DEPLOYMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGY (NT) IN DISSEMINATION OF THE GOSPEL (A case study of Deeper life Bible Church)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. 1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Being able to constantly stay in touch with the rest of the world by whatever means possible is unarguably one of the desires of humanity, regardless of status or beliefs. This has consequently made New Technology (NT) a tool of choice in the hands of every individual towards salvaging this desire. It is no more news, however, that we are in the final days of earth’s history, as many notable scholars of theology and religion continue to emphasize (Bolu, 2011); and the sacred duty of dissemination of the gospel of christ to the world given by Jesus Christ Himself to every believing Christian as one of the pre-pointers to His second advent (see Matthew 24:14) has become more important now than it has ever before been. It thus becomes necessary to focus evangelism efforts towards where people would most always be found using New Technology (NT) platforms like the social media and a host of others; and to use the most formidable tool to reach out to them in this zone(s) (NT). New Technology (NT) can be used in many ways to spread the gospel within and outside the church. In Nigeria, young people are turning to the internet to find personal, [professional], social and religious information and ecclesiastical institutions are devoting more resources to improve their presence on the web (Bolu, 2011). “The great commission of Jesus Christ is that the gospel should be taken to the ends of the earth through various evangelistic activities (Bible, Matthew 28: 19 – 20, c.f. 24:14). Today, however, the New Technology (NT) platforms like the Social Networking Websites and the Internet have emerged as utilities that can be tapped into, providing a method of communication that is fast, powerful, and interactive. Today, the world is shrinking into a global village through the Internet and the outreach strategies used by Apostle Paul of old can now be achieved through effective use of the worldwide web. In order to capture the potential of the Internet in dissemination of the gospel, Christians and churches must learn to use the power of these new Technologies to propagate the everlasting gospel, (James Nored, 2009: Ogu E.C., Ogbonna A., Omotunde A., Izang A., Ajike E.O. 2014). Murray, J. (2011). defined New technology(NT) as “a term that stresses the role of unified modern communications (achieved by synergizing telephone and computer networks) and the integration of telecommunications (cable and wireless communication media), computer systems and enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, in enabling users [or clients] to access, process, store, transmit,and manipulate data and information.” According to Asserman, Stanley; Faust, Katherine (2014). “A Social Network Websites is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (usually individuals and organizations/brands) and a set of the dyadic [two-way interactions] ties between these actors.” Popular examples of Social Network Websites platforms as at the time of this research include: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Email platforms, Blogs, LinkedIn, Vimeo, Flickr, Tumblr, Skype, Myspace, hi5, Digg, Orkut, Friendster, to mention but a few.

1. 1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Dissemination of the gospel of Christ is a trending area that many bible believing churches and missions want to know about and in deeply involved, and there are many authors who has written on this, far fewer have attempted to give detail on the impact of use of New technology (NT) on the gospel of Christ. Equally important, among those few authors who have attempted to research on the relationship between gospel dissemination and New technology(NT), there is paucity of any experimental or empirical work on how the use of NT affect gospelpropagation. Jesus’s words, “…..upon this rock will I build my church” is magnanimous. The creator may use any of His creation – technology, to fulfill His words. In relation to NT or New technology (NT), identifying the perception of the church, usage level and opportunities for gospel dissemination requires a thorough work.

1.3 AIMS OF THE STUDY

The major purpose of this study is to examine        deployment of New Technology (NT) in dissemination of the gospel. Other general objectives of the study are:

1. To examine the New Technology (NT) used in Deeper Life Bible church.
2. To examine the factors that hinders the use of new technology in teaching and dissemination of the gospel.
3. To examine the impact of using New Technology in dissemination of Gospel in Deeper Life Bible church.
4. To examine how lack of ICT skills by the upcoming workers in church is a hindrance to the use of new technology in gospel dissemination.
5. To examine the relationship between New Technology and effective dissemination of the Gospel.
6. To examine what churches can do to ensure effective use of new technology in dissemination of the gospel.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the forms of New Technology (NT) used in Deeper Life Bible church?
2. What are the factors that hinder the use of new technology in teaching and dissemination of the gospel?
3. What are the impacts of using New Technology in dissemination of Gospel in Deeper Life Bible church?
4. Is lack of ICT skills by the upcoming workers in church a hindrance to the use of new technology in gospel dissemination?
5. What is the relationship between New Technology and effective dissemination of the Gospel?
6. What can churches do to ensure effective use of new technology in dissemination of the gospel?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Hypothesis 1

H0: There is no significant impact of using New Technology in dissemination of Gospel in Deeper Life Bible church.

H1: There is a significant impact of using New Technology in dissemination of Gospel in Deeper Life Bible church.

Hypothesis 2

H0: There is no significant relationship between New Technology and effective dissemination of the Gospel

H1: There is a significant relationship between New Technology and effective dissemination of the Gospel

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The outcome of this study is expected to immensely contribute to the existing body of knowledge. The Church is very interested in anything to do with communication.  In fact, it's part of her very essence.  The Gospel of John states, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. New technologies are not only changing the way we communicate, but communication itself, so much so that it could be said that we are living through a period of vast cultural transformation. This study has both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, the study will point out and properly discuss the factors that hinder effective use of technology in churches. Thus, readers (individuals or groups) and scholars with interest in technology will find this work useful to increase their practice and teaching knowledge. The findings will be a frame work for social workers, sociologists, psychologists and social scientists who may intend to carry out further study on this topic and even related topics. It will also help in the implementation of the use of new technology in churches and dissemination of gospels in evangelism outreach. The result arising from this would be of practical significance by providing suggestions to those working to reduce or eliminate the hindrance on the use of new technology in churches.

1.7    SCOPE OF THE STUDY 

The study is based on deployment of New Technology (NT) in dissemination of the gospel (a case study of deeper life bible church)

1.8 LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Technology: Technology refers to the making, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, and methods of organization, by social workers in order to solve problems, improve a preexisting solution to a problem, achieve a goal, handle an applied input/output relation or perform a specific function using ICT.