Fascinating discussion going on today at the Internet Evangelism Coalition list. Can one be discipled online?

John O'keefe at ginkworld.net, an incredibly cool site, had this to say:

at what point is face to face needed? required? to live a life "in a bubble" called "virtual space" means little if there is not community developed - how can i pick you up and help dust you off if the only way i can speak with you is in a chat room, or in a email? how can you help me with a daily struggle to keep right with God, if all i have is a avatar and text messaging? i have actually heard people who run internet ministries say things like "if Jesus was doing ministry today, he would be on the net and not in the streets." i always laugh at that one :D. you see, i believe for a ministry to be a ministry there needs to be a human touch element. the internet is simply the "phone of the future" - even if you make a call, to get together is the way we hang :)

if a person "accepts Christ" online, what human follow-up is there? what human contact is there? the idea is not to "tag and run" because at that point we become no better then jimmy bakker and the tlc crowd - taking names and money but nothing else. it is one thing to know about "sally who accepted christ" - but what happened to her? what church is she at? how is she growing? if any ministry can not answer those questions - in my view - they are not truly adding to the kingdom - because, in my theology, simply accepting Christ is not enough - one must live in community, put their faith into action and grow in what it means to be a follower. "tag, your it" theology is not very cool :) i minister to the emerging/evolving culture - and we do it very well - and one of the things we in the emerging/evolving are shouting for is "touch." i have nothing against online stuff - i met my wife online, but we needed to meet to actually get the whole thing going :) pax john

I agree with John Naisbitt that as we become more “high tech,” we will crave more “high touch” relationships. That’s why I think “virtual church” is an oxymoron.