Great change is occurring, again, in post World Wide Web America.

Few of us doubt that the Internet has changed our world. Fast.

In the 17 years since Tim Berners-Lee invented the Web, there have already been four Internet stages.

1) The Early Internet, that saw the proliferation of the web browser and growth in users.

2) The Searchable Web, where e-commerce and Google emerged.

3) The Social Web, that produced critical mass adoption rates and the Facebook social phenomenon.

4) The Mobile Web, being enabled by mobile communication platforms, like the iPhone and Android, that are always with us and know where we are.

But the most revolutionary change of all is emerging.

The new network is being called the “Internet of Things,” Web 3.0, and the Transcendent Web. In this stage, according to futurist thinkers, almost every object you can see around you carries the possibility of being connected to the Internet.

This means that your domestic appliances, your clothes, your books, your car – and even you – may one day be assigned a unique IP address, just as both computers and web pages are assigned them today, to enable them to talk to each other.

This will have a profound effect on the world. It could mean that there soon will be more things connected to the Internet than there are people who are connected.

Like all things related to the Web, there will be good and bad aspects to the Internet of Things. Threats and opportunities. Experts are addressing security concerns.

What does it mean for Christian communicators?

Every Christian organization should take a moment to think about what the Internet of Things might mean for the gospel.

Here are four thoughts to prime the pump.

1. Immediacy of the gospel. In a world where technology is instantly catering to every desire to know and to do, 24/7 digital platforms could also enable communicators to, in a moments notice, share the gospel of Jesus Christ with anyone, anywhere. The immediate intent would be to bring the hearer to faith in Christ on the spot. The ultimate intent would be to instantly deliver instructional resources, personalized for the individual, the moment they are saved. Even better, along with an immediate personal contact from a digital ambassador, with the individual opting in, of course.

2. Interpretation of the gospel. Just as software companies provide online support for their products, new and maturing converts will need help in understanding and interpreting the Bible. These new believers would be motivated to test any and all claims about who Jesus was, the life he lived, the death he died, and the reality of his relationship to the church in this present age. Digital teachers could lead studies for social networks, self-organized by people using the new smart systems.

3. Illustration of the gospel. At the recent Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit, Erwin McManus asked, “What would happen if the Church became the epicenter of human creativity, an incubator of the God-given talent inside every human being?” The Church has millions of talented people that could unleash truth-telling narratives into the new Internet ecosystem.

4. Importance of the gospel. The reality of the spiritual state in the world is pretty distressing. But there is nothing more original, more trustworthy and more needed in the world today than the gospel of Jesus Christ. Will it be immediately available, rightly interpreted, and creatively illustrated in the Internet of Things world? In a world where one expert says, there are millions of books, millions of songs, millions of films, millions of applications, millions of everything requesting our attention — and most of it free — it means life or death for the gospel to be findable.

Question: What other thoughts do you have about the gospel and the emerging Internet of Things?