- Hannah Sunshine & I
One day on the way home from church my wife and I were talking about how different we were from the rest of the congregation. That we are 'tech savvy'--not only that, what I do for a living is part of what is changing the world through this thing that we call the internet. I thought about it a little and said, I wonder how many slashdotters go to church... or could even find a starting place for thinking about going to church... How many Indian programmers are there that build the digital constructs of the society we live in every day, but never have any capacity to connect with the foundation of Western Civilization? The Faith of Christ and the redemption, the life it brings.
It was intriguing, and I thought, there is a lot of evangelism on the web... but there is no place to go to church. Well, maybe you can listen to a sermon, or... but there is no church online. Can a church exist online? Beka and I excitedly talked about it for a little while.
- Beka with Joseph & Ryshoni
There are definitely communities online, people who are fast friends, and have never seen each other, never spoken. Even Beka and I had a phone and email courtship. How many times have you heard about "Internet marriages?"
I began to ruminate on the online church idea, and thought that on the one hand, a church has to be a local body of believers, but on the other... how many churches are like that anyway? Have I ever been to a functional church? One I think, maybe two that function according to Biblical mandate.
My thoughts, and discussions with my wife began to move to the idea of a meta-church. Something that is not the church, but which can tell you how to set up a functional church, provide you a Bible in your language that is free from denominational taint, show you where the software is that will allow you to study the Bible with clarity... a road map to the "primary source church."
It could facilitate missionary efforts by connecting translators with a variety of pastors and teachers, not to mention printers, font artists, and layout designers. It could provide a simple explanation about how to set up a small church of believers according to Paul's guidelines, and it could announce that there will be a church meeting in this city or that city at such and such a place. It could even provide fellowship and Bible-teaching to those whose circumstances do not permit them to connect with other believers.
I have to say, the number of people that it could touch is... well, maybe 7 billion. How? Because it would not be me, little Gabriel Anast... it would be a thousand community members touching another 50 each... starting their own churches, pouring back into one another, evangelizing the locals, smuggling Bibles, creating their own tracts in their own languages.
So, I pushed the ball, now its rolling. Pray.