Currently, everyone will have such consensus that there is less and less Christian information on the Internet in China. It is not known since when WeChat official accounts related to Christianity were permanently shut down. Popular Christian websites have stopped updates for good... From audio to video materials, from pastors' sermons to self-media content, it is as if the Internet is busy deleting Christian content at the moment, and the deletion and weakening are constant.
I am a Christian self-media person, and I have been doing online self-media gospel work for nearly four years. At the same time, I am also a Christian who benefited from self-media because when I first started using smartphones, I could access all kinds of Christian information through the Internet, which helped me much. Of course, there is chaos in this process, and there are many kinds of contents under the guise of Christianity. However, although the chaos on the Internet is obvious, the orthodox gospel work has also been spread using the Internet.
In the past two years, however, it was found that the strength and space of the Christian network in the media were gradually weakened and deleted. Although Christians who have the burden to do networking are still looking for various ways to find a breakthrough, they all have to admit that it is difficult to break through the barriers set on the Internet.
In the past two days, I have been thinking again and again about this issue; as the space for Christian self-media keeps getting smaller, there are fewer and fewer people who do Christian self-media, what impact will it have?
I think the first thing is that the habit of living by faith will change. The existence of virtual Christianity from the media cannot fundamentally change the essence of human life, but it can make people cultivate a kind of belief life, such as reading a spiritual article when taking a bus, listening to a sermon when walking, watching a short Christian video when getting bored, etc.; it can fill the Christian life so as to more closely link life and belief.
However, when Christianity disappears from the media, people's habit of holding mobile phones will not be reduced. Yet, because there is no Christian information to fill in their leisure time, people will naturally choose other things, such as entertainment, news, online games, and so on so as to kill time.
The world is amazing. When users open video apps, they take no mental precaution against all those stupid, mindless, and false pieces of information, but they are hostile to the belief content that leads people to the right path. Naturally, when Christians are attracted by these forms of entertainment, they lose their spiritual influence and gradually become friends with the secular world.
Secondly, when Christian self-media people disappear, believers in need will be left unattended to. We admit that offline physical churches are still functioning, but physical churches have limitations and are bound by time and space, so physical churches often fail to take care of people who are in remote or sparse areas. The Net ministry just makes up for this deficiency. At the same time, offline churches cannot achieve one-on-one continuous follow-up and systematic training, but those can be carried out over the Net, which is its (the Net’s) advantage.
Of course, the disappearance of Christian media people will also affect the spread of the gospel. In today's Internet age, the speed and scope of Internet transmission are obvious to all. Just like some mature Christian WeChat official accounts, every post will be read by hundreds of thousands of people, so the scale of gospel transmission is huge. From a large base, some people will get help. When such media disappears, it may also affect the way the gospel is spread on the Internet.
But when I think about it carefully, I firmly believe that God is in power in the human world. He is the God of yesterday, today, and forever, so I firmly believe that He will be kind to His own work.
In the past, it was said that "the Bible should be put in the museum". However, as time goes by, the Bible is still around the people of God. Christians are not reduced by persecution and suffering. On the contrary, the fire of the gospel is burning more and more vigorously in the great persecution. Therefore, although dangers and challenges seem terrible in themselves, behind them are God's full presence.
In fact, since the beginning of this year, more and more churches have incorporated the network ministry into the overall ministry development strategy. After that, they have seen more stringent monitoring on the network, which makes us think that this is a test in itself. Some people will give up God's trust because of difficulties while others will remain faithful despite the difficulties. This is actually also a testing process.
Since the apostles' time, nothing has been easy because the invisible is full of spiritual battles, but no one can stop God's will. The development of the gospel is accompanied by the blood of martyrs. Although I do not know whether today's self-media work should be accompanied by the price of blood, it may be a good thing if it is God's will.
Despite the difficulties, there are still countless brothers and sisters struggling in the battle because we have never forgotten that "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
- Translated by Charlie Li
这段时间大家都会有一个共同的感受，就是网络上基督教的信息越来越少。曾经关注的公众号不知道在什么时候已经被封永久的停更了，曾经经常观看的基督教网站也因为一些原因内部维护，也无法持续更新......从音频到影像资料，从牧者授课信息再到自媒体内容，仿佛此刻网络要将基督教的内容清空一样，不断的在削弱和清除。
我是一个基督教自媒体人，做网络自媒体福音工作已经将近四年的时间，同时我也是一个通过自媒体受益的基督徒，因为在最开始使用智能手机的时候，可以通过网络的形式收听到各类基督教的信息，这也给了我很大的帮助。当然在这过程中也有乱象的出现，各类打着基督教幌子的内容也非常多，然而虽然网络的乱象明显，但是正统的福音工作也借此机会得到了传播。
而这两年却很真实的发现，基督教网络自媒体的力量和空间逐渐被虚弱和清除。虽然有负担做网络工作的基督徒依然在寻找各种途径想要寻找突破口，然而都不得不承认网络的壁垒变得很难突破。
这两天我就不断再想，当基督教自媒体的空间越来越小，做基督教自媒体的人越来越少的时候，会产生怎样的影响呢？
我想首先就是对信仰生活的习惯会发生变化。网络基督教自媒体存在的形式，并不能根本的改变人生命的本质，然而却能让人养成一种信仰的生活，比如：坐公交车的时候看一篇属灵文章，走路的时候听一篇讲道，无聊的时候看一部基督教短视频等等，这些都会填充到基督徒的生活中，以此将生活与信仰更为紧密的链接在一起。
然而当基督教自媒体消失的时候，人们手持手机的习惯并不会因此而减少，但是因为没有基督教的信息内容填充在闲暇的时间中，人们自然就会选择其他的事物，比如娱乐资讯、新闻资讯、网络游戏等等，以此来消耗时间。
这个世界很神奇，打开一些视频APP，各类搞怪、无脑、虚假的信息不见有人质疑，但是对于引人踏上正途的信仰内容却充满敌意。自然，当基督徒被这些娱乐吸引的时候，也就失去了属灵的影响力，也会逐渐与世俗为朋友。
其次，当基督教自媒体人消失的时候，会让有需要的信徒无人看管。我们承认实体教会依然在地上，但是实体教会有局限性，受着时间、空间的束缚，所以实体教会往往会顾及不到一些偏远地区的人，或者人烟稀少的人，而网络事工正好补足了这一缺欠。同时实体教会无法达到一对一的持续跟进和系统培训，但是网络却能很精准的进行培训，这些都是网络工作的优点。
当然基督教自媒体人的消失，也会影响福音的传播。在如今的互联网时代中，互联网的传播速度和范围有目共睹，正如有些基督教做的比较成熟的公众号，每篇文章会有几十万人阅读，这样福音传播的规模是巨大的，从大的基数看，必然会有人因此而获得帮助。而当这样自媒体消失的时候，或许也会影响网络上福音传播的方式。
但是细细想来，我深信神在人的国中掌权，昨日、今日、直到以后的永永远远他是上帝，所以我深信他必然会恩待他自己的工作。
昔日曾经有人说“将圣经放在博物馆中”，但是时间走过，圣经依然在神百姓的身边，基督徒没有因为逼迫和苦难而减少，反而在大逼迫中福音的火越燃烧越旺盛。所以危险和挑战本身看似可怕，但是背后却充满了神的同在。
其实从今年初，越来越多的教会将网络事工纳入教会的整体事工开展的战略中，在此之后就看见网络上监察更加严格的事情，这不禁让我们认为这本身就是一种考验。有些人会因为艰难而放弃神的托付，而有些人却会在艰难中依然持守忠心，其实这本身也是一个筛选的过程。
福音工作从使徒时代直到今天，没有一件事事容易的，因为在看不见的背后充满了属灵的征战，但是神的旨意却无人可以拦阻。福音的开展都伴随着殉道士血，虽然我不知道今天的自媒体工作是否也要附上血的代价，但是倘若这是上帝的旨意，或许也不失为一件好事。
虽然艰难，但是依然有无数的弟兄姐妹奋斗在征战的一线，因为我们从未忘记“你们要使万民作我的门徒，奉父、子、圣灵的名给他们施洗。凡我所吩咐你们的，都教训他们遵守，我就常与你们同在，直到世界的末了。”
当基督教自媒体人逐渐消失的时候
Currently, everyone will have such consensus that there is less and less Christian information on the Internet in China. It is not known since when WeChat official accounts related to Christianity were permanently shut down. Popular Christian websites have stopped updates for good... From audio to video materials, from pastors' sermons to self-media content, it is as if the Internet is busy deleting Christian content at the moment, and the deletion and weakening are constant.
I am a Christian self-media person, and I have been doing online self-media gospel work for nearly four years. At the same time, I am also a Christian who benefited from self-media because when I first started using smartphones, I could access all kinds of Christian information through the Internet, which helped me much. Of course, there is chaos in this process, and there are many kinds of contents under the guise of Christianity. However, although the chaos on the Internet is obvious, the orthodox gospel work has also been spread using the Internet.
In the past two years, however, it was found that the strength and space of the Christian network in the media were gradually weakened and deleted. Although Christians who have the burden to do networking are still looking for various ways to find a breakthrough, they all have to admit that it is difficult to break through the barriers set on the Internet.
In the past two days, I have been thinking again and again about this issue; as the space for Christian self-media keeps getting smaller, there are fewer and fewer people who do Christian self-media, what impact will it have?
I think the first thing is that the habit of living by faith will change. The existence of virtual Christianity from the media cannot fundamentally change the essence of human life, but it can make people cultivate a kind of belief life, such as reading a spiritual article when taking a bus, listening to a sermon when walking, watching a short Christian video when getting bored, etc.; it can fill the Christian life so as to more closely link life and belief.
However, when Christianity disappears from the media, people's habit of holding mobile phones will not be reduced. Yet, because there is no Christian information to fill in their leisure time, people will naturally choose other things, such as entertainment, news, online games, and so on so as to kill time.
The world is amazing. When users open video apps, they take no mental precaution against all those stupid, mindless, and false pieces of information, but they are hostile to the belief content that leads people to the right path. Naturally, when Christians are attracted by these forms of entertainment, they lose their spiritual influence and gradually become friends with the secular world.
Secondly, when Christian self-media people disappear, believers in need will be left unattended to. We admit that offline physical churches are still functioning, but physical churches have limitations and are bound by time and space, so physical churches often fail to take care of people who are in remote or sparse areas. The Net ministry just makes up for this deficiency. At the same time, offline churches cannot achieve one-on-one continuous follow-up and systematic training, but those can be carried out over the Net, which is its (the Net’s) advantage.
Of course, the disappearance of Christian media people will also affect the spread of the gospel. In today's Internet age, the speed and scope of Internet transmission are obvious to all. Just like some mature Christian WeChat official accounts, every post will be read by hundreds of thousands of people, so the scale of gospel transmission is huge. From a large base, some people will get help. When such media disappears, it may also affect the way the gospel is spread on the Internet.
But when I think about it carefully, I firmly believe that God is in power in the human world. He is the God of yesterday, today, and forever, so I firmly believe that He will be kind to His own work.
In the past, it was said that "the Bible should be put in the museum". However, as time goes by, the Bible is still around the people of God. Christians are not reduced by persecution and suffering. On the contrary, the fire of the gospel is burning more and more vigorously in the great persecution. Therefore, although dangers and challenges seem terrible in themselves, behind them are God's full presence.
In fact, since the beginning of this year, more and more churches have incorporated the network ministry into the overall ministry development strategy. After that, they have seen more stringent monitoring on the network, which makes us think that this is a test in itself. Some people will give up God's trust because of difficulties while others will remain faithful despite the difficulties. This is actually also a testing process.
Since the apostles' time, nothing has been easy because the invisible is full of spiritual battles, but no one can stop God's will. The development of the gospel is accompanied by the blood of martyrs. Although I do not know whether today's self-media work should be accompanied by the price of blood, it may be a good thing if it is God's will.
Despite the difficulties, there are still countless brothers and sisters struggling in the battle because we have never forgotten that "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
- Translated by Charlie Li
When Christian Self-Media Gradually Disappears in China
