On Sunday, August 16, over 7,000 visitors jammed into the web campus of North Point Church (Pastor Andy Stanley) for their inaugural live online service. A growing number of churches are looking at Internet outreach and this new area of ministry being called Digital Missions.
NewSpring Church (South Carolina), led by Pastor Perry Noble, is also a leader in the Digital Missions movement. They believe that using technology and the arts to communicate the gospel is part of God’s unique plan for them.
Joe Hall, who attends NewSpring’s online church in Maryland and volunteers as a chat host, talked about his introduction to the idea of a web campus and how he became personally involved with the ministry. Hall describes how the journey began with an unexpected setback. (Adapted from the NewSpring Church blog.)
“Last year a knee injury remade what was intended to be a short visit to Baltimore into a yearlong recovery as a virtual shut-in amidst a strange and unfamiliar city. NewSpring had been my church home for 4 years, and I badly missed it. Of all my friendships, 99% were through NewSpring, which was suddenly a formidable 565 miles and 10-hour drive away.”
NewSpring had been making video and audio versions of their Sunday services available online. Hall explained why that left a void in his particular situation.
“Sitting alone in front of a computer screen to view last Sunday’s message two days after the fact often meant that a good deal of the service’s immediacy … and spiritual impact … often felt diminished or missing.”
What is a web campus?
When Hall heard about NewSpring’s web campus, his first reaction was, “What is it?”
“I started wondering how a web campus could come close to being the same thing as worshiping live, in person … and how a ‘web campus’ would be any different from say, watching Joel Osteen or Reverend Ike on TV, or viewing the NewSpring service via iTunes?”
One of the main differences Hall found between church on television and church online, was active participation.
“Got questions about what Salvation means’? Need prayer support during a crisis’? Got a question about tithing or volunteering’? Just log into the Chat Room and ask: the answers will be live, immediate and personal,” Hall said.
Building community
Being in community with one another is an important teaching in the Bible, especially in the New Testament.
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Romans 15:7
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Occasions for connecting with and reaching out to others, sometimes thousands of miles apart, was another key difference between television ministry and Digital Missions that Hall made note of.
“The web campus makes [community] possible because online interaction translates to constant opportunities for affirming Christ’s presence, witnessing to nonbelievers and for providing prayerful support and encouragement within the Body.”
Fulfilling The Commission
There’s talk about whether churches should call a web campus “church,” or if online church is really “church.” Joe Hall is a Christ follower that has been called to the Digital Mission field. His position on “is it church,” given the urgency of the times, is hard to fault.
“A web campus isn’t meant to replace or supersede ‘brick-n-mortar’ churches, but with literally hundreds of millions of souls online around the globe representing the planet’s last unexplored mission field, the web campus is the ministry ready and able to go forth … live and worldwide … to make disciples of all nations.
Isn’t that just what Christ commanded?”