It’s official.  I no longer like e-mail. 

That wasn’t always the case.  I still remember discovering e-mail for the first time.  My computer modem was as large as a vintage radio and as loud as a jet engine, but it allowed me to contact friends at a moment’s notice, at any time of the day or night. “You’ve got mail!” were welcomed words back then. 

Not anymore.  Not only does the constant buzzing of my phone remind me that life is too busy, but the e-mails I receive sometimes only hinder communication.  For example, most of us have experienced the anxiety of reading wrong emotions into an e-mail and/or explaining a misunderstood message that we sent.  The e-mail symbols to express emotion simply cannot replace give-and-take, ask and respond conversations when emotions are involved.

In other cases, e-mail provides a means to express much more – too much, and in much less God-honoring ways – than we would say personally.  We give too little thought to our words when communication is between computer screens rather than two people looking each other in the eye.  The buffer of cyberspace somehow permits us to be rude and ungodly in our interaction with others.

My biggest concern about email, though, is that this medium makes it possible to send messages without ever talking to each other.  I have in my archive folders dozens of messages from friends who write regularly – but whose actual voices I have not heard in months. I fear that face-to-face conversations have sometimes been unintentionally sacrificed on the altar of email convenience.   

Of course, my distaste for email is really only partial. I am excited when I hear from long-lost friends who found me via web pages and email. I can now easily communicate with missionaries around the world.  Their concerns are distributed and prayers sent heavenward with just the click of a computer key.  And, email has provided unprecedented opportunities for doing evangelism – especially when sharing the gospel with people who are geographically distant from us.    

On the other hand, my concern that email promotes faceless communication is dwarfed by a similar concern about current trends in evangelism.  Think about it –

• Evangelism in many churches is about believers responding to a guest who first visited the church rather than our proactively sharing Christ.  Evangelism thus occurs only if the nonbeliever takes the first step. 
• Evangelism is sometimes reduced to “invite others to church, where someone else (the preacher) will tell them about Jesus” – and even then more corporately than individually.  In that case, nobody does personal evangelism.   
• In some congregations, evangelizing takes place more on the international mission field – as essential as that task is – than in a church member’s neighborhood.  The same believer who travels overseas to speak of Christ via a translator often leapfrogs his own unbelieving neighbors who speak the same language.   
• Despite the New Testament emphasis on laity, many churches still relegate evangelism to hired clergy.  As one church member told me, “We pay them to do that because they’re the ones trained for it.” 

I need to be clear here.  I fully support using any God-honoring means to spread the gospel, and ignoring current technological advances means missing great opportunities now available.  I also want church members to appreciate God’s work through their church so much that they willingly invite their friends to attend.  My heart beats with global missions, and I have seen some church members more committed to local evangelism after returning from the mission field.  I also believe that clergy must set the example in doing evangelism.  Hence, I am not discounting the methods and strategies listed above.  I am simply saying that they are not enough if evangelism is not also personal. 

Yes, write evangelistic emails, invite your neighbors and friends to church, follow up with guests, take mission trips, and expect your pastor to be a model.  Prayerfully support all that your church does to reach its community.    

Don’t forget, though, to tell others about Jesus – and do it face-to-face.