Sharing Your Faith Online
April 29th is Internet Evangelism Day – a day to focus on the myriad of ways you can share your faith online. Whether you’re a Facebook fiend, a prolific blogger or just love to pin things on Pinterest, you can use the skills you already have, in the places you already frequent, to share the Gospel.
In addition to the day of focus, the Internet Evangelism Day website is also a year-round online resource guide to help Christians understand these varied opportunities. Topics covered include: how to build a church website that is ‘outsider friendly’, using Facebook and Twitter in evangelism, and the growing options for using your mobile phone.
For many of these opportunities, you need no technical knowledge at all. And there are many opportunities to volunteer to be an email mentor to inquirers who have visited outreach sites operated by several online ministries.
A changed world
The digital world has changed remarkably in the last year or two. Although a part of Internet Evangelism Day’s emphasis has always been to mobilize individual Christians into digital evangelism, until recently the options we could suggest were quite limited. Writers might be drawn to blogging, or create a website if they felt technically competent. Those good at thinking on their feet could share in chat rooms and bulletin boards. But most of these suggestions were time-intensive and intentional initiatives only suitable for a small minority.
What has changed? The emergence of the ‘three-fold cord’ of social networking allied to video shorts and mobile phones. At last it has become remarkably easy for any Jesus-follower to build relationships and discuss truth appropriately, especially within social networking platforms. Our digital communication culture has become highly visual and dialogue-based, and the sharing of conversation-starting video shorts on Facebook and Twitter is as easy as a mouse-click, though only if we know where to find them. http://ieday.net/video
Phone apps
There are now a few smartphone apps that are genuinely aimed at outsiders, that can be shared one-to-one, or in a small discussion group. UK team Damaris has just released a strategic iPhone app called Talking About Jesus (Android version coming soon). http://ieday.net/blog/archives/7187
A second new evangelism-related web app is called God’s GPS. Its purpose is to equip Christians to share faith appropriately and conversationally. It is not intended for non-yet-followers to download or look at: http://ieday.net/blog/archives/7677
Curation
Pinterest.com allows anyone to create a very visual set of curated recommendations, within their own chosen areas of interest, with no tech knowledge needed. http://ieday.net/blog/archives/6977
Books
Several evangelism/communication ebooks will be available for free download on IE Day, plus there is a chance to win others. See http://ieday.net/eb for a full list and complete details.
Get involved
There are even more ways to get involved right here on powertochange.com. You can join us in chat anytime. Scheduled chats happen every day and the chatroom is often open for free discussion between these times. If you like to talk, come join the discussion in chat! http://powertochange.com/discover/chat/
Mentors are a vital part of the ministry here at powertochange.com. Mentors answer questions based on their own experience and faith journey. If you’ve been married for a few years you could mentor a newly wed. If you’ve dealt with an eating disorder, or had a child who cuts or have been through financial stress you can answer questions from others who are going through those situations right now. We also need prayer mentors to pray for the many requests that are sent in to the site. You can learn more and apply to be a mentor here http://truthmedia.com/training/mentoring/ .
We are more connected today than ever before, which makes sharing the greatest story of all easier than ever. Take a look at where you spend your time online and see how you can bring God into the conversations you’re already having. How will you share your story today?
