Technology & The Gospel

• by: Luke Emerson 02/04/10

As Christians in 2010 we are all still under the same charge as Christians in the early Church:

“…But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” [Acts 1:8]

     As we move through the book of Acts we see that just as the message of the Gospel was totally counter-cultural so too was the way in which the Church went about spreading the Gospel.  Your relationship with God was no longer contingent on years of study, all cultural obstacles designed to keep out the riff-raff were removed, the work had all be done by Christ on the cross.  The essence of how the early church started the spread was to make that message accessible to everyone.  The Gospel was immediately intended for all nations all languages all cultures.  In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John we have multiple perspectives and retellings of the same message which I think also points to the critical importance of making the message of what Christ achieved for us on the cross accessible to everyone.   I think it’s important to note however that making the Gospel accessible should never be confused with diluting the Gospel to make it more acceptable or easy.  Again, if we look to Acts the message of the cross was anything but well received by the majority and no Christian should expect it to be (John 15:20).  Readily accessible for all, not necessarily readily acceptable.

     The call today is no different: hold fast to the message of the cross and take it out into the world.  In our time and place in the world and history technology is one way I feel the church provides that accessibility.  Whether it’s creating a great environment where people can worship using lights, sound and projection, having an informative and easy to use website, using Email for fast and easy communication—these are all ways we help keep the local church relevant and accessible.  That brings us to The City.

     The City was designed to help Churches drive deeper local community with online tools that build stronger connections throughout the Church and encourage growth for members.  The  Journey’s main web site will continue to be our primary outward facing site, a perfect place to visit for people not already connected to The Journey who are interested in understanding what we’re all about, where we meet, what we believe, etc.  The City on the other hand will become the primary online gathering point for everyone already connected to The Journey.  The City will be your one stop for the latest sermon audio, community group questions, event information and all church communication.  You’ll also be able to connect with friends, share prayer requests, start conversations and more.  In short, true online community.

     We are all part of local Church that takes our mission to call all people to full devotion to Jesus Christ very seriously and I feel the way we use all available technology complements that vision.  The early church didn’t use online social networking tools or podcasts or a sound system when they gathered corporately.  What they did do was to focus on Jesus and use everything they did have to make that name famous and I don’t think what we’re doing today is really that much different. 

     We belong to a VERY accessible and technologically relevant church but not because we want people to get saved, get comfortable and wait for Jesus’ return.  We have a VERY accessible and technologically relevant church because we have a message to spread and any obstacle we can remove for people on the outside looking in we will remove. Let’s get serious about witnessing to our Jerusalem!