The Internet in Mission and Ecumenism ... - Reformiert online

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c. Jesus’ Communication After analysing these perspectives, I would like to highlight the way Jesus communicated to his audience. In order to have a credible and ideal communication, he accepted his listeners ‘as they were’ 9 . Communication as a process can occur between two equal beings. He went to the place where they are. He engaged in the listeners’ communication process. That means, most of the times he used parables, stories and other types of communication that are familiar to his hearers which also reflected their contemporary context. At times his communication began by listening to his opponents or his hearers and thereby engaging along with them in their search for meanings of life and of God rather than simply asking them to comply with his own search for meanings of God and of life. Thereby Jesus engaged in the public communication in the way people expected presenting his meanings among a wide range of meanings that were available to his hearers. Jesus used different methods, means and forms of communication in his mission. It is essential to recognise a model that offers such a diverse mission models in Jesus’ teachings and practice. I would like to start from these principles of Jesus Christ when setting out to do mission and ecumenism in and through the Internet. I would like to ask a few questions such as: what kind of public space or cultural interaction has the Internet created among the Netizens? In what way do people engage in the Internet? what are they searching for? what are the technological facilities that a website or net offers to people? how can we engage in different forms of mission? how do we provide network link for people and churches? Based on these questions I would like to highlight some ways in which the churches can get involved in mission and ecumenism in and through the Internet. 4. Internet Scenario in India a. Internet Availability The number of people using the Internet in India is expected to rise to 23 million by 2003. At present, it is estimated that about four million people use the Internet in India (2000 July) 10 . There is a large number (more than ten million) of temporary net users in the cafes which is often not counted. At the same time India’s two percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes through the IT Software and Services Industry in India 11 . When I came to Bangalore in March 2000 there was only one Web café near UTC whereas now there are no fewer than six Internet Surfing Centres around UTC. In my experience in many of India’s semi-urban cities people know more about fibre optics than underground drainage. That is why The Hindu newspaper says on Sunday, December 31, 2000, We are in serious danger of becoming a nation where cable and optics fibre will reach most urban homes long before potable water and drainage, and where children in remote areas will have easier access to movies than to schooling. The price of computers is cheaper than some of the household equipment such as a washing machine. From 2,000 knowledge IT workers in 1986, the number increased to 222,090 web professionals in early 2002 12 . There are 18 Software Technology Parks in India. Bangalore is supposed to be the silicon valley of India. National Informatics Centre (NIC) provides computer support to governments both at central and at state level, thereby networking the government 9 I have highlighted these principles of Jesus’ communication in my book, ‘Facing the Reality of Communication: Culture, Church and Communication’. New Delhi: ISPCK, 2001. 10 BBC News South Asia India net users set to soar… http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/848832.stm 11 Research, Reference and Training Division ed, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, India, ‘Information Technology’ 2002, New Delhi: Quick Printers, p.160, 12 http://stylusinc.com/internet_potential_india.htm Internet Potential in India - Sharon Colaco - India's Webspertise 12
offices and improving the services to the people 13 . For example, the government provides computer kiosks for the farmers to print out their land records by paying 15 Rupees (10 cents) rather than going to a local government office and paying 500-1000 Rupees (10 US$ to 20 US$) as a bribe. To some extent this has enabled the government to reduce the bureaucracy and bribing practices in their offices. Nevertheless the majority of the billion people in India does not have access to the Internet and cannot afford to have a computer for a few decades to come. Only a small percentage of the Indian population uses the net and this is mainly urban based. The divisions between the rich and the poor and between urban and rural are explicit in India. One third of Indian people are below the poverty line. To some extent one can argue that this technology has widened the gap between the ‘information rich and information poor’ in a developing nation like India. Because of these factors there is a dilemma for anyone who intends to attempt to use Internet for mission. b. Net and Reality Some NGOs explore the possibilities of using the Information Communication Technology (ICT) for the development of the people 14 . We provide training and skills for the schoolteachers to use computers in their schools for education. Most of our urban Christian schools provide computer training for their pupils. Access to the Internet in a city is faster and cheaper than in a village, though the government is trying to ensure that villages also get access at the same speed and cost. Some of the urban churches are using computers for different purposes in their ministry. The number of users in India is increasing at enormous speed, but accessibility, affordability and availability of the technology to all is still a long way from becoming reality. The question of doing mission and ecumenism via the Internet in India needs to be seen from a different perspective as compared to some of the developed countries. My question remains: to what extent can the Internet be useful to the churches in doing mission? While recognising these issues we also need identify the fact that our use of the Net for mission and ecumenism does not require all the people to have personal access to the Net. This is where the technology of convergence, connectivity and networking can make the Net accessible for whole groups of people both within and outside the churches. c. Church Net There are a variety of ways that the churches in India use the Internet for their mission and ministry. The Churches in India basically provide a website which gives basic information about their institutions, doctrines and activities 15 . Many of them have their own websites 16 . The following sites provide best examples for the above argument. The Church of South India’s website - http://www.cnisynod.org/ National Council of Churches in India - http://www.nccindia.org/ Othodox Churches - http://www.otsindia.org 13 Research, Reference and Training Division ed, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, India, ‘Information Technology’ 2002, New Delhi: Quick Printers, p.165, 14 M. S. Swaminathan project which attempts to provide useful information to fisher communities. http://poverty.worldbank.org/files/14654_MSSRF-web.pdf http://www.mssrf.res.in/ Voices,a Bangalore based organisation is trying to help disabled children to use computers. 15 The Church of South India provides basic information about the churches and their activities. http://www.csisynod.org/ In the same way the United Evangelical Churches in India too provide a good website with a lot of information about their activities. http://www.uelcindia.org/index.html To see a specific diocese please visit http://www.csitirunelveli.org/csi_td.asp 16 Marthoma Church http://www.marthomachurch.com/Heritage-Mission/15thcentury-story.htm The Assemblies of God church - http://business.vsnl.com/zion/ Indian Pentecostal church - http://www.angelfire.com/al3/ipcpallipad/ipc.html Independent Baptist Churches’ directory - http://www.baptistinfo.com/States/INDIA/INDIA.HTM A bit about CBCNEI http://www.wfn.org/2000/04/msg00025.html 13
Page 1 and 2: Evangelische Landeskirche Evangelis
Page 3 and 4: 1. Program of the Consultation "Mis
Page 5 and 6: communication and learning - and we
Page 7 and 8: 3. Input 1: “Implementing Multicu
Page 9 and 10: 2. Mission and Ecumenism The words,
Page 11: Critique In such an instrumental pe
Page 15 and 16: A few years ago one of our visiting
Page 17 and 18: gap between sender and receiver is
Page 19 and 20: 6. Internet and Mission: Possibilit
Page 21 and 22: government, NGOs, churches and pare
Page 23 and 24: i. Net as Alternative Media Net can
Page 25 and 26: Appendix FTP - File Transfer Protoc
Page 27 and 28: Here the Internet seemed and seems
Page 29 and 30: studies on the New Testament compil
Page 31 and 32: 6. Working Groups on the three Inpu
Page 33 and 34: Other Preconditions: - Cultural dif
Page 35 and 36: Topics that were not selected: �
Page 37 and 38: 7.3 Results of Working Group 3 Tech
Page 39 and 40: 7.5 Results of Working Group 5 Advo
Page 41 and 42: 8.3 Results of Working Group 3: Dif
Page 43 and 44: Annex 1: Power Point Presentation b
Page 45 and 46: Virtual Learning Community • Cont
Page 47 and 48: Different communication styles •
Page 49 and 50: Layout of learning environments •
Page 51 and 52: Virtual collaboration -Groupware -T
Page 53 and 54: Annex 2: Power Point Presentation o
Page 55 and 56: Jesus’ Mission and Communication
Page 57 and 58: Mass media Networking Churches and
Page 59 and 60: Annex 3: List of Participants EMS S
Page 61 and 62: Resource Persons Dr. Joshva Raja, A

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