached never changed, but the means he used to spread the gospel, including the language and techniques employed, were always adapted for different cultural environments.

In Jesus’ day, the spread of the gospel took place mostly by word of mouth and letters written on parchment scrolls. In the 15th century the Bible was the first book printed by Europeans. Thanks to the most modern printing technology, the spread of European Christianity was further advanced. The first words transmitted from one shore of the Pacific to the other when the telegraph was invented were a verse of Scripture. Later, when publishing flourished and movies and television started to become popular, the latest technology was always put to use in preaching the gospel. In short, during the era in which Christianity had a significant impact on society’s values, the best of society often originated in the church; each new media presented a new path for the gospel and elicited an enthusiastic response from the church. This is one reason why Christianity has quickly spread to every part of the world. The church not only has doctrines of truth founded on truth and a system of ethics, but has employed the most advanced tools for dissemination of its principles and ethics, and sharing, management and governance among its membership.

We call this present age the information age or the Internet age. This is an age in which we can exchange information at high speed, an age in which we are on the point of moving from traditional media into the Internet age. In this age, social interaction is also shifting from what was traditionally face-to-face or by letter interactions into a digital era lying between the real and the virtual. One of the hallmarks of the information age is the use of Internet, which is very fast and breaches every type of obstacle. It has reduced the distances of time and space, pulling people into a virtual world, where we can float between the real and the virtual. In the information age, the voice of authority lies with those who grasp the opportunities afforded by the Internet.

We in the church must also grasp the technological opportunities of this great information revolution, and bring evangelization from traditional means of media into this “Internet-ized” age. Using both “real-time” and virtual effects, we must preach the message of the gospel on the Internet, building a real-world fellowship community that is a hallmark of Christianity, or an online, virtual, church. Furthermore using the characteristic convenience of the Internet, we can better build up a community of interconnected saints and pastoral care, and thereby, bring people the solid truths of faith and fellowship in the midst of our increasingly virtual post-modern social life.

The Internet – land waiting to be planted

The Internet is like land that is ready for planting by today’s church. The church’s attitude to the Internet will, to a large degree, determine the future development of the church. In terms of the application of Internet technology in the church, or we might call it the church’s adaptation to the Internet, there remains a great deal of fine-tuning and specific work to be done. First, however, in this author’s humble opinion, the church must begin the task of adapting to the Internet era in three areas:

Liberate our thinking and accept new things

The application of network technology in evangelization and pastoral care does not augur a trend toward secularization in the church nor that it is simply going with the trend. Rather it is the embodiment of using “every type of wisdom” to spread the gospel. In the future, more forms of advanced technology will continue to appear; the church should grasp the opportunities offered by science and technology, and accept the reality – that the church exists in an age of rapid scientific and technological development—with an open mind.

The use of technology is a positive way to attract all types of talented people to the church

Among believers in the church, there are often many who are specialists in information technology, and who should be actively encouraged to implement Internet technology in the church.

Better late than never: we should do all we can to catch up, reclaiming the opportunities that have slipped by us in the online world

Speaking objectively, the Internet standard used in many city churches is already far behind that in the rest of society; our voice is limited to the church pulpit while the mainstream church is almost silent in the online world. There are over ten million believers but seldom do we produce our own high quality software programs … our current problem is not whether or not to accept the popularity of the Internet, rather it is how we will adapt to this society in which the Internet plays such a primary role. Better late than never- - we have been marginalized in the past but let us not marginalize ourselves today!

What sets the Internet or information transformations apart from many short-lived fads in history is that the domination of the Internet is not simply a trend, but is rather a firm direction of social development, the start of an era. Although the Internet world contains many things to which we have not been accustomed, the fact remains that the Internet represents a progressive culture of social development and the crystallization of science and technology. The Internet is becoming the most important means of communication transmission and a key component of life and work. It is neither warranted nor reasonable for us as Christians to attempt to use the gospel as an excuse to reject a cultural advance. Looking at the issue from this perspective, for the church to choose to make the Internet a tool for its work of evangelization is merely one of the most appropriate responses to the Great Commission.

The church has certainly not opposed the use of Internet technology in the spread of the gospel in the same way it has cloning technology. Just as it is almost impossible today that any church would deny the importance of literary work for evangelization, the use of the Internet is now attracting the attention of many churches, and numerous church websites and blogs are emerging like bamboo shoots after spring rains.

Yet there is no denying that up to now, in this day when the Internet is already commonplace, many churches, especially mainstream churches, have not reacted with enough alacrity, have not adequately recognized that the Internet has an irreplaceable position in the development of the church. In certain places the church even passively boycotts the Internet.

Whether you like the Internet or not, whether or not you are used to it, you must adapt to it, for the Internet is the language of our time. The use of such language is the challenge that we must meet in order to spread the gospel and to build the church.

Translated from Tian Feng No. 356 August, 2009 by Suzanne Rowe