Bezahlt(dot)Org has some great things to say in response to the recent discussion about Ellison Research and the Agape Press article. Here’s just a sampling:
While I think the internet is a good way to introduce people to spiritual matters, it certainly is not the best way to care for people.
People require interaction. People need to be able to look you in the eye, cry on your shoulder or shout for joy with a person, not a keyboard and monitor. Jesus ministered to people, He did not have Matthew write down a sermon and post it on a sycamore tree or in the town square and wait for others to post rebuttals or praises....
No website, no blog, no band, no book, nothing can ever replace the Holy Spirit working through you and I, reaching out to a lost an dying world.
Websites, blogs, streaming audio and media are great teasers but nothing can replace that personal touch that all of us need. We’re the reason the church grows (I’m speaking universally now) not some amalgam of electrons piped into homes across the world.
If your church has a website tell your friends about it. Maybe they’ll hop on the internet for a few minutes to check things out. Then follow-up with them. Invite them to meet God at your place of worship. Websites are a tool for drawing people to Christ. Let’s not exalt the tool above the Toolmaker.
Excellent commentary. A church website’s primary purpose should be to draw unbelievers into face-to-face relationships with believers. If our websites don’t accomplish that purpose, I think we need to take a step back and re-evaluate.
I believe that the internet provides today's church with a historic opportunity .... to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love in ways which could only have been imagined in times past. The objective of this website is to explore the various ways in which today's technology can be used to spread the gospel around the world.
