After reading the article, I can't help but feel that many of Colson's points either don't apply to our community or apply to a far lesser degree than many online communities.
If a person participates in our community with a false persona, he or she will not give or receive anything of significant value. What we gain from the CGA community--encouragement, fellowship, support--we gain because we represent ourselves, for the most part, as we are.
I don't mean to imply that we openly share all our faults and foibles; digital communication provides a more severe "filter" for who and what we are, allowing us to choose what we share and how. In that sense, I agree with Colson.
But people present themselves as they wish others to see them in face-to-face interactions as well. We hide our faults, our flaws, and our sins in "real life" just as we do in online communities. In some respects, we are more protective of what we wish to hide in face-to-face communication than when communicating online. For example: It's easier for a Christian man to share about his struggle with addiction in our Men's Forums than in a public church setting. The search for help shouldn't stop there, but it can start online.
Yet I must still answer, "No" to the question posed by this thread. Online community is most definitely not enough. I have never--at least not purposely--suggested otherwise.
I have stated repeatedly that the CGA is not intended to be a replacement for local church involvement.
My vision for our community is that it is supplemental and transitional:
Supplemental: Rather than replacing involvement in a local church, participation in the CGA community and/or one of its affiliates supplements the fellowship and ministry in which many of us are already involved.
Transitional: Some community members are not currently attending or involved in a local church--some because they're currently in a transitional period of life (e.g. moving every few months during graduate rotations, searching for a new church home after moving to a new city, upset by a church split and cautiously seeking a new church home, etc.) and some because they lack the desire to do so.
One of the purposes of the CGA community is to encourage Christians not already attending and involved in a local church to start attending a doctrinally sound local church and get involved. It's a burden on my heart and one purpose that I feel I have not expressed clearly or passionately enough.
The fellowship we enjoy and the encouragement we find in this community are genuine, but they are not meant to be the only fellowship and encouragement we have. We are all called to join a local church, submit to spiritual authority (as that preacher follows Christ, of course), and give your time, talents, and money to help a local church perform God's will.
I have had negative experiences at local churches. I have tired of "church shopping." (My wife and I visited approximately 40 churches before finding our church home in St. Louis. We didn't intend to be picky; we simply did not have a peace about "settling in" until we found the right church.) I can certainly sympathize with those who participate in online Christian communities and convince themselves that it's "enough."
After leading Tribe of Judah, a Christian gaming group, for 12 and a half years and leading an alliance of Christian gaming groups and web sites for several years, I can assure you that Internet community is not enough.
But the Christian Gamers Alliance and its affiliates are important supplemental and transitional communities for many people. And we should never underestimate the value of that.
Note that I didn't discuss the topic of witnessing to non-Christians. We have additional opportunities to share the Gospel with others online and should be prepared to the best of our ability for those conversations. But online evangelism is a topic that warrants its own separate thread. My post is specifically addressing Christian community.