[Note: The Computer Reach ministry ended in May 2000.]

As the years go by technological advances bring with them new media for spreading the Gospel. The past few decades have seen the rise of the Internet, which puts Christians in potential, personal contact with millions of people all over the world. For the past three years I have been involved with a ministry at Wheaton called Computer Reach, which evangelizes over a bulletin board system (BBS) called ISCA. How do Jesus himself and his work affect our witness to him through a medium such as ISCA? To the uninitiated the answer seems deceptively obvious. Our task itself is to tell people about Jesus and his work; how else would it affect our ministry? A fuller examination of the implications of evangelical Christology, however, reveal that Jesus and his work affect every aspect of our ministry to unbelievers as well as the context of that ministry, namely our relationship to God and to fellow believers.

Our knowledge of Jesus can be viewed in terms of his person and his work, and these two aspects are closely related to each other. Theologians typically separate the attributes of Jesus' person into two categories, his humanity and his divinity. They define his work in terms of three roles, prophet, priest, and king. Each of the categories of his person plays a part in each of his roles (Phillips). Examining both the amount of attention paid to it in the New Testament and the specifics of its role in theology reveals the Cross to be at the center of Christ's work, so this discussion will base many of its conclusions on the accomplishments of the Cross.

As prophet, Jesus reveals God to humanity. To do this he must be God so that it is certain that he knows what God is like, and he must be a human so that he can communicate that knowledge in ways that humans can understand (Phillips). Throughout his ministry he revealed God's intention to bring about the initial stages of the Kingdom (Luke 4:16-21). Through his actions and teachings, he explained and illustrated God's character and his requirements for his people. The Cross reveals God's justice, love, wisdom, and power (Stott 226). The sins God overlooked in the past potentially compromised his justice, and by punishing his Son for those sins, he established that he was still just (Stott 211). He demonstrated his love by purchasing immense blessings for the most undeserving sinners by the high cost of bearing the penalty for sin himself (Stott 223-224). Such an ingenious plan also reveals God's wisdom (Stott 224), and the enormity of the salvation it achieved shows his power (Stott 225-226). In the present Christ continues to reveal God through his Spirit, illuminating the hearts of the regenerate to understand the words of Scripture. This illumination is active in the calling of an individual to salvation, when the person first learns that God is merciful to the sinner, and in the believer's sanctification, where it reveals God's character, accomplishments, and requirements so that the believer can be edified and grow to maturity.

As priest, Jesus reconciles God and humanity by paying the penalty for humanity's sin on the Cross. In this role he must be God in order to be a perfect sacrifice and to undergo an infinite punishment, and he must be a human to identify with humanity's sufferings and temptations, to pay for humanity's sins, and to define what humanity is supposed to be, which is what redeemed humanity will be (Phillips). The Sermon on the Mount may be seen as a priestly work, since he is giving the law to the people. Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17 would also fit into this category, since he is interceding for God's people. However, his most significant priestly work occurred on the Cross, where he presented himself to God as the sacrificial lamb on behalf of his people (Heb. 9). Stott examines four images of salvation and determines that the common denominator is the idea of substitution (202-203). The problem God faces is that humanity has sinned against him and he must be true to himself, which requires that he punish the sinner, but at the same time he wants to save him. His solution was to substitute himself in his Son as the recipient of his own judgment (158). This is known as propitiation, the satisfaction of wrath (175). If Christ were a third party and not God himself, God would not have been acting in love to inflict punishment on an innocent victim, or else the idea of a substitute would have been someone else's rather than God's (152). In the second image of salvation, redemption, God buys back sinners from their captivity to sin and its effects by placing himself under their effects (178-179). In justification he pronounces us not guilty because he pronounced his Son guilty on the Cross (190). Reconciliation, the fourth image, is the personal dimension of salvation that the legal dimension, justification, makes possible (193). Since the Cross Jesus has been interceding to defend the saints against the Father's wrath (1 John 2:1-2; Heb. 7:25). His death is the basis for our justification, which allows God to sanctify and glorify us and give us an inheritance (1 Pet. 1:3-5).

As king, Jesus defeats Satan, changing the destiny of history, and creates a new righteousness in humans. This requires that he be God because only God has that kind of power (Phillips), and he must also be human because it was his obedience to death that prompted God to place him in the position of Lord (Phil. 2:6-11), and his purchase of the church makes him its head (Stott 181; Acts 20:28; Col. 1:18). During his ministry he was already taking back territory that Satan was occupying by casting out demons (Luke 11:17-20). On the Cross he won the decisive victory against the devil (Heb. 2:14-15; Col. 2:13-15) by paying our debts to God, defeating death, and by resisting the temptation to escape the Cross (Stott 234-235). However, he will not completely eradicate the devil and his work until he returns. For now he proliferates his defeat of Satan through the activity of the church, which calls people to repent from the deeds of the devil and to believe and participate in the victory Christ won over the devil on the Cross (236). While Christians still live in the old age of evil, they are free from the condemnation of the law, the domination of the flesh, the persuasive power of the sinful world, and the sting of death (Stott 246). They have also been brought into the community of believers, which is characterized by boldness, joy, and love (Stott 256-257), which even extends to its enemies (Stott 295).

One of the means the church is using to call people out of the darkness and into God's kingdom is the Internet, and Computer Reach is a ministry at Wheaton involved in this work, taking the Gospel mainly to users of ISCA. ISCA is a BBS that allows the user to interact with groups via topical discussion forums or with individuals via mail messages or real-time "eXpress" (X) messages. The forum topics range from chemistry to gender issues to role-playing games. Babble is a forum for generally random, ridiculous conversation. Several forums have religious topics, like Paganism and Religious Magic, but two are particularly suitable for discussions with an evangelistic bent, Bible and Christian Issues (BCI) and Atheism Agnosticism Etc. Atheism is much more civil than BCI typically is, and the proportion of intelligent to unintelligent discussion is greater. X messages allow the discussion or conversation to be more personal. Sometimes the initial X is based on having read the other person's post in a forum or previous discussions between the two people in a forum. Occasionally a person may initiate contact because the two have a mutual friend. Sometimes, apparently less often now than in the past, the X is random. The initiator may comment on the uniqueness of the other person's handle (screen name) or the interesting quote in his profile, or the conversation may begin with a random comment, question, or humorous remark. These conversations may be more casual or more serious and may relate more or less directly to religion. Mail messages are usually based on forum discussions or X message conversations.

Jesus and his work affect three relationships relevant to ministry, our relationships to God, to other believers, and to unbelievers. The most obvious contribution Jesus and his work make to our work in Computer Reach is to give us the content of our message to unbelievers. In this way we act as sub-prophets under Christ's role of prophet. Jesus' work discloses truths about himself, God, and people that are necessary for understanding and appropriating his work. His denouncement of the Pharisees and of unrepentant cities and his treatment by his persecutors demonstrate the extent and depth of human depravity and the intensity of fallen humanity's hatred toward God. His suffering on the Cross under God's judgment demonstrates the size of sin's offense against God, God's love for sinners, his justice, wisdom, and power, and Christ's deity and humanity. Since Jesus paid for the whole offense of sin and was the only one who could, it is futile to try to earn acquittal by undertaking certain activities. Justification comes by trusting in Christ's accomplishments, and the benefits and responsibilities of salvation follow.

This is the central message, and in conversing with unbelievers we should consciously be aiming toward addressing this message. This is especially important because it is easy to get off track in evangelism, especially when arguing apologetically in a discussion forum, especially in an unruly one such as BCI. The Christian has to pick his battles, and the criterion for the selection should be their relevance to the Gospel. The question should be, would answering this particular question or objection bring this person a step closer to receiving Christ, or is this person simply evading the real issues? The answers to this question take careful thought and a thorough understanding of the logic behind the Gospel and the ways sinners try to evade it, so Christian witnesses should always be seeking a deeper knowledge of these issues, which involves both studying the Bible and conversing with unbelievers.

Christ and his work also inform our evangelistic methods. First, since Christ is the head over the church and over everything else for the sake of the church (Eph. 1:22), presumably any medium for spreading the message that he permits to exist is a legitimate one if used wisely.

Second, there are basically two approaches to delivering the Gospel, both of which have biblical support and can be used effectively in evangelism if used with wisdom informed by Christ's work. The first involves simply heralding the message with little prior communication. The second builds a relationship first to develop trust and familiarity, to show respect and compassion, and to find entry points for sharing the Gospel. The herald approach may be divided into the discussion approach and the preaching approach. The discussion approach fits in well with the format of the forums. The preaching approach is roughly equivalent to street preaching and is typically not well received on ISCA, which is a very pluralistic environment, and since it is easy to respond to such attempts quickly and personally via posts to the forum or X messages, people do. Their responses may be polite, harsh, or condescending, but they are not usually welcoming. The evangelist may be seen as pushy or simply misguided or naïve, depending on his tone. Jesus and the apostles frequently encountered similar resistance. Jesus attributed it to the nature of the listeners as children of the devil (John 8:42-47). Paul told the Jews that they evidently didn't consider themselves worthy of eternal life (Acts 13:46). It is inevitable that people will reject the Gospel and persecute those who bring it, but a well thought out presentation might win some hearers as it did for Paul on occasions such as his speech to the Athenians in Acts 17. This would involve knowing the entry points and being able to correct the audience's errors and point out their inconsistencies as Jesus did (e.g., Matt. 12:11). In a place like ISCA, the uniqueness of Christ and the necessity of his substitution as well as the reality of sin and its offensiveness to God are important issues to focus on because many are committed to other religions or spiritualities and many more simply don't think Jesus is relevant to their lives.

The second, relational approach is more popular in Computer Reach. The main interests in this approach are to show love in a fuller and more personal way than a straight presentation of the Gospel can and to avoid causing the unbeliever to erect barriers to the Gospel other than the barriers that would be there simply because he's in rebellion against God. For biblical examples one might look to Andrew's exclamation to his brother Peter, "We have found the Messiah!" (John 1:41) or the weeks and months Paul stayed in the cities in which he preached, sharing his life along with the Gospel (Acts 18:11; 1 Thess. 2:8). A similar principle is at work in Acts 5:12, in which the "apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people," in the sense that they demonstrated Christ's love and the present realities of the Kingdom. Communication on ISCA relies exclusively on the written word and somewhat on timing, so ordinarily one's ability to show compassion is rather limited. Verbal support and challenge are all one can manage, and even that without the benefit of intonation and body language. Consequently, to get across the right messages the Christian sometimes has to choose his words carefully, being sensitive to what he knows about the ways the other person might be receiving them, which is influenced by the level of trust that has been developed and the particular concerns, personality, understandings, and experiences of the unbeliever. The temptation in the relational approach is to be too conciliatory and to start compromising important parts of the Gospel. A deep and pervasive awareness of the content of the Gospel, especially the centrality of substitution, and a commitment to Christ that takes priority over everything else, including the opinion of the people one is evangelizing, will guard against this temptation.

In any case, Jesus teaches us by precept and example the proper manner of our witness, which is with love and authority. He showed love when carrying out his kingly work of restoring people to wholeness during his ministry, and when carrying out his priestly work he showed love by substituting himself for humanity and by refusing to resist when his executioners mistreated him (1 Pet. 2:21-23). His commands not resist an evil person but to "walk the extra mile" (Matt. 5:39-42) and to deny oneself and take up one's cross (Luke 9:23) parallel his example, and these commands reverberate throughout Jesus' ministry and the rest of the New Testament. In terms of ISCA, this means that "flames," harsh or abusive messages, from other people should evoke a respectful response rather than a return flame, and the Christian, of course, should never initiate a flame. It is possible to ignore users electronically so that they can't make contact, but forgiveness should probably take precedence over avoidance. It also means that the Christian who is trying to develop a relationship with someone over the computer is aware of the possibility of deception, that the person on the other end may be misrepresenting his personality, beliefs, or even gender, and is willing to look foolish for the possibility of real ministry. Forgiveness is, of course, in order if the deception is discovered, and the Christian may still be able to take the opportunity to minister to the deceiver.

The challenge of self-sacrifice on ISCA is greater because to do anything more than typing requires so much more planning and effort than in everyday life. Phone calls can be expensive, especially if the other person lives on the other side of the world. Traveling to meet the person for whatever reason, if one feels compelled, is even more of a sacrifice. The occasions in which contact in person are rare, especially since most people only expect to interact over the computer, but the occasional desperate situation may call for extreme measures to show Christ's self-sacrificial love. The authority in our witness comes from Jesus' Lordship over the whole world and God's command for everyone to repent (Acts 17:30) and from our knowledge that Jesus is the definitive revelation of God (Heb. 1:1-2).

Jesus and his work determine the goal of and motivation for witnessing as well. Our purpose is to advance the Kingdom that Jesus preached by doing good and calling people to be reconciled to God, and our command from the Lord Jesus is to "make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:18-20). Our goal is to call people to repentance and to invite them into the Kingdom (Mark 1:15), making the Gospel attractive by our actions (or the verbal expressions of our attitudes, in the case of ISCA) (Tit. 2:10), and then to enter into mutual edification with them so that each person will grow into unity and maturity in Christ (Eph. 4:13). Ideally, this growth and mutual edification should take place in the local church. However, on ISCA there are no local churches in the full sense of the word. Many of the activities that a gathering of believers participate in are impossible over a BBS, such as congregational singing and communion. It is therefore a good idea for the Christian to help the new believer to find a church and to act in an auxiliary role in his development in Christ. ISCA ministry must be seen in its larger context.

The basis for our witness is our relationship with God. To even be motivated to witness properly and to have a personal knowledge of the Gospel, as well as to avoid hypocrisy, we need to be united with Christ by faith ourselves. Christ works as priest to justify us through faith, and as prophet and king to sanctify and educate us for our task. Being forgiven teaches us to forgive (Col. 3:13). Knowing that Christ has been given "all authority in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28:18), being made head of everything for the church (Eph. 1:22), gives us confidence to witness boldly despite the risk of looking foolish or being abused. Realizing our position as redeemed people who are sinners also gives us the humility to admit it when we're wrong and to ask forgiveness from God and the people we have wronged (Matt. 5:23-26).

Jesus and his work also affects our understanding of our witness in the context of our relationship with believers and also our relationship with believers in the context of ministry. First, the believers we fellowship with in person can function as priests by interceding for us and aiding us in our work by their prayers (2 Cor. 1:11; Eph. 6:19-20). Certain members of the church will be able to equip us by teaching the Word (Eph. 4:11-12), and everyone is to consider "how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds" (Heb. 10:24). We should also follow the example of the early church and rejoice over the things Jesus is doing through his Spirit in the lives of each other and those we are ministering to (Acts 21:19-20). Second, ministry to unbelievers should ideally be done within the context of the fellowship of believers, so that the unbelievers will know that we are Jesus' disciples by our love for each other in imitation of Christ (John 13:34-35) and so that they will be convicted and brought to repentance (1 Cor.14:24-25). In a setting like ISCA, this is difficult but may possibly be approximated by the loving interactions of Christians in discussion forums and by the way Christians speak about each other when conversing with unbelievers individually.

Jesus, in his work as prophet, priest, and king, justifies us, sanctifies us, and empowers us to minister to unbelievers even in the unusual medium of a BBS, as we rely on God's power and the support of other believers. May Christ be glorified in our work.

Phillips, Timothy. Course lectures. Spring 1999.

Stott, John. The Cross of Christ. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1986.