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I believe the Web is one of the most key tools that God has given us in the
church today. Internet Evangelism is a dynamic, effective, cutting-edge ministry
that more people should get involved in! (George Verwer)
There are thousands of missionaries and evangelistic agencies which have started
to use the web to promote their mission and to raise supporters and finances.
Webmasters and designers work in their publicity departments, and focus all
their gifts and energies in advocacy towards Christians.
Not nearly so many have caught on yet to the great potential of using their web
presence as a means of evangelism itself. Perhaps it is easier to raise support
if missionaries say they are going over-seas, than if they will sit quietly at
home in front of a computer for long days and nights, designing inter-active
web-sites, and corresponding with needy individuals from around the world.
More likely though, because administrators and seasoned missionaries are of an
older generation, they are unaware of how many non-Western people groups are
coming online; that they are connecting to the internet in compounding numbers
every day!
Even when web users in a small Asian country are a small percentage of the whole,
they are the business, educational, university leaders and students, and
administrative classes - the ones who influence the whole country. If they can
be reached with the life-changing Gospel of Christ, can you picture how it will
spread?
Mission-minded leaders ought to strategize for cyber-missions, and recruit people
gifted in working with words one-on-one by email, and in chat or forum sites,
and in online discipleship and training of new converts.
When radio was invented, some Christians caught the vision and began to use it
for preaching and teaching. When television came along, it was seen as too
expensive, and worldly, so for the most part Satan got to use it by default.
The world wide web however, is a far more economical place to evangelize than
radio has ever been. It would be a shame to lose out on the great opportunity
to hasten the harvest of these whitened fields of souls just now while the
opportunity is wide open. The night is coming when it will be impossible.
This is not to suggest that those who promote the mission and those who do
evangelism on the web must be the same people, or should have any rivalry between
them. Rather, that they see themselves as departments of the same ministry,
each with an important role.
Returned or retired missionaries are often ideal for online evangelism work.
They have the maturity and grasp of the Word, and they know how to relate to
people - so long as they can do it in a written way instead of orally.
I know this from personal experience. Since I came online in January of 1999,
(as a middle-aged woman), I have taught myself how to find things on the web,
how to design web sites, and I have made friends and mentored people through
simple things, like putting my old favourite hymn, 'In the Garden,' on a web
page with a form for people to let me know what they think of the three
instrumental versions. Or, on another page, I guide them through the steps
to meet my Best Friend, Jesus, and invite them to write to me. A regular
bi-weekly ezine sent free to all who subscribe by giving their email address,
has been another way for me to add friends and acquaintances to my RoseBouquet
collection.
I've found that making myself available to be a friend, and a mentor, draws
hungry, thirsty souls to me. So I discipline my days to allow some hours just
to answer emails from such souls as carefully as if I were witnessing in person,
or discipling someone in a church office.
The more I do this, the more I see the hosts of others hunched in front of
their computer monitors, ready to confide secrets and ask questions that they
would never ask in public - if only they can find someone they can trust to
guide them out of their confusion. I am getting a burden to persuade other
mature Christians to take up this ministry. There is a great need, and it is
so very fulfilling!
I would challenge those who find it easy to write letters, to keep secrets, and
to answer questions from a Biblical perspective to seek out this ministry. Your
expenses will be a computer, your time, and your internet connection fees.
Your rewards are priceless.
-- Ruth Marlene Friesen
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What the Cyber Evangelists Say . . . .
There are a number of good and articulate evangelists successfully doing this
work on the Internet. Here are a few quotes from their web sites:
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"Because the Internet is a community of 'seekers' (people only arrive at a
website because they have sought it out via a search engine or page link) the
visitors to my site are almost entirely an audience of interested folk, who
want to learn about prayer or missions or whatever; and that is a bible-teacher's
delight! It is also great for evangelism, I have led over 500 people a year to
the Lord online whereas at my best (not being a full-time evangelist) I have
led 100 people a year in face-to-face ministry."
--John Edmiston,
www.cybermissions.org
"I like preaching in churches, but when I preach in a church, my voice travels
two hundred feet. When I preach on the net, my voice travels to two hundred
countries."
--Eric Elder, www.theranch.org
"The Internet provides a platform which can be both personal and at the same
time anonymous. It is one-on-one and at the same time one-to-many. It is a form
of communicating one-way, while it is also interactive. It is low-cost but
perceived as high-tech, trendy and exclusive. This is why I am excited to be
involved in web evangelism in India."
--Joseph Vijayam, www.mahalife.com
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