Consider some of the benefits before the networked church. Communication is unprecedented. Today, as quickly as you can think and type the words, your message can be sent around the world. There are no long lines, no waiting for the mailman, no busy signals, and no significant lag time between your correspondence and a response. I remember a great frustration while serving as an associational missionary in Mexico. We served an area of about 20,000 square miles with some 30 churches and missions. If we planned an event or had some urgent news to get out (many of our churches and pastors had no telephone), it would take up to 15 days for the correspondence to travel to the towns and cities in our region, none of which were more than three hours away by automobile. If you were waiting for a response or decision on the part of the churches, it would be another two weeks at least to have that back in our own mailbox. Already one twelfth of the year had passed, and we still would likely have more communication to be done before everything was ready. What a slow process, and if you were not gifted with a goodly measure of patience you could see yourself age in the mirror!

Today you can send an e-mail and get a response while you're still sitting at the keyboard, and those of us who use Instant Messenger can have a response even sooner. It is possible to send the same piece of correspondence to a hundred different recipients, and all this hardly involving any more than it took to create the original message. We can prepare an electronic newsletter or information page that anyone in the world can access with a few mouse clicks and serve up the most up-to-date accurate material possible. What's more, we can archive and make available all previous news so it becomes not just a tool for the moment but a mine of information from years past.

The Web can be another outreach tool. Place an interactive tract online that visitors can study and respond to. Offer links to other sites of interest that can provide even more evangelistic tools, and there really is no limit to how much someone is able to learn about the Christian faith. Or design the site in such a way that even non-Christians will visit time and again looking for direction or information regarding the community, news, history, sporting activities, tourism, government, or support agencies. Again, there is almost no limit to what you can come up with nor how creative it might be to attract and interest others.

A Web page can also serve as an electronic marquee. Place important announcements on the page about upcoming ministries, messages, or personalities. Let the world know when your activities take place and how you are able to minister to specific groups. Share with all those who come to your site what is unique about your congregation and why it is such an ideal place for families and individuals to gather. Provide a map and directions. Make available streaming audio and video messages, or offer entry into forums or Web logs where folks can ask questions and seek answers.

Use a Website to expand your prayer ministry and extend your touch to missionary and evangelism efforts around the corner or around the world. Highlight a particular need with photos and personal or first-hand articles and testimonies. Provide a space for school-age children to seek help with homework or Bible study, explore other cultures, or meet new friends from another country.

With so many homes connected to the Internet, we are unnecessarily negligent by not taking advantage of such an inexpensive wealth of ministry opportunity. Just as we've learned to use traditional mail services, the telephone, radio and television, newspapers, posters, fliers, tracts, and door hangers, we should learn to use this ever growing medium of the World Wide Web.

This year we plan to offer a conference on Internet evangelism and how to apply Web technology to our local ministries. I hope you will sign up!