The rapid growth and widespread use of internet connected devices is slowing the pace and depth of Christian discipleship, said Dr. Jerry White, Christian author and ministry leader, during a sermon he preached at the ECWA Plateau Church in the city of Jos, Nigeria.
Dr. White particularly singled out electronic publishing and digital pornography as threats to the growth of Christian discipleship. He said the availability of smartphones in the hands of more people than ever is distracting Christians from spending time to grow Christian disciplines of prayer, worship, fellowship and reading of the Word of God.
“Although these are new ways of communication, they’ll never replace the church, they’ll never replace people gathering together. Although texting and digital communications allow more interaction, they decrease face-to-face engagement and communications. We still need to be together with each other in fellowship,” said Dr. White during a worship service held on November 10, 2024.
In responding to the question of what has changed in the 21st Century since Jesus instituted discipleship making, Dr. White argued that the replacement of print publications with digital content has done more harm than good. Electronic publishing, he said, has caused an overdependence on internet connected devices which has threatened the book publishing industry.
“There’s less dependence on books because we have them in our iPads and iphones. It grieves me because a book lasts forever. It’s there for you to read but when it comes out in the digital media you can’t even find it in your phone because it doesn’t stay with you for a long time like a book,” White said.
He termed the invasion of digital pornography in the last 20 years as one of the “worst things that has happened in our world” calling on Christians to take the threat seriously and do everything possible to fight it. “It is said about 70% of the people have had an encounter with pornography,” White said.
In addition to the digital threats, Dr. White identified global and regional conflicts, corruption and the challenges brought about by dysfunctional families as some of the bottlenecks impeding disciple making in ministries globally. “We have the break up of families. I don’t know the statistics in Nigeria, but in the United States the divorce rate is 50%,” said Dr. White who is the President and Chairman Emeritus of the Navigators, and was a teacher at the US Air Force Academy.
He further told the congregants that these challenges have arisen because the Church is not making the desired impact on the society, an indication that discipleship is not happening as it should.
“Professing believers are not really converted; something has neutralized their effectiveness, something is wrong. In other words, people come to church but have not come to know Christ at a personal level,” he said.
While Dr. White acknowledged that the center of missions and discipleship has moved from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern, the real impact of Christian living is yet to be felt across the globe.
The key to effective discipleship remains unchanged, he said. Dependence on the scriptures, prayer, fellowship, obedience, and evangelism continue to hold true today as it did in the first Church.
“There’s the need for obedience, spiritual growth, learning, spiritual parenting. New believers need to be nourished. When we come to Christ, we know nothing, so we need to learn how to read the Bible, study the Bible and have quiet time with God,” said Dr. White.
Quoting Colosians 2:6-7, he reminded the faithful that receiving Christ as Lord and Saviour is the first step in the Christian journey. He urged that Christians should “continue to live lives in him, be rooted and built up in him, be straightened in the faith as we were taught, and overflowed with thankfulness.”
The core issues in discipleship, said Dr. White, is living in obedience, surrendering to the Lordship of Christ and to the sovereignty of God, and allowing Jesus to change us from the inside out.
He further said the multiplication cycle in discipleship as enunciated in 2 Timothy 2:2 involves evangelism, converting, follow up, discipleship, discipleship makers, leaders of disciples.
Dr White is the author of more than 15 books and was a beneficiary of the Navigators discipleship programme while he was in college. He proceeded to the University of Washington, where he studied Electrical Engineering. Dr. White joined the USA Air Force, and worked at the Control Center at Cape Canaveral Space Center.
