One of the most important concepts in Scripture is the city. Big cities were places of worship as well as places of evil. Most of all, they were places where people lived!
As we move into the era of the New Testament, especially concerning the expansion of Christianity and the spread of the Gospel, the strategic importance of cities was emphasized. This is especially true in the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts.
This Biblical understanding is crucial when we consider Internet ministry. One of the most useful paradigms for understanding the Internet is to compare it to a large world-class city (this is one of Esther Dyson's favorite ways of explaining the Internet). It has good neighborhoods and bad ones. There are safe places to visit and dangerous ones. There are stores, businesses, information handlers, libraries, and places to visit with other people. But even more than a physical city, the Internet is about people. This CyberCity is less about physical infrastructure and more about people and their interrelationships.
What does Biblical theology about the city have to teach us about how we approach webministry and webmissions?
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. ... Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. Acts 19:1, 8-10
Slide 6 of 22