Challenging Times

‘The last 15 years have changed our world for ever,’ claims Tony Whittaker, coordinator of Internet Evangelism Day. ‘Digital media are transforming the way we communicate, behave and even think. If Facebook was a country, it would have the fourth largest population in the world.’

Internet Evangelism Day is a strategic resource to help the worldwide church understand these issues and use the Web to share the good news of Jesus. It is both a year-round online guide and an annual focus day – to be held this year on Sunday 25 April.

Churches are encouraged to use Internet Evangelism Day resources to create a presentation for their members on or near that Sunday (or at any other time they choose). The IE Day site offers free downloads: PowerPoint, video clips, handouts, drama scripts, music and posters. These enable any church (or homegroup, college, or conference) to build a customized program, lasting from five minutes to fifty.

2010’s focus day will be the sixth to be used by churches around the world since the initiative’s launch in 2005. Over this period, digital media have developed dramatically with the advent of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, plus the growing use of mobile phones to access online services.

IE Day’s website is also a one-stop resource covering many subjects including: how to build a church website that is ‘outsider friendly’, using Twitter in evangelism, and ideas for blogging.

Perhaps surprisingly, you do not need to be technical to share your faith online. And you can volunteer to be an email mentor to inquirers with several large online outreach ministries.

Internet Evangelism Day is coordinated from the SOON Ministries/WEC International office near Derby. It is supported by a wide range of leaders and groups. ‘I am glad to commend Internet Evangelism Day,’ says John Stott.

View the resources:
http://www.InternetEvangelismDay.com

Online resources roundup
Internet Evangelism Day online resources include:

A new guide on how to avoid ‘Christianese’ jargon by evangelist and communication trainer Rusty Wright:
http://www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/christianese

‘Desperately Seeking Lodgers’ – a short story illustrating the pitfalls of church websites:
http://www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/church-evangelism

Self-assessment questionnaire for church websites with free personalized report:
http://www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/design

How to use popular culture as a starting point in evangelism:
http://www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/popular-culture

Internet Evangelism Day’s speaker panel offers a range of speakers qualified to address conferences, seminars or college students about many areas of digital evangelism:
http://www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/speaker

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All IE Day’s resource articles are free to reproduce online and in print.

IE Day is an initiative of the Internet Evangelism Coalition, an umbrella group of online ministries based at the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton. It is completely free and has no fund-raising component.

This news release is also available online in Word format: www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/latestnews
Royalty-free photos to accompany any story relating to IE Day: www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/photos
Interviews available: www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/publicity
More article ideas: www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/free-articles

The December 2009 Slipstream podcast is now online. It comes from the Evangelical Alliance’s Digimission Day – an event to explore how technology is shaping faith, church and mission.

More and more of us are spending time online – on social networks, blogs, Twitter, and more. Digimission explores how the new digital technologies change the mission of the Church. Are social media a distraction from mission or a new mission field? There is a collection of really helpful talks from, and interviews with, Adrian Warnock, Jonny Baker, Maggi Dawn, Mark Meynell and Krish Kandiah.

Go here to listen.