Some Thoughts on the Internet Ministry

By Little John

We may not agree how to evaluate the nature of the May 4 Movement, but its influence was indeed extraordinary. As a new cultural movement, it could not be isolated from the publication "New Youth". This publication, initially named "Youth Magazine", was launched by Chen Du-shiu in 1915 from Shanghai. By the second issue the name was changed to New Youth, and moved to Beijing in 1916. The then Beijing University President, Mr. Chai Yuan-pei, invited Chen to head up their Literature Department. Starting from 1918, Chen Du-shiu invited the well-known scholars Lee Da-chiu and Chien Yuan-tung to take turns editing New Youth. Subsequently Chien Yuan-tung asked Zhou Shu-yen, who had been copying ancient tablets for many years in Beijing, to join them. At that time Zhou was filled with anger, despair and frustration; he could see no hope for the future. Yet he was persuaded by Chien to write the first novel in colloquial Chinese in the history of China's modern novel, entitled "Diary of a Crazy Man". He published it in the May 1918 issue of New Youth, using a pseudonym. The rest is history.

This pseudonym has become the most famous pseudonym in China's 20th century literary history. Of course you know what it was: Lu Shun!

Was it Lu Shun who established New Youth and the use of 'colloquial Chinese', or was it the other way around? Without New Youth, would there have been a Lu Shun?

We are not concerned about which is better, old Chinese or colloquial Chinese. Yet it is true that 'colloquial' Chinese was closer to the way that the people of that era actually spoke. Nor are we picking on New Youth's tendency to be totally against anything traditional. Yet clearly credit must be given to the magazine's criticisms of the feudal system, which brought new light to our countrymen. We can say that the comparisons of colloquial Chinese with old Chinese, and New Youth magazine with ancient literature, are just like today's comparing of Internet dialogue with written language, and the medium of the Internet with traditional media such as hard copy publications, radio and video. 

Sometimes the utilization of different media is very important, to the point that it can promote turning points in human thought and history. History is not changed only by ideas. 

To those who profess to possess and promote the truth, the way the truth is presented and discussed and where and by whom, are key issues affecting the effectiveness of the message. 

Just as when we are studying the history of the Reformation in the 16th century, if we ignored the impact of the then newly invented printing press, then our study would be grossly inadequate. 

There are so many people in the world who use the Internet that we should not have a preconceived notion that the written word is superior to the Internet. What is important is how should we utilize the most advanced, the most convenient tools to convey the content we wish to convey? To permit the Internet to be filled with pornography, games, gossip, and things in bad taste, yet to close the door to using it to proclaim the greatest truths of all, and thus to by-pass the most convenient tool of all. Is this not this rather arrogant? 

Take, for example, the popular Jimmy cartoon which expresses the confused and lost condition of city dwellers. We are better not to pull long scholarly faces and criticize its readers as childish, in the hope of raising them to a level where they may come to an appreciation of abstract writing. If you have something really important to convey, why not give in a bit to the popular taste, and package your great subject in more trendy dress? Where are the cartoonists who are able to draw cartoons based on Christian ideas, and so meet today's young people where they are? Where are the artists who can convey the Bible through their paintings? Where are the game designers who can design Internet Bible games? 

A few years ago I was deeply involved in a Mainland Chinese Christian Internet web-site. My experience showed me that there are two great difficulties in Internet work in Mainland China: the lack of Christian professionals capable of doing a good job, and the fact that most churches do not take the Internet seriously. Like the web-site I worked on - outwardly our greatest crisis was a lack of professionals (not just computer engineers), but there was an inward perception that we did not think that what we are doing was important. It was the same group of people who attended seminaries, trained Sunday school teachers, pastored churches, and managed bookstores... often we were dragged into all kinds of other ministries and were unable to be more professional and organized individuals. Sometime half a month was spent at training courses, and as a result the web-site was not updated for several months. If a web-site lacks originality and relevance, there isn't much point in establishing a web-site at all. Of course, it was not that the people who worked there felt this way, but that so few churches thought it was worth doing. If a web-site was financially supported by a church, it had to do what the church told it to do and therefore the growth of the site was limited. 

Therefore, after much thought, I want to plead with churches to change their ideas and put more emphasis on Internet ministry. 

Once I attended a meeting discussing the Internet and literature work. A senior Christian worker said, "When radio was introduced, we Christians lost out. When video was popular, we Christians also lost out in this field. Now the era of the Internet has arrived, and we Christians may still be the losers."

These are profound words worthy of much consideration. 

The author, Little John, was born in 1972 and was, baptized in 1997. He was involved in a web-site in Mainland China but has now resigned from this position.