e) Spiritual: this is a component of many sites and the driving force for the existence of some. People are able to tap into some spiritual resources without having to look for someone to guide them or pay for books or the like.
J) Marketing: these exist to sell something and seek to answer the question 'what is in it for me?' What the Church believes is often not seen to be as important as what it is selling - good liturgy, fellowship and a host of other ministries. People choose a church community often based on the liturgy, fellowship and other ministries it offers over what it believes.
The difficulty with this is that the message the Church preaches can be obscured by the marketing drive. Hence care should be taken that the focus is not the marketing but rather the proclamation of Jesus Christ.
g) Evangelistic: Christian evangelism is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, to invite people to share in the life of Christ. Many websites are not evangelistic in this sense but rather are a preparation for evangelisation. They share information, invite and reach out to people who perhaps have never really been into a church as such. This can be done in a remarkably broad range of ways. A question could be posed; images could be carefully chosen and used. If image has replaced words in our culture, then this kind of usage of image in some way replaces words and can also speak to the heart of the human person. Other sites could tell stories of evangelising power, or stories could be preserved and told, like those from the Desert Fathers and Mothers. Stories, like those of the saints, are not necessarily historically accurate or literal truth but rather tell truths like the parables Jesus told. These accounts transcend doctrine or easy explanation and have immense power to speak to the heart of the person reading them or hearing them.
The internet can be used for a variety of different purposes which all in some way or another contribute to the evangelisation process. Hence it is important that, first, the Church is clear on what kind of need it is trying to meet in cyberspace, and also what will be needed in terms of the type of site, for the internet to be effectively used. The design of the site and its contents will be dependant on what the goal of the site is, i.e. what is sought to be accomplished and also who the target of the site is. The Church faces stiff competition in
cyberspace - as she does everywhere else and hence, if she is going to be successful, needs to have clear understanding of goals and of those whom it is aimed at, which demands critical thought, review, reflection and listening.
Deeb says:
The media, in particular, as a primary agent of globalisation... has caused a spirit of individualism and consumerism to become dominant. This has given rise to greater spontaneity and a search for personal freedom and responsibility, but in turn has caused many valued institutions, including religion, to be treated like consumer commodities (2000: 82).
A good sense of where people are and a well created cyber response to globalisation3 can counter this trend that Deeb observes. If people are presented with alternatives, in a language that speaks to them, assists them and moves their hearts, perhaps religion will not be treated as a commodity, as Deeb suggests.
It is worth noting that in the 1930's the French theologian and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin predicted the emergence of the noosphere, a network linking humanity at a mental rather than physical level. He described the network partly in physical terms, but also in spiritual and philosophical terms and saw it as a force which would unify the world. He used the metaphor of a halo to describe how it would encircle the planet. He was not that concerned with the network for information or communication, but rather saw it as a further step in the process of human evolution, leading to a greater unity of mind, body and spirit where there would be a sharing of ideas, values, purposes and
3 'Globalisation' is the process by which the world is becoming more and more unified. It could also be described as the inter-dependence of countries on one another. It is a kind of international integration.
Nations now need other nations to survive. Globalisation has advantages and disadvantages, for example, it is now easier to travel in Europe if you have an EU passport or EU Visa. You can enter into any country which is part of the EU. On the other hand globalization has the disadvantage that, if one countries economy collapses, it does and will affect others, especially those with whom it trades.
4 Teilhard de Chardin's work on the noosphere and evolution and the 'membrane' which would surround the earth and how the internet could be this noosphere can be a subject of study in itself. Jennifer Cobb in Cybergrace. The search for God in the digital world. (New York: Crown Publishers, 1998) argues that cyberspace has a fundamental role to play in the ongoing evolution of soul and spirit through the universe and hence to greater unity.
resources across the planet. Teilhard de Chardin believed that this represented 'a new stage in evolution, one marked by the capacity for deep spiritual and intellectual experience' (Cobb 1998: 42). This movement to greater unity of mind, body and spirit seems to be what Paul attempts to explain in his letter to the Ephesians '...until we all reach unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God and form the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself (Eph 4: 13). It is also for this unity which Jesus himself prays: 'May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you' (John 17: 21). The media therefore, and specifically the internet, which drive globalisation would also, in Teilhard de Chardin's view, be drawing humanity and creation into the unity which he saw and the oneness Jesus himself prays for.
I will now give a short analysis of internet usage in South Africa followed by a summary of the research I conducted. I attempt to understand better what it is people are seeking on the internet and what people think should be available on the internet so as to help them begin to realise this unity and hence facilitate the sharing of ideas, values, purpose and resources. I would also like to note, at this point, that the research I have conducted has only been done amongst those with access to the internet. For those (and this is a minority) who have access the internet is used widely. Many more people do not use the internet as they simply do not have access.