Global Internet Evangelism -- by Jan Paulsen

Pastor Jan Paulsen, is world president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The following comments are taken from an Adventist News Network interview:

Part of that global engagement, Paulsen said, involves reaching out to those in the "10/40 Window," an area defined by an imaginary rectangle that extends between 10 degrees and 40 degrees north of the equator, stretching from western Africa to eastern Asia. The people in that region have largely been unreached by the Gospel message.

Adventists can reach this part of the globe -- home to two-thirds of the world's population, he said -- by taking advantage of the opportunities that exist: "We have to recognize that the opportunities that come to us as a community of faith, to be actively engaged in reaching the general public ... are very limited for many reasons. They are limited by cultural, religious/cultural situations which prevail, but they also in some places [are] limited by the laws of the land."

At the same time, Paulsen said, the Internet can open doors in otherwise-closed areas. "I think that the media we use, both through radio, television, and Internet -- and not least Internet -- will have a huge impact on our capacity to reach people in other cultures, or in geographical areas where our physical access is very limited and in some places [is] even impossible," Paulsen said.

"There is no doubt in my mind that Internet evangelism is going to give us a possibility that far exceeds what we've been able to do through the other media. I think that our opportunities in Internet evangelism are really, virtually, unlimited," he added.