In 2007 Biola Magazine published an article that explored how the Internet has and hasn’t changed the Church.
Where is the Church in cyberspace five years later?
For starters, Internet use remains strong among religious Americans with nearly 8 in 10 online regularly, according to a 2011 study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.
And 69 percent of the estimated 335,000 churches in the United States have a website, according to a separate study conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religious Research.
In other words, there are millions of seekers online and millions of websites vying for their attention.
Three things that have changed since 2007
1. Church web design has significantly improved. Churches are working smarter to turn their websites into communication platforms. They are building modern, visually attractive digital gateways which not only attract people to a physical location but which are the first touchpoint in a relationship process with seekers not yet ready to visit.
2. Online missionary work has been growing phenomenally. The article did not anticipate the explosive growth of social media or mobile. Facebook and Twitter are being used to both stay in touch with church members and to attract new audiences, even in closed countries. Because video-friendly mobile devices are becoming a part of life all over the world, the Word can be presented in terms easily understood by virtually any audience group. Video outreach and evangelism globally will one day be as common as today’s gospel broadcasting on Christian Radio and TV.
3. World religions now compete on a grand scale for control over their internet presence. For the first time in its history, the international nonprofit that doles out generic Internet domain names such as “.com” and “.edu” will allow more specific web address extensions like “.church.” The Vatican, the Mormon church, Muslim and Buddhist groups and evangelical Christian churches and organizations are among the religious groups seeking coveted online addresses to do their mission work in cyberspace.
Three things that haven’t changed
Don’t give the devil any opportunity [to work]. Ephesians 4:27
One, cyber churches still have not replaced physical churches and there is no indication they will. While the definition of what constitutes a “congregation” is evolving, what is not changing is our desire to congregate face-to-face.
Two, Christian organizations of every size are continuing to take risks, to undertake digital missions ventures. They understand that by neglecting to present the Word of God online a spiritual vacuum will be created, and nature abhors a vaccuum. “Wherever God and good do not fill, lesser things will,” said a motivated pastor. With every project, we are learning more about what works and what doesn’t to reach souls in cyberspace.
How many souls are online today?
A Pew Internet Project report reveals that 245 million Americans are now online. Those numbers include 93% of teens ages 12‐17, as well as 93% of young adults ages 18‐29. There are nearly 2.3 billion souls online worldwide.
And three, the rate of technological change is not slowing down.
(Photo by Daniel Leyva)