The reason I am posting this on my weblog about discipleship has to do with the fundamental shift that is happening in how we receive information and how fast we receive information. It was not too many years ago when you would hear the news about the death of a celebrity through the evening news, the morning paper, a phone call, or through a face to face conversation. As you will see from the poll on the right side of the blog, there are a lot more ways to hear about things these days. (And I couldn't list them all.)
The Gospel of Jesus Christ originally spread simply through word of mouth. The letters of Paul were the first written media regarding the Gospel but even those were read and shared in a community setting so the news was still spread orally and face to face. With the advent of the printing press and the translation of the Bible into common languages (something other than Latin), for the first time, people could learn and read about Jesus on their own. Flash way forward to today and people can not only read and learn about Jesus, they can "go to church" online, all alone, in their homes.
Please take the poll on the right side of the blog. It is not scientific. I am sure someone else will do that. It just helps us to think about how our world is changing. The Gospel will always remain the same, but it continues to speak to a changing world.
peace,
will
p.s. If I missed a possible answer on the poll, feel free to post it as a comment to this post.
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