Digital Evangelism Issues

Institution remains the same for 11 centuries

The 1000-year-old Campanile di San Marco in Venice suddenly collapsed into a heap of rubble in 1902. Mercifully, there were no casualties apart from the caretaker’s cat. There followed a time of great debate – whether, or how, to replace this beautiful bell-tower. The view which gained acceptance was summed up in the campaign slogan Come ere, dove era – meaning “As it was, where it was”, pronounced ‘COM-aira, DOV-aira’ – and a near-identical replica (with better internal strengthening) was inaugurated in 1912.

As a cultural heritage issue, this was surely the right decision. Our home town (Derby UK) has had many of its historic buildings trashed in the last 70 years in fits of misguided modernization. But are there any spiritual parallels?

Of course, the nature and truth of the gospel is unchanging. On the other hand, the context in which we share the good news is always changing, and so the way in which the message is presented must be constantly changing to suit the surrounding culture. If we apply ‘as it was, where it was’ to our methods, we have a ‘historic bell-tower’ that looks nice to architectural historians, but is not of much use to anyone else.

One ministry which helps us to understand the surrounding culture is is Facing the Challenge. Check their free downloadable study courses, podcasts and articles.

It is also helpful to understand ‘communication cultures’, because the medium of presentation also changes the style of the message.
Rex Miller in his book The Millennium Matrix suggests that we are rapidly moving into a ‘digital communication culture’.
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