Does Not Take the Place of Hands On Ministry
- Does Not Take the Place of Hands On Ministry
In these first few posts, I want to provide a foundation for understanding what I mean by web ministry. These articles will serve to help you understand my construction of web ministry and what it means.
My first major assumption about web ministry is that it does not replace other more “hands on” approaches. There are many in the field who will disagree with this assumption. I do believe that in a pinch this kind of ministry can be better than nothing (then again it could be worse than nothing in the wrong hands.) I have seen with my own eyes emails and traffic coming from countries where it is illegal to be a Christian. I do believe that we are helping those who have no other way of learning and growing in the paths of righteousnes.. However, I think it is a mistake to describe web ministry as a replacement to hands on face to face ministry.
I take this view for a few reasons. First, we are told not to neglect the gathering together as Christians (Hebrews 10:25). I have seen this done as people think they can simply “do church” on the internet. Such a mindset promotes a selfishness (I just need to get what I want) in our people. In addition, it promotes an unrealistic expectation for our preachers who will have difficulty preaching with the great preachers that you can find on the net.
Another reason why I believe that we cannot lose the hands on ministry is that it is so easy to take on a false persona on the web. Some are much more aggressive on the web than in real life. Others are more religious while others are more worldly. In all of these cases, people can easily be that which they are not. We need the face to face to help us hold on to reality.
I think it is important as I begin this blog to speak against the idea that the web can replace totally “face to face” ministry. In this article I wrote about what web ministry cannot do, in the next article, I want to talk about what we can do with web ministry, and then move forward into the practicalities of this important work.
