Evangelism in the 21st Century (4): The Possibilities of the Internet

We have spent some time investigating the climate of evangelism in the 21st century, and the situation could seem quite distressing. We have seen that our world today mirrors the first century world of the New Testament, with many not knowing much about the faith and others being quite hostile to it. We have seen how isolationism and relativism has caused an erosion of trust in others and has contributed to a lack of willingness to be persuaded by the truth claims of the New Testament. We have also seen how many in denominations have attempted to evangelize in recent times, and demonstrated that such methods do all kinds of things, but rarely actually get to preaching the Gospel. While there are many reasons to be distressed, not all is lost, and not all is negative. Let us conclude by considering a great possibility for hope in the future: evangelism and the Internet.

Many Christians are apprehensive about the Internet. There are some good reasons for this, but other reasons are more based in exaggeration and misunderstanding of the resource. As with every tool of man, the Internet allows for people to do good things, bad things, and ugly things. Sadly, the works of the flesh are indeed on the Internet in full force, and the relative anonymity the Internet provides does not help matters (cf. Galatians 5:17-24). On the other hand, the Internet mirrors real life in many ways: if you desire to seek out sin, you will find it; if you desire to avoid sin, you will find ways to avoid it online.

We need to be careful about ourselves and what we do on the Internet. Nevertheless, the Internet provides for opportunities for evangelism that represent great potential-- if we are only willing to consider them and use them.

Recent research has come up with some startling conclusions. Not a few of the members of the younger generation, when seeking information and knowledge, go online. Many Americans indicated that they had searched the Internet for religious information.