An Effective Internet Ministry Strategy for Church Evangelism Through a Case Study of the Sarang Community Church
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LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AN EFFECTIVE INTERNET MINISTRY STRATEGY FOR CHURCH EVANGELISM THROUGH A CASE STUDY OF THE SARANG COMMUNITY CHURCH A Thesis Project Submitted to Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary In partial fulfillment of the requirement For the degree DOCTOR OF MINSTRY By Dae Suk Lee Lynchburg, Virginia November, 2010 i Copyright 2010 Dae suk Lee All Rights Reserved ii LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY THESIS PROJECT APPROVAL SHEET GRADE Dr. Charlie Davidson MENTOR Dr. Ron Hawkins READER iii ABSTRACT AN EFFECTIVE INTERNET MINISTRY STRATEGY FOR CHURCH EVANGELISM THROUGH A CASE STUDY OF THE SARANG COMMUNITY CHURCH Dae Suk Lee Liberty Theological Seminary, 2010 Mentor: Dr. Charlie Davidson The purposes of this dissertation are to shed light on the essence of the church internet ministry from the biblical and ministerial angles and to suggest effective strategies for churches launching an internet ministry. In the thesis, I conducted a literary review of online ministry and a case study of the Sarang community church. Basic Web analysis, an interview, and a survey were performed to analyze Sarang‘s case and to draw lessons from it. I sincerely hope my suggestions on internet strategies can become a compass that points churches to the right direction as they navigate through the wave of the internet era. Abstract Length: 99 words iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to give thanks to the Lord for leading me to this excellent Liberty D. Min program. I would also like to thank Professor Davidson for taking the time to guide my study and for giving me crucial suggestions in writing my thesis. This thesis would not have been possible if Liberty University had not launched a special online course for Korean students. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Dean and every professor and staff of Liberty Seminary for initiating and managing this excellent program. I am deeply grateful to Professor Daniel Kim for travelling all the way to South Korea to conduct his valuable lectures. I would like to express my thanks to Professor David Chung for managing all the complicated administrative tasks aside from lecturing while in charge of the Korean D. Min program and to Professor Tim Chong for his sincere and noble assistance when I visited Liberty last year. I especially thank my wife who is my greatest mentor and supporter. I am also grateful to my parents-in-law who prayed for me constantly, my only daughter who helped me with the translation, my friends, and my fellow pastors. I owe them greatly, and I will repay them with love, happiness, and my future ministry work. All glory to the Lord! D. S. L. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... ⅳ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................. ⅴ TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................ ⅵ LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ ⅷ I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 Background and Necessity of the Study ............................................................... 1 Statement of Purpose ............................................................................................ 8 Statement of Limitations ..................................................................................... 12 Statement of Methodology .................................................................................. 13 II. BIBLICAL/THEOLOGICAL BASIS ........................................................................ 20 Understanding the Internet Ministry ................................................................... 20 Biblical Basis ...................................................................................................... 22 Theological Basis ................................................................................................ 27 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................... 32 III. A STUDY ON THE INTERNET MINISTRY ......................................................... 35 Historical Background of the Internet Ministry .................................................. 35 Practical Research on Internet Ministry .............................................................. 38 Outlook of the Korean Churches‘ Internet Ministry ........................................... 49 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................... 51 IV. THE SARNG COMMUNITY CHURCH‘S INTERNET MINISTRY .................... 53 Introduction to the Sarang Community Church .................................................. 53 The Sarang Church‘s Internet Ministry .............................................................. 54 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................... 68 V. ASSESSMENT OF SARANG CHURCH‘S INTERNET MINISTRY .................... 70 Evaluation of Sarang‘s Internet Ministry ............................................................ 70 Non-quantitative Analysis of Sarang‘s Internet Ministry ................................. 105 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................. 110 vi VI. INTERNET MINISTRY STRATEGIES ............................................................... 113 Sarang‘s Strategies for Internet Ministry .......................................................... 113 Internet Strategy for Korean Churches ............................................................. 116 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................. 128 VII. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 132 Brief Summary of the Research ........................................................................ 132 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 136 Suggestions ....................................................................................................... 139 APPENDIX ................................................................................................................... 143 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 146 VITA ............................................................................................................................. 152 vii LIST OF FIGURES 1. Internet users‘ population and usage frequency ............................................................. 4 2. Internet usage by age ..................................................................................................... 4 3. Religious populations by age group ............................................................................... 5 4. Growth of Korean Christianity after 10 years ................................................................ 7 5. Church representing Korean churches in general in the next decade ............................ 8 6. Attendence of Sarang church by year ............................................................................ 9 7. Number of live internet broadcasting viewers .............................................................. 11 8. Media revolution and the spread of the Gospel ............................................................ 36 9. Progress of telecommunication technology .................................................................. 37 10. What is internet ministry? ........................................................................................... 38 11. Current values vs. Value expectation .......................................................................... 42 12. Tailored internet church service .................................................................................. 43 13. Decision-making process in the information distribution process .............................. 45 14. The specialization system and the one-man system.................................................... 46 15. Average expenditure development in both cases ........................................................ 47 16. Decision making in outsourcing ................................................................................. 48 17. Guideline to the digital ministry‘s yearly plan ............................................................ 49 18. Internet usage rate (Korean case) ................................................................................ 50 viii 19. Screen capture image of the Sarang church‘s homepage (Korean version) ................ 57 20. Multi lingual service ................................................................................................... 59 21. Ten principles of internet users for internet space purification ................................... 62 22. Missionaries supported by the church (May 2007) ..................................................... 63 23. Screen capture image of the Sarang‘s Mission hyperlink ........................................... 64 24. Broadcasting process .................................................................................................