Going to E-church to E-Worship and E-pray
Shall we Gather by the E-river? Blest Be the Modem that Binds. The Old Rugged
Pentium 120.
One article I read recently began by asking the question, "When the faithful
gather online, are they a church?" In another article, the question went, "We
have E-greetings, E-business and ebay. Why not have E-church?"
A national survey by Barna Research Group two years ago found that one of six
teen-agers expected to use the internet as a substitute for church activities.
Another Barna study found that those who claim to be "born again" Christians
spend more time surfing the net than they do praying.
We need to understand that there are things that can be done on the internet and
things that cannot be done. The internet can be used to disseminate information
about anything. The information, of course, can be good or bad, but there is
here an avenue and a potential to reaching many thousands with a message.
Also, the internet can be used to discuss matters pertaining to faith. Things
can be debated and examined. Discussion groups and chat rooms can be found, some
of which might be limited only to those of a certain limited persuasion while
others are wide open. In some places, one can find, for example, a six way
discussion/debate/rumble between (in alphabetical order) an atheist, a Catholic,
an Evangelical, a Hindu, a humanist and a witch.
The internet can be used to gather information as one researches any and
everything. I have done quite a bit of this myself. Recently we were studying
early church history, for example, and I found rather extensive histories on the
Roman emperors mentioned in the Bible as well as the Herodian kings and their
families.
But, again, there are some things that cannot be done. One cannot have a
Scriptural church online. When the Lord set up the arrangement of a local
church, or body, He gave it responsibilities that cannot be met online. Local
churches in the New Testament met together on the Lord's Day, or first day of
the week, to partake of the Lord's Supper together (Acts 20:7). These early
Christians were told not to forsake assembling themselves together in one place
(Hebrews 10:25). Churches were told to select men from among them to function as
elders and deacons, and the elders of a local congregation were told to watch
over that congregation ( 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Acts 20:28). There is a mutual
sharing and fellowship that requires being physically together, a "coming
together as a church" (1 Corinthians 11:18-20; 14:23)
These and other Scriptures answer the question, "Why not an "E-church." This is
also why no one can successfully substitute what they can find on the internet
with what God means for them to find in a Scriptural church patterned in work
and worship and fellowship after the local church in the New Testament as they
were established by the will of God according to apostolic doctrine."
By Jon W. Quinn
Front Page
From Expository Files 8.6; June 2001
