“China is not afraid of the Internet.”
Perhaps one of the funniest things I’ve heard all day but also an disconcerting one as well.
China has historically been known to actively block websites it feels “threatens” the welfare and health of the state. It also has actively punished those that interfere, ignore, or attempt to work-around their digital barriers:
“China’s internet is open enough, but also needs to be regulated by law in order to prevent the spread of harmful information and for national security.”
This newest report is not surprising and I think there’s something similar in Ministry that happens as well.
Fear is not from God as the Scriptures tell us. But often the line between fear and justification based on things like “due diligence” and “discernment” and “timing” is thin. I’ve talked with a number of people recently in private about how their ministries have these elaborate reasonings why they don’t want to spend any time, resources, or manpower into their online strategies.
One of the first things I think is that those particular ministries are just scared.
How have you “broken” free of the fear of online engagement? What have you seen work and not work? A FDR quote just suddenly popped in my head…
Adam_S says
Honestly I think sometimes we need to let the fear stop them. If they are afraid and barrel ahead anyway, more than likely they will produce something that is not only inadequate but actually harmful to the cause of Christ. I have seen it before. I agree that we have a role in educating people about ministry, but fear may be part of the work of the Spirit to slow people down before making mistakes.
Graham Brenna says
interesting take… I might agree with that on some level
EpicFaith says
Fear is not the absence of faith, it is the opposite of faith. We could say it like this. If faith is believing in God, God's word and God's power, fear is not believing God, God's word and God's power. So applying this to online ministry, faith is believing that God can and will move thru "online strategies" and fear is believing that God can't and won't move thru "online strategies."
Last time I checked, God open the mouth of a donkey to speak to Balaam. Why can't God open the "Mouth" of "online strategies?"
Bill says
The church we attend has really begun to ramp up it's online presence and activities. I'd like to see them do more though, be more interactive with the broader internet community. I think that right now, it's just about priorities, there's only some much time, effort, money, volunteers, etc. We're fairly new to the church, so I'm still finding my way around, but it's something that I'd like to bring up and get involved in there.
Graham Brenna says
That's the issue at my church. I've ramped up our online strategies but there is still more to do. The issue is that we A: don't have the manpower at the moment and B: early adoption of new ideas has never really been the church's strong-suite… especially if it's a 50 year old Lutheran church. We'll get there… it'll just take time.
human3rror says
this is a good point adam. perhaps just let it roll on over them… sometimes that works as well.