Lausanne World Pulse – Perspectives Articles – The Internet Missionary Society of 2020
Highly specialized artificial intelligence programs (called “narrow AI”) will be able to do common customer service functions; sophisticated, computer-generated personalities known as “avatars” will interact with users and act as a type of virtual salesperson. These avatars are capable of being programmed with the one hundred (or more) most common questions that enquirers ask. They will be endowed with a patient and understanding artificial personality and be able to lead enquirers through the plan of salvation and even through some basic pre-baptismal follow-up lessons.
|
|
Missions via the Internet Has Already Begun
We are on the verge of it in communities like Second Life, where believers, as computer-generated avatars, are already witnessing to Christ. Sitepal.com provides customizable avatars for websites, and the Genesys IP Contact Center is already using avatars to handle customer service queries for CartaSi—the Italian credit card company. By using avatars and information technology, an Internet mission agency could reach tens of millions of enquirers annually with the plan of salvation and then connect them with local churches in their area. So the evangelism department of our missionary society in 2020 may well consist of six geeks, a server farm and four hundred of these computer generated avatars! Each avatar may well share the gospel with a different cluster of unreached people groups. Of course there will still be plenty of room for face-to-face missionary activity such as worship, baptism, communion, counseling, exorcism, small group Bible study and the use of spiritual gifts.
The rise in technology will also mean that average users can become sophisticated content creators who can make their own video, audio and text presentations of the gospel. Thus, proclamation will become many-to-many as new believers excitedly share their testimonies and experiences of Christ. As video-conferencing becomes commonplace, these believers will naturally bring each other together into small groups and virtual churches online.
By using avatars and information technology, an Internet mission agency could reach tens of millions of enquirers annually with the plan of salvation and then connect them with local churches in their area.
Distance education and TEE (Theological Education by Extension) will be revolutionized and technology will allow a missionary to inexpensively conduct large-scale training by video while being simultaneously translated into dozens of different languages. Pastors and community leaders will be able to be trained without being removed from their ministry context. Touch interfaces with symbols, voice recognition and improved interface usability will make it easy for non-literates to use technology and to benefit from it.
The power of technology to proclaim and inform needs to be matched with the power of the local church to disciple and mature individual believers. Hopefully, technology will augment the process of discipleship and free many Christian workers to focus on being one-to-one mentors. The gospel will of course remain the same, but how it is delivered, who is communicating it and the means of responding to it will be profoundly changed.