Would Jesus use a modem?

By Rev. Dr. Sandra Bochonok

The following reflection is a selected portion of a 1999 Doctor of Ministry dissertation; "Unleashing God's Mighty Power through Internet Evangelism." Readers are requested to email the author for permission to reprint or distribute these thoughts. Email requests may be sent to the Rev. Dr. Sandra Bochonok at revsandyb@aol.com.

Absolutely, yes! Jesus would use a modem. The challenge for the church is to begin using the Internet for evangelism, discipleship and worship. Any church without a web site is missing a marvelous opportunity in mission. We can live locally while performing outreach internationally. Virtual church is part of today's world mission. The boundaries of church are universal. These are churches without doors. Virtual Christians and cyber churches would do well to study the book of Acts. The Internet is simply a new medium for witnessing and has many parallels similar to the early church.

All online Christians can be involved in the power of witnessing and prayer (Acts 1:8). The early Christians were unselfish and attractive as a corporate body of Christ. Theirs was a prayer powered church (Acts 4:31). People were out in the local neighborhood and had daily contacts with people. When they prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and shared the word of God boldly. The local "neighborhoods" of cyberspace are in chat rooms, and in listserve gatherings of like-minded people with similar interests. Some people were afraid to join or identify with the early church, but held the believers in high esteem (Acts 5:13). People are still afraid to join or identify with the church and watch from a distance in cyberspace chat and prayer rooms. They are known as "lurkers." Cyberspace is full of lurkers and searchers. The beauty of the Internet community is its relatively safety. People who are normally isolated and closeted in real life can have an opportunity to find fellowship and identification with affirming cyber churches.

The early church quickly became springboards for evangelists to Asia, Europe and the world (Acts 11:19/13:1-3). They constantly talked of Jesus as the supremely attractive one. They interacted with military, business and commerce. The populace was dedicated to sex and superstition. The Internet has some interesting parallels. The Internet is a springboard into a global electronic village. Today's online Christians can travel farther, faster and to places the early evangelists never imagined with a simple click of their computer mouse. The superstition and sex on the Internet is not different from ancient times. It simply has a new form. The Antioch church had metropolitan potential for outreach (Acts 15). They were on an information superhighway. They had prayer groups, fasted and were led by the Holy Spirit. They intentionally sent out teams to talk about Jesus. They encouraged each other to keep the faith and continue on. Could Internet mission teams be sent out through the cyber church? It is something to think about.

Whether we believe the cyberchurch is a "true church" is not the pressing issue. The issue is what current church leaders will do about the inevitable gravitation of tens of millions of people away from the existing church and how they can help shape this emerging church form.¹ How can we be culturally relevant and technically available for seekers, doubters and skeptics in cyberspace? The creativity of the church is amazing. Here are just a few examples of pioneering "cyberchurch" efforts:

How about an opportunity for "digital confession?" Just fill in the blanks. Some samplings from The Confession Booth at the website http://anther.learning.cs.scu.ed/priest.html makes this easy for all seekers.

     "Digital Priest: And what is it you wish to confess?
     Response: I committed the following sin:
     (Murder) (Adultery) (Sloth) (Lust) (Avarice) (Deception) (Gluttony) (Pride) (Anger) (Covetousness) (Misplaced Priorities)"²

Would you prefer to email a prayer to God? Virtual Jerusalem (VJ) will carry your prayer to the famous prayer wall for you. All emailed and faxed prayers are welcomed. Over 5000 links to various Jewish resources are provided for your spiritual empowerment with a simple click of your mouse.³ How about reaching teenagers? One ingenious evangelist uses traditional radio and television to reach post-Christian Americans, the youth culture and Native American young people. He uses a "need-oriented" gospel presentation that helps lead visitors online to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ. His web site is a virtual banquet of cyber helps for prayer and discipleship insights for new life with Christ.⁴

A non-denominational virtual Church of Scotland offers a creative and beautiful cyber prayer room. They have thoughtfully provided specific and carefully chosen prayers for a variety of Protestant and Catholic traditions including something for "non-traditionalists" and "don't knows."⁵ Prefer a beautiful cyber Sistine Chapel prayer experience? Try the First Church of Cyberspace!⁶ Perhaps you are a sexual minority seeker wary of being "gay-bashed?" Try the UFMCC home page for a worldwide directory of gay friendly churches.⁷ Or perhaps you are interested in ancient prayer forms as a seeker? Russian Icons in beautiful color are yours with the click of your mouse.⁸ The silent pictures have no words yet do much good. Old prayer forms with today's new technology are a significant part of the spiritual revolution occurring in cyberspace.

Did you miss church on Sunday? Not a problem. Many churches have their own web pages along with their denominations. Sermons, devotionals, reflections, a brief "word for the day" preach twenty-four hours a day. Simply print it off on your printer if you don't have time to read it on the computer screen. "Live" chat and prayer rooms are available for seekers and the faithful. Cyberchurch is our virtual reality. New technologies offer opportunities to preach, educate and inform while furthering the mission of the church. Virtual sanctuaries hold sermons for every season and topic, movie reviews, Christian music and art and much more.

The power of virtual prayer cannot be denied. Many cyber seekers enjoy a quiet place in cyberspace to pray. Growing numbers of churches and denominations provide email opportunities, with trained intercessory prayer teams. One of the best cyber prayer chapels is the United Church of Christ (UCC). This is a site of spiritual generosity and kindness.⁹ The UCC cyber prayer chapel is home based in Cleveland, Ohio. They have received prayer requests from Ireland, South Africa and the Philippines as well as the suburb next door. In their first three months beginning in February 1997, they averaged 300 prayer visitors a week. Visitors to the web site ask prayers for people who are ill or grieving, people facing career decisions or relationship difficulties, congregations going through changes, or communities weathering disasters. Some requests are anonymous, others are not. Each request receives a personal email when a prayer intercessor included the visitors' need in their prayer life. Many chapel visitors post responses to prayer requests that have been prayed earlier. Growing numbers of churches in the denomination in the U.S. and overseas are signing up as prayer partners. They regularly read requests from the online chapel during Sunday worship or in prayer groups.¹⁰ The UCC cyber prayer chapel is "a sign of the Christ" voiced one seeker. Many shared email postings on how they were comforted, strengthened and helped through the cyber prayer team.

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