Starting from late August, the twelfth Internet Mission Forum was held online for four Friday evenings, focusing on the church and evangelism in the post-pandemic era.
The forum lasted from August 28 to September 18, sharing four themes on Zoom about the church, artificial intelligence, education, and evangelism in the post-pandemic period.
In 2009, the late Rev. Wang (Thomas)Yongxin initiated the forum, which is held in August and September in the United States or Canada to promote missions on the Internet and new media.
This year it was held in a virtual form for the first-ever time due to the coronavirus pandemic. Twelve pastors, scientists, educators, and artists were the speakers, four for each theme.
In the first theme entitled “From Pace to Peace,” Job Huang or Huang Lei, senior pastor of Wuhan Root and Fruit Church, urged that we should integrate new media with traditional media outlets.
Since the coronavirus broke out in Wuhan on January 24, the church spread information on the pandemic situation and also God’s word to the churches locally and worldwide through multimedia, Zoom, and other media platforms.
Huang recalled the relief efforts during the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. His team gave four things to the victims: umbrellas, ponchos, flashlights, and short-wave radios. Many people became Christians through a Christian broadcasting station.
Rev. Ekron Chen, an associate professor from a seminary in Hong Kong, stated that online churches could be considered as one part of the ecumenical church. The four functions of church -- "worship, teaching, fellowship, and evangelism" -- could be performed virtually. Virtual sacraments were generally acceptable such as the Holy Communion.
In the second session on “AI: From Virtual to Virtue,” one of the highlights was the idea of the moral ethics of robots. Rev. James Hwang, executive director of the China Ministry of the Far East Broadcasting Associates, demonstrated that whether robots observed moral ethics should depend on their designers’ ethics. Designers should base on men as God’s image as artificial hands produced by a brain-machine interface could be used to heal Parkinson's disease and epilepsy.
In the third theme named "From O2O to OMO," Pastor Yuan Yixin, provost of Liangyou Theological Seminary, which provides theology through videos, shared how the Liangyou Radio Station developed. The ministry started with offering radio services then opened two official accounts on WeChat. Later the application of the seminary was developed. The audiences listened to the programs and later some of them who desired to become church staff received face-to-face training.
Elder Xu, a Christian entrepreneur said that it was the responsibility of the parents to educate their children, so they should not outsource their education to schools. Xu said that a collaborative offline/online education system is nationally promoted in Israel. For example, high school students are divided into groups of four and five, and a group meet weekly in a specific time for discussion, while they study online the rest of the time. Some students are groups leaders who are responsible for study tasks.
In the last theme “From Internal to Public”, Shu Yi, creator of The Road Design on Tik Tok, which makes short Christian videos, interpreted the beauty of Christian faith through design. One of the video series named “Why God Created the World” explores the meaning of creation through the perspective dialogues between animals and human beings. Another series entitled “God's Code” delivers the message through popular human body sciences and statistics.
The 2019 forum was conducted in Canada, featuring The Church and Evangelism in the New Media Times.
- Translated by Karen Luo
从八月底开始，连续4个周五晚上，第十二届网络宣教论坛IMF2020在zoom上直播，每次有两三百人参加。
2020年8月28日至9月18日，有4个主题分享：后疫情时代的教会，AI，教育和宣教。
2009年的时候，84岁的王永信牧师发起了网络宣教论坛. 每年8，9月份，在北美或加拿大举办，目的是推动网络宣教和新媒体的发展。
今天因为疫情第一次以网络直播的举行。共请了12位牧者，科学家，教育家，艺术家来讲解。
在第一个主题“教会”里，来自武汉下上堂教会的主任牧师黄磊（约伯）牧师分享说，新媒体和传统的方式，要叠加融合，而非取而代之。
从1月24号武汉爆发新冠肺炎起，迅速通过多媒体，zoom，或其他平台向武汉教会、世界教会通报疫情，同时传达神的话语，人们很快从恐惧不安，绝望的状态当中恢复过来。
2008年汶川地震，他到四川赈灾，给他们送了3样东西：雨伞、雨披，手电筒，短波收音机。通过香港良友电台，第一次听到福音，很多人信了主。
在香港出生长大的神学院副教授陈爱光牧师说到：网络教会可以算作普世教会。教会的 敬拜，造就， 团契， 宣扬这4方面的功能是都可以在线上进行。特别是造就—-知识的教导，网络上能进行的当中是做的最好的。非实体的圣礼一般来说能够接受。
在第二个主题“AI”里，远东广播执行主任黄雅各牧师举例说了利用脑机对接发明人工制造的手和医治帕金森症和癫痫。另外他说道：机器人是否有伦理道德，是看设计机器人的人是否有伦理。机器人的设计者要归回到本源-神的形象，并且从人工回归真实，从智能回归诚信，AI才不可怕。
第三个主题“教育”里，阮一心传道：介绍了良友电台的发展。开始从收音机，到建立2个微信公众号并且研发“良友学院APP”。从广播到以面授教牧同工。从声音到见面，举办交流营。学习启航课程，参加考试合格，可免考入学试报名本科文凭课程。
在第三个主题“教育”里，基督徒企业家许长老讲到：父母有教育儿女的神圣天职，不能把儿女的教育全部包给学校。教育的核心是通识和品格，能够快速进入一个新的领域。同时他分享了目前以色列在全国推行How2MOOC线下/线上共学模式，就是高中生学习大学的如“机器人”和“天文学”课程，4-5人 一组，个人上网学习，每周固定时间见面讨论。由孩子带小组，完成任务。
第四次“新媒体宣教”中，那路抖音创作人舒毅姐妹，以设计栓释信仰的美好。在《上帝为什么创造》系列中，以动物视角+人类对话，来表达受造的意义；《上帝密码》系列中，以不可思议的人体科普+数据化的表达，来表达受造的意义。
第十一届网络宣教论坛是在加拿大举行，主题是5G大战，谁主沉浮？-新媒体时代的教会与宣教。
详细介绍请参考：http://www.internetmissionforum.org/
第十二届网络宣教论坛在线举行 聚焦网络教会和宣教
Starting from late August, the twelfth Internet Mission Forum was held online for four Friday evenings, focusing on the church and evangelism in the post-pandemic era.
The forum lasted from August 28 to September 18, sharing four themes on Zoom about the church, artificial intelligence, education, and evangelism in the post-pandemic period.
In 2009, the late Rev. Wang (Thomas)Yongxin initiated the forum, which is held in August and September in the United States or Canada to promote missions on the Internet and new media.
This year it was held in a virtual form for the first-ever time due to the coronavirus pandemic. Twelve pastors, scientists, educators, and artists were the speakers, four for each theme.
In the first theme entitled “From Pace to Peace,” Job Huang or Huang Lei, senior pastor of Wuhan Root and Fruit Church, urged that we should integrate new media with traditional media outlets.
Since the coronavirus broke out in Wuhan on January 24, the church spread information on the pandemic situation and also God’s word to the churches locally and worldwide through multimedia, Zoom, and other media platforms.
Huang recalled the relief efforts during the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. His team gave four things to the victims: umbrellas, ponchos, flashlights, and short-wave radios. Many people became Christians through a Christian broadcasting station.
Rev. Ekron Chen, an associate professor from a seminary in Hong Kong, stated that online churches could be considered as one part of the ecumenical church. The four functions of church -- "worship, teaching, fellowship, and evangelism" -- could be performed virtually. Virtual sacraments were generally acceptable such as the Holy Communion.
In the second session on “AI: From Virtual to Virtue,” one of the highlights was the idea of the moral ethics of robots. Rev. James Hwang, executive director of the China Ministry of the Far East Broadcasting Associates, demonstrated that whether robots observed moral ethics should depend on their designers’ ethics. Designers should base on men as God’s image as artificial hands produced by a brain-machine interface could be used to heal Parkinson's disease and epilepsy.
In the third theme named "From O2O to OMO," Pastor Yuan Yixin, provost of Liangyou Theological Seminary, which provides theology through videos, shared how the Liangyou Radio Station developed. The ministry started with offering radio services then opened two official accounts on WeChat. Later the application of the seminary was developed. The audiences listened to the programs and later some of them who desired to become church staff received face-to-face training.
Elder Xu, a Christian entrepreneur said that it was the responsibility of the parents to educate their children, so they should not outsource their education to schools. Xu said that a collaborative offline/online education system is nationally promoted in Israel. For example, high school students are divided into groups of four and five, and a group meet weekly in a specific time for discussion, while they study online the rest of the time. Some students are groups leaders who are responsible for study tasks.
In the last theme “From Internal to Public”, Shu Yi, creator of The Road Design on Tik Tok, which makes short Christian videos, interpreted the beauty of Christian faith through design. One of the video series named “Why God Created the World” explores the meaning of creation through the perspective dialogues between animals and human beings. Another series entitled “God's Code” delivers the message through popular human body sciences and statistics.
The 2019 forum was conducted in Canada, featuring The Church and Evangelism in the New Media Times.
- Translated by Karen Luo
Internet Mission Forum Focuses on Online Churches, Evangelism in Post-pandemic Era
