Discovery Diagnostics

Author

Gerard Seow
September 30, 2021

The World is your parish. In one sense, Wesley was right. He saw the advent of globalisation. Content indexing via google. Massive online Cloud storage. Binge-worthy commercial-free movies via Netflix. Also, the universal access to designer content has challenged and stretched the imagination of anyone dealing with the spread of the gospel to a global audience. 

“There are 7.7 billion people on Earth: 4.24 billion of them are on the Internet, 2.27 billion of them are active monthly on Facebook, 1 billion on Instagram. All of these people want your attention. They want you to hear them, see them, like them, talk to them, follow them, love them, understand them. But that’s not all. There are 250 million businesses in the world: 150 million of them have websites, 70 million of them advertise online, using more than 5,000 productivity tools” [MarTech 5000, 2017]

Yet for all the ubiquity of the digital tools, can we really say that the task of world evangelisation has progressed one iota since the advent of Youtube, Facebook or Instagram? Have the principles really changed since the days of Acts or have these productivity tools really been more of a distraction than a help? Have the days of the 1-on-1 given way to a more sophisticated method of reaching disciples through a savvy social media strategy? Content can indeed open the door, but can online content alone keep it open for radical heart change to happen? 

Was John Wesley mistaken? Could it be that the reality still holds true, namely, the need for the immediacy of interpersonal face-to-face communication? Have we yet to see a generation come to Christ apart from physical, tangible, knowable person-to-person exchange? Has the promise of the “internet church” proven that we can be a wired congregation apart from face-to-face real world fellowship? Has the advent of technology removed the need for an intentional, deliberate plan of deputation to the far-flung ends of the earth? Can we say, this internet world has absolved shepherds and missional leaders from the obligation to visit the sick, wounded and victims of trauma? Has the privilege of uninterrupted high-speed wi-fi displaced the need for world mission? 

The Hebrew prophets have never shied from asking questions that probed into the elemental, perhaps mother of all questions, “How then shall we live?” (Ezk 33:11). Many have made a case for how we should not live, eg, Francis Schaeffer, CS Lewis, et al. to name just a few. But has anyone in the church an answer to what makes life worth living and why tomorrow will be better than yesterday? How will you make an Impact in 2022?

Join us for an exploration in self-discovery – the Bible way. Write [email protected] for an appointment at our Geylang base (see details below).