Mark Flattery

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 i...

Using the Internet as a Tool of the Gospel Part Three: “Globalism” is a World System                 “Globalism” Is A World System “Globalism” is now a world system that influences everyone.  Our world is becoming increasing smaller as people move from one nation to another and has economics has brought nations together in working relationships.  Milton Friedman’s, “Lesson of the Pencil,” shows how people from the nations of the world can indeed work together, without direction or involvement of governments, to provide what they can so that together they can create a product; in this case, a pencil.  Friedman speculates that the wood was made in Washington state, compressed graphite from South America, the eraser from rubber from Malaya, and the brass, the paint, and glue from unknown locations.  He states that the people who provided each item for the pencil do not know each other, may not speak the sa...

Using the Internet as a Tool of the Gospel Part Two: “Internet Users” is a People Group   “Internet Users” Is A People Group Since the Internet is a mission field then it follows that “Internet Users” is a people group.  The 1982 Lausanne Committee Chicago meeting statement defines a “people group” as: “A significantly large sociological grouping of individuals who perceive themselves to have a common affinity with one another.  For evangelization purposes, a people group is the largest group within which the gospel can spread as a church-planting movement without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance.”  Of course, when this statement was written, we were unaware in the general public of the concept of the Internet and of its ability to empower individuals.  But, by using the first sentence in the definition, “Internet Users” is a people group as individuals have a “common affinity with one another.”  The common affinities include using the I...

Using the Internet as a Tool of the Gospel Part One: The Internet is a Mission Field   As technology advances, people around the world are given increasingly more access to the Internet.  This has led to the Internet being so woven into the fabric of society that are lives are enhance by it and, conversely, life would be altered dramatically without it.  The Internet goes beyond being a one-way communications medium.  Television is a medium.  Radio is a medium.  The Internet goes to the next level because it created a community in which people live, interact, and have a choice as to what content they will consume.  The Internet leverages and connects the various mediums to form communities where people can find their identity, persona, and brand so much so that they can be a completely different person than they are in reality.  This presents the Church, and ministries like Network211, with an amazing opportunity to present the Good News of Jesus ...