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

I’m very glad to endorse Internet Evangelism Day, and to post this press release about this year’s IEDay:

26 April is an International Web Focus Day for Churches.

“I recently discovered that over 500,000 of the population of my home town use the networking website Facebook,”

… writes a surprised computer user. Remarkably, 1.5 billion people now access the Web for a wide range of activities. A new internet service called ‘Twitter’ recently enabled eyewitnesses to pass on to thousands of other people their firsthand accounts (with pictures) of the jet that ditched in the Hudson River, well before TV and radio could tell the story. The digital world seems to change every time we blink!

How can Christians use this bewildering mix of technologies to share the good news? One place to find answers is Internet Evangelism Day’s website. It provides detailed resources, ideas and strategies to help Christians use what many leaders have called a ‘God-given medium’. These include a self-assessment tool for church websites, enabling them to better reach out into their communities.

Internet Evangelism Day – as the name suggests – is also an annual web-awareness focus day. Churches and other Christian groups can build a short focus spot into their meetings on 26 April, to explain to their members more about the potential for online evangelism, and how anyone can be involved in this rewarding ministry. A customized presentation (anything from 5 minutes to 50) can be easily created using free downloads from IE Day’s website: video clips, Powerpoint, handouts, music and drama.

One surprising fact is that online evangelism is for anyone, not just the technically gifted.

“There are many ways to share your faith online, without any technical knowledge at all,”

…says IE Day Coordinator Tony Whittaker.

Church leaders who have already used these materials are excited.

“This is a huge help for small churches such as ours,”

… writes a minister from California.

“I am glad to commend Internet Evangelism Day,”

… says elder statesman John Stott.

IE Day’s website is at www.InternetEvangelismDay.com