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Using the Internet to evangelize World A
by Justin D. Long
The idea of using the Internet to evangelize has been bandied about for some time. There are several web pages devoted to explaining the Gospel, and many discipling e-mail groups.
However, these are really only affecting people who have already heard the Gospel, and either accepted it or rejected it. Most visitors to the home pages of Christian organizations will be Christians.
As far as affecting World A, the chief problem is that the unevangelized peoples of the world are typically too poor to afford a computer, much less a connection to the Internet. For example, out of several hundred million Han Chinese, the Shenzen Securities Times reported only 60,000 presently use the Internet. An imported Internet-ready computer would cost the average Chinese farmer over 10 years' wages. 900 million Chinese earned only $150 per person, according to the Chinese State Statistical Bureau.
The Securities Times predicts a 25% growth rate in the computer industry during the next five years; overall market value is estimated to reach $150.5 billion yuan (roughly US$18 billion) by AD 2000. China's economy is thought to have the potential to rival that of the United States by sometime in the early 21st century. As other underdeveloped nations become more industrialized, more people will begin using computers as well.
Nevertheless, the potential for evangelizing World A groups via the Internet is slim; chances are most groups will be evangelized long before they ever acquire advanced technologies.
Any plan which uses a highly advanced technology to cheaply reach a World A people group is nearly always doomed to failure, chiefly because advanced technologies aren't available to World A groups. For example, a few years ago someone came up with the idea of sending Bibles to everyone in the phone book, and thus evangelizing the world: ignoring the common-sense fact that many people have unlisted numbers, and the easily obvious fact that hundreds of millions of people don't even have phones. Another variant of this plan is calling everyone in the phone book with a recorded message, but even people with phones typically hang up on such calls.
Technology can be effectively used. Television and radio broadcasts are two examples technologies which have been adapted to reach the unevangelized. The "Jesus" Film and audio cassettes are two more. Even more creatively, home-building, medicine and well-digging have all been effective ministry options.
However, we have to think clearly about every technology, consider its applications, and look for creative ways in which it can be either converted into an evangelistic tool for frontier missions, or into a means for serving those who are involved in frontier missions.
QUESTION
When considering any new plan to evangelize the world, ask yourself the
brutal question: "Will the unevangelized peoples of the world--those who
have never heard of Christianity--really be affected by this plan?"
SUGGESTIONS