Yet, most churches are not even trying to labor in the online mission field.  One recent study of church websites discovered that 94% of church websites contained no online ministry at all.  These websites are merely online brochures advertising the church institution.

Since when did it become more important to our churches to promote themselves rather than Jesus Christ?  Those very few online harvesters, who seek to promote only Christ, are reaping a harvest that is literally 100-times greater than the harvest experienced by even our largest mega-church institutions.

The Truth Media Internet Group is an excellent example of online ministry that is reaping an incredible harvest.  Truth Media, a Canadian division of Campus Crusade, created ministry-only websites designed to target four distinct people-groups.  Truth Media publishes their monthly statistics on their website as a wake-up call to the Church.

In December of 2004, God enabled Truth Media to reap the following harvest:

• People Built in Faith                            133,945 
• People Exposed to Gospel                  244,340 
• Holy Spirit Message Given                   15,196 
• Mentor Interactions                              1,818

In January, 2005, Truth Media experienced:

• People Built in Faith                            170,230
• People Exposed to the Gospel                        161,217
• Holy Spirit Message Given                   21,644
• Indicated a Spiritual Decision             1,720
• Mentor Interactions                              2,724

In a very different online ministry, Spencer Burke, ex-pastor of Mariner’s Church, a 10,000 attendee congregation in California started TheOoze.com.  In Spencer’s own words, he resigned his pastorate because he saw that he had become an “add-minister” rather than “do-minister”.  Spencer operates TheOoze.com from his garage.  Today, TheOoze.com serves over 130,000 people every month.

There are many other online ministry success stories that could be told.  So why is it that most campus-based church institutions would rather help a handful of people come to Christ each year, rather than reap a harvest in the many thousands?  The answer to this question is multi-faceted. 

Problem #1 - Church Leaders Chase Ministry Models

There is intense pressure on today’s pastors to fill the pews.  Pastors are expected to be the primary leader, a strategic planner, an outstanding communicator and a highly relational servant.  When pastors fail to be all these things, they often find themselves forced out of the pastorate or “called by God” to another ministry venue.  These unfair and inappropriate pressures often cause pastors and church leaders to look to the latest ministry models that help increase attendance.  Church institutions have devolved from an emphasis on “Church-growth” to an emphasis on “church-growth”.  Once a ministry model is discovered that seems to work, church leaders are very cautious in the process of change, in part because they legitimately fear for their vocational stability.

Problem #2 – Church Leaders Are Too Old

George Barna recently address the issue of why so many young adults are abandoning the institutional church.  Out of several observations, one primary point was that only 4% of twentysomethings were ever in any kind of leadership role.  The number-one age category for leaders in our churches today is the 50 year-old spectrum.  Generally speaking, people in their 50’s do not understand or value the internet.  Leonard Sweet refers to people’s embrace of technology as belonging to three groups…the Natives, the Emigrants and the Foreigners.  When Emigrants and Foreigners to the online culture dominate the decision-making within a church, it is no wonder that online ministry is not recognized as a high value.

The Native has never known the world without the internet.  For the Native, the Internet is a way of life, and they spend an average of 3 hours a day online.  Natives are generally 12-33 years of age.  Please read carefully the words of two Natives, from the Pew Internet and American Life focus group that depict the typical young adult’s attitude toward the internet:

“I think the reason that we use the internet so well and that we know so many things about it is because when it happened, we were there.  So, it’s not like it is some foreign language that we have to learn.  It is something that we know, and we can apply what we know to find more things and then learn.”

Another young adult states:

“I think most of us are just accustomed to using it.  I mean we just think it’s there for us.  And, I’m not sure if I’ll phrase this right, but it’s like we’re…addicts.  We need it and when you take it away it’s not…it’s a little bit harder to live without it.”

For a young adult to admit that they are “addicted” to the internet and that they “Need it” is to clearly portray a cultural-shift that the Church must acknowledge.  Since there is little hope of healing our young adults of their internet addiction, would it not be better for the Church to redeem the internet for the sake of Christ?

Emigrants have had to adapt to life with the internet.  Rather than seeing the Internet as a lifestyle, they may view the internet as a “tool”.  Tools may be used or rejected based upon one’s skill with the tool and the perceived value of the tool to the ministry context.  Emigrants are generally 34-50 years of age.

The final category is the Foreigner.  The Foreigner simply does not get the internet and has no desire to understand or value it.  Even using email makes the Foreigner nervous…they would much rather use the telephone or snail-mail.  While there are exceptions, most people 51 years of age and older are Foreigners to the internet.

Those who are in positions of control and influence within our institutional churches are Foreigners to the internet.  Without realizing it, their ignorance and lack of passion regarding online ministry is costing the body of Christ potentially millions of converts each year.  Many Foreigners will likely justify their disdain for online ministry as not “relational” and may site the ineffectiveness of the church’s present brochure website.  In many cases, young adults find that just like the Boomers claimed in the 1960’s and 70’s, the “older generation simply does not get it”.

In April of 2004, George Barna wrote an open letter to pastors addressing this problem.  Although I have quoted only a few excerpts, I encourage you to select the link to read the entire letter.

Hey, fellow Baby Boomers. Can we talk?

For many years, we have sweated, argued, fought, manipulated, analyzed, partnered, prayed and strategized to get our own way. We wanted the nation’s values to reflect our own. We wanted to have our fair share (or more) of the decision-making authority. We wiggled our way into key positions as soon as possible. After a period in which we said the system was the problem, we took over the system. Today, we are the system, and there are two generations following us who see that as a serious issue.

….we must allow – and even encourage – the emergence of new models of ministry that either improve or replace what we introduced and nurtured. Just as ministry models such as seeker, praise-and-worship and even multi-ethnic ministries were our refinements of or responses to Builder institutions, we must anticipate and support such progress even if it is not what we might have done. Scripture gives them, as it gave us, abundant leeway in methodology. Let them put their fingerprints all over the model they develop.

(go to http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Perspective)

Problem 3 – Satan Does Not Want the Church to Wake Up

Satan cannot stop the Church, and so his strategy has always been to make it as ineffectual as possible.  Regarding young adults today, and global impact, Satan’s efforts have been succeeding.  As always, Satan’s strategy is deception.

Survey results suggest that drop-out rates for young adult church attendance is approximately 64% by age 29!  Major contributing factors include young adult adoption of postmodern philosophies and values that are rejected by the older generations and deemed unbiblical.  And, as previously noted, another contributing factor is the unwillingness of the older generation to entrust the young adult with real positions of authority and influence.  Both these issues relate to a single “perception” problem…hence the deception.  Postmodernism does challenge many of our current church formulas, but this can result in a positive and healthy cleansing of the Church.  Methodologies may change, but the message and the person of Christ will never change.  The Church does not need to fear change.  I used to challenge my congregations that “the only tradition to be embraced was the tradition of change”.  The perception that holding postmodern perspectives disqualifies a young adult from ministry leadership is narrow and unfortunate.  The result will be, and has been, mass exiting of young adults from our church institutions.

On a global scale, the fastest growing religions in the world are Islam and the New Age movement.  Certainly the message of these religions is far inferior to the message of Christ.  However, these religions have learned the power of the internet, and they apply internet strategies effectively.  Unlike their Christian counterparts, Islam and New Age are actively propagating their gospel online and intentionally seeking recruits.  Such overt actions are deemed by the American church culture to not be “Seeker-Friendly”.  And so, our 1980’s Willow Creek methodology is deceiving the Church in our 2005 culture and resulting in a significant failure in global mission.

Conclusion

Just because there is a mass-exiting of young adults from church institutions, does not mean that there is a mass-exiting from a desire to know and serve Jesus Christ.  For many today, institutionalism is the problem.  In fact, a 2005 focus group study conduct by CBS television polled young adults, ages 17-29, on their level of trust toward organized institutions.  The result was 0% trust.  Not a single young adult in the focus group held any value or trust toward organized institutions.  The perception is that such institutions “use” people for the benefit of the organization and its top leaders.  Over the past two decades, commercial and ministerial organizations have demonstrated their clear lack of moral integrity. 

In contrast, the #1 search category on the internet is “Religion and Spirituality”.  People are hungry for Christ.  The fields are white unto harvest, but the harvesters are few.  Let us pray to the Lord of the harvest that He might send out more e-harvesters into the fields.

Effective e-harvesters will focus on developing online ministries that promote the 3-R’s (How Boomer of me!) of online ministry…

1. Research – Let people research Christ through the Scriptures
2. Relationships – Allow for peer-to-peer and mentor relationships in the learning process
3. Resources – Provide instant “Resources for Living” targeted to specific demographic needs

Paul tells us that when he was a child, he spoke like a child, but when he became mature, he put away childish things.  In the 1990’s the internet was in its infancy.  Email and website brochures were all that was possible…these are childish things by today’s online standards.  Now the internet is in its young adult phase.  It’s time to put away the childish things, and allow online ministry to mature and have its full impact upon the Kingdom of Christ.