Virtual Missionaries 4

The Internet is the one place where anyone can be somebody.
On the network, we are all nothing more than a collection of bits and bytes. It is the ultimate home of anonymity and individuality all at the same time. There are no barriers to race, gender, religion or any other human trait. If you can adapt, you can have whatever you really want, so long as your wants aren’t contrary to the nature of the network itself.
In the First Century, the public square was the place where everything happened. It was where the first Christian missionaries went to spread the gospel. When news and information was a rare treat, almost anyone might be willing to listen to their sermons at least once. There was nothing sacred about preaching in the public square; it was what everyone expected. We are several complete civilizational shifts away from that mode of life. Now we have a glut of information and the common square is the whole Internet. It is also the one place easiest for others to ignore you.
This does not silence the gospel.
There are still a handful of missionaries who get a modicum of attention on the Net. God never calls very many to that work. The rest of us are just ordinary Christians going about our business. Our witness is how we go about it, same as in the First Century churches. They didn’t have bumper stickers and t-shirts with slogans, but wore their message in their living presence. Still, we do have evidence of sacred art very early in Church History.
If all you do with the Net is consume information and chat or trade photos, you don’t really need it very much. Your witness will be almost non-existent in the virtual world. If you possess any kind of creativity, use it on the Net. People are constantly searching for things. If you become a credible and reliable source for anything at all while representing Christ, you have a witness.
But the most important thing you’ll ever do is give people room to ignore your witness. If God is not your sole publicist, nothing else you do matters. If you are faithful to His glory, nothing you do can fail.
You may try a hundred different things to build a presence on the Net. All that matters is your sense of peace that you have obeyed that persistent leading and pushing from the Spirit. Again: Don’t pursue simply what makes you happy, but pursue what you must to serve God’s glory.