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The Next Church Merger: Electronic and Personal

In the 2000-2001 annual report, MIT's president accurately described the situation facing universities today. His remarks are true also for the church: “The issue is simply stated. Does the future of education, learning, and training belong to a new machine-based digital environment, or will the best learning remain a deeply human endeavor conducted person-to-person in a residential campus setting?”

In an age of increased digital connections, the church today faces the same forked road. One path leads to churches that ignore the digital landscape, believing the local community can thrive without tapping into the potential of online learning and communication. The other path leads to ministries working to establish cyberchurches, where all evangelism, worship, discipleship, prayer, and mission occurs across the Internet. Does the future of the church rest in the communal or in the digital? I believe the answer is similar to that given by Charles Vest, President of MIT: “I believe the answer is "Yes" — to both. We are at the proverbial fork in the road where we should, and will, take both paths.”

To be effective in an emerging world, the church must also take both paths, the digital and the communal. Neither alone is sufficient. Fully committed to both, we will have the two sides of a postmodern world’s currency. But what would a church, fully committed to both the digital and the communal, look like?...