World Church: Using the Internet

Strategies For Global Evangelism :: A passion to reach the world for Christ via the so-called "information superhighway" brought together some 100 Seventh-day Adventist technologists, pastors and lay members for four days of meetings at the Fourth Global Internet Evangelism Forum in San Diego, California, August 31 to September 3.

"The gathering considered a wealth of ideas and strategies for using the Internet's reach and power to help finish the task of global evangelism," said Rajmund Dabrowski, communication director of the world church and one of the organizers. "We are passionate to use this technology in a convergent way to meet the needs of the church and expand our missionary outreach among the new online users and communities."

Sharing produced a wealth of suggestions -- to be considered by the world church's Coordinating Council for Internet Ministry -- on how to make Web outreach more effective, and how to improve follow-up with people who connect with the church online and are interested in the Adventist message. One plea was for a way to make it easier for names and addresses of interested persons to be shared across national and world church region boundaries. Jobson Santos, a pastor who works with the Adventist Media Center in Brazil, noted that he receives inquiries from Portuguese speakers in North America, Europe and elsewhere, and he sometimes has trouble getting these to local churches.

The conference began with a keynote address by Mark A. Kellner, assistant director for news and information at the world church headquarters. Speaking about the need to use the Web and complimentary technologies to enhance relations within the church community, he said, "I'd like to see us all do more things to make sure that we each and we all are helping each other 'cross the finish line' and enter the heavenly rest and reward Jesus promises to those who are faithful."

Ron Vhymeister, a professor at the Adventist International Institute for Advanced Studies in the Philippines, urged his audience to be sensitive when bringing Western-developed technology to other cultures. "Don't try to fix everything" in the culture you're entering, he said, and, "don't make Christianity needlessly Western."

Speaking several times to delegates, Pastor Mark Finley, a general vice president of the world church and a sponsor of the Global Internet Evangelism Network (GIEN) committee, urged his audience to be "difference makers" in their communities as they labor to share the Gospel. He also told his colleagues that using the Internet is inline with the church's understanding of the need to complete the task of global outreach.

"We believe that the task will yet be finished and that God will do something spectacular using various technologies in these last days of Earth's history," Finley said. "Seventh-day Adventists are a people of innovation. Seventh-day Adventists are a people of technology. We believe that God is going to finish His work using every means: radio, television and the Internet."

Addiction specialist Wendi Kannenberg offered a sobering look at the perils of Internet addiction, which, she said, were spreading beyond North America to other parts of the globe. Among those most susceptible to such addictions, she said, were "Those in positions of leadership who are isolated, tend to be under pressure to lead exemplary moral lives and are subject to intense on-the-job emotional stress."

"A challenge that we face is to take every doctrine that we have and not say 'do it because it's right and if you don't do it, you're going to be damned,' but we say 'do it because God is giving you this truth so that life can be more rewarding and more fulfilling every minute of every day. Instead of [just] proving it, I think we need to show the beauty of it,'" Coffin said. SDA

(abridged from the original)