Using the Internet as a Tool of the Gospel Part 4

Using the Internet as a Tool of the Gospel

Part Four:

“Global Individuality” Empowers Individuals in the Global Marketplace.

 

 

“Global Individuality” Empowers Individuals

I now submit you to that members of the people group that I am calling, “Internet Users” have developed a new mindset, a new manner of looking at themselves and how they fit into society.  I call this new identity, “Global Individuality.”  While individuals participating in the mission field of the Internet will not recognize this label, once they learn of it they will have to admit that it applies to them on some level.  Individuals worldwide, like you and me, engage the Internet to meet their need, become global citizens, and are empowered as individuals.

Global Individuality is the mindset that empowers the individual in the global marketplace.   Individuals worldwide can now declare, “I am in control of my life.  I can do anything, with anyone, and be anyone I want to be in a virtual on-demand world. I am not limited by geography, nationality, religion, economic status, culture, gender, or language.  I am looking for communities to join so that I can grow in my areas of interest, interact with like-minded people, and have a sense of belonging.”

Individuals around the world are using the Internet daily for many of the same reasons and that is to fulfill a need.  They go online for business, news, entertainment, and social networking.  Also, they search the Internet to discover answers to life’s issues that trouble them.  The issues range from the practical, like how to I change a light bulb, to the profound, such as how to discover true meaning in life.  Some use the Internet for personal improvement such as how to learn to play a musical instrument or to learn another language while others will feed the desires of their flesh which will lead to their spiritual demise.

When “Internet Users” participate in the virtual world, they are actually active as global citizens of the Internet mission field.  As mentioned earlier, one can buy and sell goods online from those who are on the other side of the world and have those items delivered to their front door in days.  Online, you can read current events from news agencies from the nations of the world as well as uploading your video, podcast, or article and create news for other global citizens to consume.

Social media, such as Facebook, provides access to people not only from other nations, at the click of a mouse, but also provides a bridge to unite friends from decades past.  In that sense, we are no longer limited by geography or accessibility.    

 I use the word “Individuality” because it emphasized the individual, the person.  To me, “individualism” implies that I can stand out among others; be unique in the context of my group.  “Individuality” means that I can be whomever I want regardless of my context.  In fact, I choose the contexts where I want to be.  No longer am I limited the realities of my actual life such as nationality, language, social status, or economic status.  If I choose, I can present my identity online in one community vastly different than my identity in a different community.

Here are two examples of how “Global Individuality” empowers individual:

“Global Individuality” empowers individuals to express their views in the global marketplace.  Blogs, chat rooms, and comment sections on websites are examples of how the Internet provides anyone opportunity to voice their opinions.  Previously, only those with appropriate credentials, name recognition, or status of some nature had their comments made public.  Today, everyone has a voice and to the extent that those who consume the opinion no longer care about the qualifications of the one presenting the views but take the comments at face value.

A benign example of empowering the individual is seen when someone has a negative experience at a hotel, restaurant, or place of business.  Previously, a disgruntled customer would proclaim, “I will sue!” or “I am contacting the Better Business Bureau!”  The contemporary response is “I’m writing a terrible review on your website!” or “I’m facbooking my friends and warning them about you!” 

Grave and tragic examples are like the man in Egypt whose photos after being beaten to death and the man in Tunisia whose self-immolation sparked uprisings that went viral and led to the Arab Spring earlier in the decade.   The Internet empowers individuals to deliver their message to their nation and to challenge the people of the world to respond.

 “Global Individuality” empowers the individual to seeks answers and address their quest for learning.  People who might be afraid to investigate issues of life that interest them or cause them to question, such as religions views, health issues, or relationship matters, with their friends in the real world for fear of shame, rejection, or reprisal.  However, online there is a sense of anonymity and security that empowers individuals to delve into issues that matter to them and connects them to those who are in the same situation.   

It should be noted that not everyone who is active online as an “Internet User” will create a new persona or be someone in the virtual world that they are not in the real world.  It seems that most people will be the same person online that they are in reality.  However, their participation as an Internet User opens the door to their hearts as they activate the Global Individuality mindset.  But, they are empowered with opportunity to open go their hearts and minds online and find answers.  While a Muslim woman in Algeria, an atheist man in France, and a Kenyan teenage in Nairobi contemplating suicide may not seek answers from a religious person, go to a church, or seek spiritual answers, they will go online looking for help, hope, and even a reason to live.  The Global Individuality mindset empowers them to look beyond their physical world and limitations of their personal reality and engage in conversation people they could encounter in no other manner.   We must be online to tell them about Jesus.

Here are two outcomes of “Global Individuality”:

            An outcome of “Global Individuality” is that individuals are so active online, and it captures so much of their time, that their presence in the virtual world has become their reality.   A significant number of adults in first world nations are constantly online for all the reasons listed previously.  The stereotype for younger people is that they spend multiple hours daily playing video games.  Others are very active on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

      While some may not consider the virtual world to be their reality, they use the Internet regularly so the point that they would not want to live life without it.   Imagine if you went through today without Internet access, without using your computer or handheld device, and without your cell phone.  How would you feel and how productive would you be?  What if businesses were forced to operate without technology?  Your experiences in the grocery store, at your bank, and at the airport would be vastly different; frustratingly and painstakingly different.  Without Internet access, your involvement as a global citizen and empowerment to control aspects of your life in an on-demand world would be altered severely. 

Another outcome of “Global Individuality” is that many are now empowered to be self-focused in both the real and virtual worlds.  For example, it is becoming increasingly frequent to hear the terms, “diversity” and “inclusion” to empower individuals to be whomever he or she desires to be without regard to others or the rules of society.  Thus, the focus shifts from the community to the individual.  “Individualism” meant that I could be all that I can be within the context of group and ultimately, it will benefit the community.  “Global Individuality” means that I can be whomever I want regardless of my external communities and thus mandates that either my community changes to accommodate me or I will find like-minded people and we will form our own community.  

“Global Individuality” presents an opportunity for the Church to proclaim Jesus Christ to “all the world” on a one-to-one basis.  Individuals are empowered online to go beyond the physical world that defines them to seek answers to issues that concern them and heart-felt needs that matter most to them.  They are encouraged online to interact with others, to listen to alternative views, and to state their personal opinions.  While the Internet is a tool and neutral, in and of itself, when evaluated in the light of morality, the users of the Internet are empowered to utilize it as a community in which they can interact with others as a global marketplace. 

The Internet is a mission field, “Internet Users” is a people group, “Globalism” is a world system, and “Global Individuality” is the mindset that empowers individuals in the global marketplace.  Over four billion people are online.  We must join them to help them go from where they are to where they need to be in relationship with Jesus Christ. If we seek to have a global footprint, to reach everyone, everywhere and “so all may hear,” we must embrace the Internet as another tool of the Gospel and for the glory of God.

 

 

Dr. Mark Flattery

President, Network211