02/06/2022

A recent survey estimates that nearly 80% of our population in a ten minute driving time of the church has some kind of internet service with almost 20% not having internet access.  This is a massive change over the years where an even a higher percentage have computers.  Cell phones (themselves mini computers) are even more common.  This has changed the way we communicate, the way we advertise and the way we get our message out.  Newspaper subscriptions have fallen greatly with advertising moving increasingly to digital media.  A significant question is how will we use this change for the sake of the gospel?  Changes in the past in transportation and communication have been utilized to get out the gospel message.  Radio and TV have substantial religious presence today which developed over the years.  One of the accidental blessings of the COVID pandemic is that we learned to use electronic media to share services and link us together when we could not use our regular service outlets.  Local congregations found ways to put our church worship services on line.  Sometimes we were surprised when people joined us from far away.   We do not yet know all the ways that the digital world might be useful to the church and her mission for Christ and the gospel.  Creative thinking and experimental attempts may lead us in ways we did not anticipate.  Some seminaries now hold classes electronically in different parts of the world at the same time.  They have created virtual unified classrooms when students from different countries can learn together.  Who knows what could happen in local churches.  We may be at the beginning of a joining of local and digital congregations.  We in the church have found new ways before.  Let’s find those new ways again.