Towards 2000

Americans love new beginnings. Those who came here seeking refuge from religious persecution looked for a new beginning. Our revolution was a new beginning. FDR promised a "New Deal." JFK promised a "New Frontier." Ronald Reagan's "Morning In America" promoted a "new awakening."

Maybe that is why so many Americans are almost obsessive about the upcoming "New Millennium." It seems that some expect everything to change with the calendar, while others fear the end of the world.

While we recognize the arbitrary nature of this particular new beginning (based as it is on a faulty date for the birth of Christ), we think it is always a good time to evaluate what we are doing with an eye toward improving our ability to serve God. With that in mind, we start a new feature this month, to continue through the end of the year. To be called "Toward 2000," these articles will focus on either areas and methods where technology presents Christians with new opportunities to spread the gospel, or on areas and methods which may be antiquated and continue only because "that's the way we've always done it."

From the outset, let us say that we are not talking about adding to the Bible or taking away from it (Deut. 4:2; 2 Jn. 9; Rev. 22:18-19), nor are we advocating a "watered down" gospel. What we will be discussing is how we can best improve our methods of teaching in order to help grow the church in the next millennium. For instance, when Jesus issued what we call the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20), the preferred method of travel was primarily by foot. Imagine someone arguing that because those of that day knew nothing of automobiles, trains or airplanes, we must not use them to fulfill the command "Go therefore and make disciples." That is exactly the argument some have made regarding the use of computers.

We want to encourage Christians to take advantage of whatever teaching means are available. We also want to encourage them to take a look at methods which may no longer work. To continue to use flannel boards and blackboards in an era where children have been raised on video would be foolish. This is not an attempt to promote gimmickry, because gimmicks come and go, but our job is to interest people in the gospel, and the gospel fits the video age as well as it fit the blackboard age.

Some on both sides of the issue will be disappointed with these articles. There will be some who say that we are "closet" liberals seeking to pervert the gospel. Others will say that we speak of change while not changing our message to fit these times of more tolerance for sin. We will encourage both sides to read the articles, because we believe the church can change its methods without changing its message, and we believe the message needs no change because it is the word of God.

The first of these articles is found on the facing page and concerns the use of the Internet as a tool for studying and teaching the gospel. This is exactly the kind of tool which was unavailable even ten years ago. Now, any number of people have a computer in their home with which to access the technology to teach and communicate with millions of people all over the world.

We hope that you will examine what we have to say, and our greatest desire is that others will be able to implement our ideas and that the church will grow because of it. We are not seeking change for the sake of change, but to foster growth.

In all we do, we will still ask for scripture in both method and message. And we will accept no practice which cannot be supported by God's word.