Prepare for Information Society Era.
By Jun, Sung Jin
Heb.1:1-31 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
3 The Son is the radiance of God��s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
I did prepare this for encouraging you to have a preparation for the 21st century because we will be working in the 21st century. Since I started to use the Internet, I found it is very useful and helpful for missions.
Futurists say that the society in 21st century will be �Information Society�. Information Society means a �Society where people can give and get information easily and casually through the computer networking system. This expectation became a reality by the presence of the Internet! The Internet is a product of the modern networks, computers and rapid development of multimedia technologies.
Nowadays, most mass-media like T.V., journals, news papers are dealing the issue about the Internet. For example, in the case of �Dong-A Ilbo� which is one of most popular news papers in Korea, the number of articles which contain the word �Internet� are 1,858 since last Jan until last Monday May 18th (in 1998).
According to the passage we read, our God is �the God of Revelation�. He likes to give information to his people about himself. He used his prophets to grant information of what he wanted. Finally, God took human body and descended on the earth to show himself and his will. Incarnation is the supreme revelation of God. Professor Lee, Eu-Ryung Said �Jesus Christ was the multi-media representation of God.� referring to 1John 1:1-3.
So, people say that Christianity is �the Religion of Revelation�. We could say the Christianity is �the Information-Giving Religion�. All Christians have been concerned about sharing the gospel. Evangelism or mission is an activity in the sharing or giving out �the Information of Salvation� freely. Early Christians risked their lives in sharing the very Information of Salvation to others. Therefore we can say that our Christian community is the most prepared community for the Information Society. I thank God for giving us the Internet or cyberspace for sharing the Gospel in our generation.
Unfortunately, the problem we face is that our missionary candidates are not preparing well for the next century in the matter of using the Information channel. Once, Dr. Eshenaur and I were talking about the Internet, she said �We are doing our mission work with �stone age methods� in the high-tech information society.�
If we want to be useful and skillful missionaries in the Information Society, we need to have some knowledge about what the Internet is like and what we can do with it.
The Internet is network of networks. By the network, an electronic space called �Cyber-space� was produced. �Cyber� means �virtual�. So, people also call it �Virtual space�. Though cyberspace is not like a physical space, people are depending on cyberspace for their many activities and the importance of cyberspace is increasing rapidly. Then, why is the Internet or cyberspace important for missions?
Cyberspace is a unique place for human activities.
According to a pole conducted recently for teenagers in US, the average hours of the Internet use is greater than that of watching the TV.(1)
At least hundred millions of people are using the Internet all over the world. According to a report from �Internet Valley� in June 1997, sixteen millions of server computers are interconnected and 196 countries are accessible countries and most of countries will be accessible by the year of 2,000. (Did you know that we can send E-mail even to North Korean through the Internet?)
People are spending lot of their times in cyberspace and will be more as years go on. They get information, read newspapers, buy and sell goods, travel, fill out application forms, communicate with each other through e- mails and the Internet phone or face to face phone. They build �cyber- constructions� called �Homepages�. Through the homepages, they welcome people and ask them fill out their guest book, they advertise and provide information. They play games and doing their business at the same time. People call them �netizen� which is a synthetic word of �the Internet citizen� That is the trend now and for the 21st century!
If these are the reality, then, we should not neglect the people there. We should open our eyes to cyberspace in which many people are roaming around. We should reach out our hands to the �netizens� with the Christian love by being netizens ourselves.
The second reason of the importance of cyberspace is that the cyberspace is becoming another battle field.
Cyberspace does not always do good for people. The Internet can be easily used by the evil men. Some people are getting money by pandering to man�s lowest instincts. Many teenagers are affected by the filthy cyber materials and sites called �Cyber Red-light Streets�. People go astray by the �cyber-pollutions� which causes people to be dopey.
In another case, many heretics are using the Internet to propagate their false doctrines. For instance, we can see �Satanic churches� on the Internet. They say all the blaspheming words against holy God. Satan is using the Internet to devour people�s spirits!
We have to do something about this. We have to fight against them. In Eph. 6:12 Paul says �..our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.� This is true in the realms of Cyberspace. Our fight in the cyberspace is not a fight with guns and bombs or technology but is a warfare of spirituality and intelligence. We have to �ddeclare the praises of him [even in the cyberspace] who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light.�(2Peter 2:9). Let us demolish strongholds, arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Let us take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ by proclaiming God�s word into cyberspace. We can do this with the divine power through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).
The third reason why Cyberspace is important for mission is that it will be most important media for missions in the 21st century.
Almost 2,000 years have passed since Jesus gave his disciples with his Great Commission. Unfortunately, 1/3 of the world population confess their faith in Jesus today. 11,000 people groups are not yet heard the Gospel among 24,000 people groups all over the world. The problem is most of missionaries are working on the same regions of the world where people already know Jesus. Our mission agencies are making same mistakes as others have done. All these problems were caused by the lack of the spirit of unity. Jesus prayed on the mount Olive before He died on the cross. Most important prayer point was the unity of his people.(John 17:11; 21-23)
Actually we didn�t have proper channel of communication so far. But nowadays, I found a great possibility in cyberspace as media to unite each other. We can use the Internet for our missions on this purpose. These are the detail things what we can do with the Internet for mission:
1) We can use the Internet for the purpose of communication. You can send E-mails, even voice mails. We can have conference in letters, in voices and even in video. We can send files too. For instance, missionaries can share their �know-how� and send E-mails to mission boards, to churches, and supporters. We can build up strong net-working through communication function of the Internet.
2) We can get informations through the Internet news papers, Internet broadcasting system and you can subscribe your e-mail address to mailing-lists and it will constantly sends you up-to-date informations about the issue which you are interested in.
3) You can use the Internet for education of your children in mission field. For example, we have �Edunet� in Korea which means �education net�. You can get all teaching materials which will be needed to teach from kinder garden age to high school ages.
4) You can collect informations for your mission and pastoral ministry if you use �serch engines� which can collect information instead of you from all over the world. For example, you can research the information about target countries, people and tribes.
5) You can use the Internet for propagation and correspondent work.
6) You can make Homepages through which you can introduce your ministry and share your prayer requests and get people�s comments.
Now, I would like to conclude my talk. We are at the threshold of the 21st century. We are seeing the age of �Information society�. People are depending on the Internet for their modern lives. Here and now, we are seeing another world opened in front of us. Brothers and sisters, we cannot deny nor stick to the old ways we used to. Since we are applied to be missionaries, we have to challenge ourselves for a better job performance. Learning and enjoying the merit of the Internet is required in missions in the next century. We have to incarnate as a �netizen� in cyberspace as Jesus took human body to save human being. We have to proclaim that Cyberspace is also realms of God�s sovereignty!
We need to learn how to use Cyberspace for the cause of missions. May God bless each one of you as you struggle to take new tools to serve the world.