Throughout the ages, there have been some mighty moves of God and revivals. These great moves of God have brought people into the kingdom, influenced our society, and changed the church as we know it. These moves have become part of our history. But a lot of people don’t believe they are history. Many people are longing for God to move again. Many prophetic voices have foretold a great move of God yet to come. Hearts are hungry and people are crying out for God to move, they are calling for revival. And with the state our culture is in God knows we desperately need it.
But with each move of God, God changed it up and moved in a different way, it came through different means and was in different forms. Many people are expecting it to come out of some church building or some organized revival meeting, even come out of people getting together and crying out for God. But are we really certain that is how we should expect it?
When Christ came, they were expecting the Messiah, they were holding on to prophecies and they thought they knew how he would come. But many missed it. The traditional religious church of that day missed it. They all missed it!
And if we aren’t careful, we are going to miss this new move of God and may even reject it like the religious leaders of Christ's day. How many people know that we are in a digital age? Times are changing and the majority of Americans spend their time online. The days of the church gathering in a building are dying out. Believers are coming together through the World Wide Web. Those people include believers and non-believers. The greatest frontier for evangelism is on the internet.
What if the church building is the old wineskin and the digital is the new? What if the people who are expecting the next great awakening or move God to come through buildings and the physical form are looking in the wrong place? Years ago, I got a job pastoring a 150-year-old denominational church in a small town. It was a beautiful old building and had a rich history. It was the first church in that town and was built by the town founders. I was there for a few years and one thing was for sure. They loved their building more than they loved God! Everything was about their building and their church was dying. It happened to be in a flood plain that flooded that town once every 100 years but at that time it became once every few years. The town wanted to help pay to have the church building moved to a better location, but the congregation was having no part of that. They did not embrace change and were stuck on the four walls of the building and their traditional physical location. I tried to talk them into moving it to higher ground, but they were dead set against it. Even said that God wanted it to stay where it was. So, I resigned, and they moved many buildings in that town but the church stayed put. A few years later it was once again flooded and this time it was devastated so bad it was beyond repair. The other day I passed by that old church building, and it was just an empty lot. They tore the building down and the congregation was no more. All because they were too stuck on their building that they could not see what God wanted to do.
Go Into All the World
Some people look down on online ministries, online churches, and the digital. I met a lot of pastors and people who thought church wasn’t really church if you did it online. And ministry really isn’t ministry if it’s not a physical experience. You see they are in the old wineskin of the church building, but that is being replaced by the digital. The younger generations do everything online and even the older generations are embracing online life more and more. One of the best evangelistic fields is online. God is going digital.
The Bible says, “I might become all things to all men in order to further the gospel.” Jesus said, “The fields are ripe for the harvest” and He also said, “Go ye into all the world.” Those fields are now digital, and the world includes the worldwide web.
I am not saying God is doing away with the church building altogether, there will always be a place and purpose of a church building to some extent in some form. But I am saying that the new move of God is going to be digital, it's not coming from the physical or the four walls of a building. They aren’t going to flood into your cathedral. Revival is going to come through online churches and ministries with online forms of interaction and fellowship.
Online churches and ministries can be church because we are spiritual people. Jesus said worship is much more about the spirit than the physical.
And Paul said in 1 Cor 5:3-4. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled bin the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus.
Apostle Paul was in prison, yet his spirit was assembling with other believers via distance.
The Bible also says to assemble together and where two or three are gathered in His name He is there. Meeting and interacting online is assembling and gathering together just by a different means and form. They didn’t have the internet in Biblical times.
We are going to miss or reject the new move of God if we aren’t careful! God is way bigger than four walls, way bigger than the physical. God is going to do a new thing in the next move of God and is going to meet people where they are at. And where they are at is online. And where they will continue to amerce themselves, interact, and live life is digital. He who has ears let him hear!
Adam Becker
