What Is a Cyber Missionary?
A cyber missionary is a Christian missionary who uses the Internet and modern technology as a mission field. Instead of being limited by geography, a cyber missionary can use websites, social media, online Bible resources, Gospel tracts, email, video, and other digital tools to reach people around the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The word may be written several ways. Some people use cyber missionary, while others use cybermissionary, cyber missionaries, or even cybermissionaries. Whatever spelling is used, the idea is the same: using cyberspace as a place of Christian ministry and Gospel outreach.
For Bob and Maureen Hoffman, that is more than a description. It has been our calling and ministry for many years. We serve as Missionaries to Cyberspace, using the Internet to reach people with the Gospel and to help Independent Baptist churches, missionaries, evangelists, and ministries establish an effective presence online.
Cyberspace Is a Mission Field
The Lord Jesus Christ commanded His followers:
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” — Mark 16:15, KJV
For generations, missionaries have traveled across oceans, crossed borders, learned languages, and entered new cultures to carry the Gospel to people who needed to hear it.
The Internet has created another mission field.
Every day, billions of people use computers, phones, tablets, and other connected devices to search for information, communicate with others, watch videos, read articles, and ask questions. Many of those people may never walk into an Independent Baptist church. Some may live in places where there is little Gospel witness. Others may simply be searching privately for answers about God, the Bible, salvation, or eternity.
A cyber missionary seeks to meet people in that mission field.
We cannot replace the local church, and online ministry should never try to do so. But the Internet can help us place Biblical truth before people who might otherwise never encounter it.
What Does a Cyber Missionary Do?
Cyber missions can take many forms. Technology is simply a tool. The important question is how that tool is used for the Lord.
Our ministry includes several areas.
Gospel Outreach Online
One of the most important uses of the Internet is simply presenting the Gospel.
We distribute Gospel tracts and Bible materials online so people can read the plan of salvation wherever they may be. Digital outreach allows Gospel material to be available twenty-four hours a day and makes it possible to reach people across national borders and in multiple languages.
A printed tract may be handed to one person. An online tract can potentially be read by people around the world.
The message does not change. The method of delivering that message has expanded.
Helping Churches and Missionaries Online
Many good churches and missionaries understand the importance of having an Internet presence but do not have the time, experience, or resources to build and maintain one.
That is another important part of our Cyber-Missions ministry.
Through FamilyNet International, we help Independent Baptist churches, missionaries, evangelists, and other ministries establish and maintain websites. We provide hosting, technical assistance, WordPress support, security, backups, and other services without charging the ministries we serve.
A church website can help a visitor find service times, learn what the church believes, listen to preaching, or discover how to contact the pastor.
A missionary website can help supporting churches follow the work, read prayer letters, learn about the mission field, and pray more intelligently for the missionary family.
Technology becomes a servant of ministry rather than the ministry becoming a servant of technology.
Bible Teaching and Christian Resources
A cyber missionary can also use the Internet to make Bible teaching available to people who are searching for answers.
Our ministry has provided Bible courses and Biblical resources for many years. We also use our websites to publish articles, Bible studies, ministry news, and other material intended to point people to the Word of God.
We believe the King James Bible is the Word of God for English-speaking people, and Scripture remains the foundation of everything we do.
Technology changes constantly. The Word of God does not.
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” — Matthew 24:35, KJV
Is a Cyber Missionary the Same as a Digital Missionary?
The expressions cyber missionary, digital missionary, Internet missionary, and online missionary are sometimes used to describe similar kinds of ministry.
We have traditionally used Missionaries to Cyberspace because it accurately describes the field in which the Lord has allowed us to serve.
The term “cyberspace” includes much more than social media. It includes websites, servers, email, online publishing, Bible resources, hosting infrastructure, search engines, artificial intelligence tools, security, and many other technologies that allow information to travel around the world.
Our goal is not simply to create Christian content. Our goal is to use those technologies deliberately for Gospel outreach and to strengthen the ministries of churches and missionaries.
Cyber Missions Still Depend on Real People
It would be easy to think that Internet ministry is primarily about computers, servers, software, and websites.
It is not.
Behind every screen is a person.
Someone searching for information about salvation is a person.
Someone reading a Gospel tract is a person.
A pastor struggling to maintain his church website is a person.
A missionary trying to communicate with supporting churches is a person.
Technology matters only because people matter.
That is why we view cyberspace as a mission field rather than merely a technical environment.
Supporting the Local Church Through Technology
We are Independent Baptist missionaries and believe strongly in the importance of the local church.
A cyber missionary should not try to replace Biblical preaching, personal soul winning, fellowship, baptism, discipleship, or participation in a local church.
Instead, online ministry should help connect people with sound churches and support churches in carrying out the work God has given them.
When we build or host a church website, the website is not the church. It is a tool that helps people find the church.
When we publish a Gospel tract online, the website does not save anyone. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the message God uses to reach the lost.
When we provide Bible resources, the technology does not replace Scripture. It helps make Scripture and Biblical teaching available.
More Than Three Decades of Ministry in Cyberspace
The Internet has changed dramatically during the years we have served in this ministry.
Websites that once consisted of a few simple pages have grown into complete publishing and communication platforms. Social media has connected people around the world. Mobile phones have placed Internet access in the hands of people who may never own a traditional computer. New technologies continue to appear.
Through all those changes, our purpose has remained the same.
We want to use whatever useful tools God places in our hands to:
- present the Gospel of Jesus Christ;
- distribute sound Bible teaching;
- help Independent Baptist churches and missionaries;
- provide ministry websites and technical support;
- strengthen online Gospel outreach; and
- encourage Christians to recognize the Internet as a genuine mission field.
Missionaries to Cyberspace
Bob and Maureen Hoffman serve through FamilyNet International as Missionaries to Cyberspace.
We do not know who may read a web page tomorrow, where that person may live, or what spiritual need brought him or her there.
But God knows.
That is one of the great opportunities of cyber missions. A website may continue presenting the Gospel while we are sleeping. A Bible article may be found years after it was published. A missionary website may introduce a church to a mission field. A Gospel tract may be read thousands of miles away from the person who placed it online.
The technology is only the delivery system.
The mission is still about reaching people.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” — Romans 10:17, KJV
When you go on the Internet, please pray for the Hoffman family—your Missionaries to Cyberspace.