Shocking, disturbing, “can this be real?” headlines were aplenty in 2020—to the point that by midyear, it was almost a joke. “2020 gonna 2020” was our refrain. But a story that hasn’t received much press—and yet which most church leaders will have painfully felt this year—concerns the widespread, degenerative sickness of souls spending more of their lives online than ever, and how it is forming them.

In August I wrote about this phenomenon (“Are Churches Losing the Battle to Form Christians?”). It wasn’t the most feel-good article I wrote in 2020, but looking back on this year and forward to 2021, I think it was one of the most important. “The church is increasingly just one voice among many speaking into a Christian’s life,” I wrote. “How can a few hours of Christian formation (and during COVID, maybe zero hours) compete with the tidal wave of media rushing over people?”

Pastors everywhere struggled with this question in 2020—seeing members drift into political extremes, buy into conspiracy theories, or adopt radical and errant beliefs because of what they consumed in their online echo chambers. How can healthy Christian formation compete with the potent influences forming people online? There aren’t easy answers. But The Gospel Coalition is committed to being part of the solution. In an online world often filled with toxic information and dangerous falsehoods, we want to be a trusted source of truth. We want to support churches in the daunting task of “digital discipleship”—meeting people where they are (online) with resources that bring biblical clarity to the confusion and gospel-centered unity to the hyper-partisan melee.

TGC is doing something to address the crisis of Christian formation in the digital age. In these final days of 2020, would you consider making a significant year end gift to advance this urgent task?

Thank you for helping TGC bring healthier Christian formation to the online world.