wfn.org | Presbyterians Should Help Others Find Faith in Cyberspace

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

15-June-1997 
GA97023 
 
             Speaker says Presbyterians Should Help Others 
                    Find Their Faith in Cyberspace 
 
                           by Julian Shipp 
 
SYRACUSE--Presbyterians using the Internet should be encouraged to connect 
spiritually and caringly to a faith and hope found in Jesus Christ and the 
PC(U.S.A.) should continue to take the leadership role in helping them 
achieve this mission. 
 
    That's the gospel the Rev. Ken Bedell of Dayton, Ohio, presented to 
members of the Presbyterian Media Mission (PMM) and the Presbyterian 
Electronic Media Association (PEMA) during their 12th annual luncheon here 
June 14. 
 
    Bedell, an ordained minister of the United Methodist Church, has an 
interest in figuring out ways to use technology to assist the church in 
doing ministry. Bedell said he is convinced that a new and exciting 
cultural transformation is occurring in Cyberspace, a culture whose members 
gain meaning and values in their lives from watching television and movies 
instead of hearing sermons and lectures. 
 
    "Christianity is not bound to a particular culture," Bedell said. 
"Christianity has not only existed but thrived and remained faithful to its 
basic tenets in a number of cultural settings in new and exciting ways." 
 
    However, Bedell cautioned, church leaders should avoid adapting the 
tools of the new culture to the agenda of the church instead of 
Christianity. As an example, he cited the mission of many television 
evangelists, "who took TV and used it for the Protestant reformation agenda 
of convincing people that they are either going to heaven or hell unless 
they have exactly my opinion." 
 
    Likewise, he said church leaders should not adopt the agenda of the 
church to the values of the new culture, the basic premise behind New Age 
Theology. The task of church leaders, he said, should be to find an 
authentic Christian witness within the new culture. 
 
    Citing ways Presbyterians can become cyber disciples, Bedell said they 
should get a PresbyNet (the denomination's computer communication network) 
account; gain access to the Internet and use it; go to the movies and watch 
TV to familiarize themselves with the electronic culture and visit PASSAGES 
on-line. 
 
    PASSAGES is a PMM and United Methodist Communications (UMCom) 
cooperative media venture carried on more than 670 radio stations 
nationwide. The program features a weekly series of audio parables in which 
people share their journeys through struggle and triumph. Each show targets 
various interest groups and includes positive stories by real-life people 
telling, in their own words, the importance of faith and values. 
 
    PASSAGES on "the net" features the same context and is available in 
read-only format for Internet users whose computers do not have audio 
capabilities. Befell said in the future he hopes PASSAGES on-line will 
provide three to five stories per day for people to hear and see, and to 
make it easy to use for whatever computer and Internet providing services 
net users have. PASSAGES on the Internet can be found at www.passages.org. 

------------
For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  phone 502-569-5504             fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 
  mailed from World Faith News <wfn-news@wfn.org>  

--