What Do I Do With It?

A person I met on the Internet gave me the following three views on the use of the Internet for Christian organizations:

1. To present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. The main reason to use the Net is to touch souls for Christ, to be His virtual hands and feet, ministering to those who often just need someone to listen and care.
2. To promote our churches and ministries in our local communities. To have a presence on the Net so that other Christians and non-Christians can find a place of worship.
3. To provide Christian resources, books, articles so that other Christians can have access to them. Also to serve as a research tool for all interested parties.

With these in mind, here's a sketch of some ways you can use the Internet in your ministry:

• Set up your own Web page describing your organization and telling a lost world how to reach you. (Get the basics of web design at http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html)

• Set up a prayer request listserv, and so "bear one anothers' burdens"

• Download the chords to Flood by Jars of Clay so your local praise band can perform it for a secular crowd (http://www.jarsofclay.com/). Flood is a good one because it talks about the helplessness of being lost in the consequences of your own mistakes, and how the Lord can pull you out of such a 'flood'.

• Do your morning devotional from the Campus Journal on-line and begin the day by giving God complete control, and trusting that He knows the best path for your life (http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/cj/)

• Sharpen your knowledge of the Bible in order to better know its Author by playing Bible trivia on #a2j, the Addicted to Jesus channel on Dalnet IRC (irc.dal.net)

• Have a meeting with someone out-of-state who expressed interest in your organization by using a private chat room on America On-Line

• Read about a Christian's response to six Muslim beliefs so you can not only learn more about Islam in general, but how many of its views are different from Christianity and how you can reach out to someone of that faith (http://www.domini.org/debate/christ/6belief.htm) notice: that's htm, not html

• Download and print out a copy of Revelation 12 so you don't have to mark up your Bible for your inductive Bible study (http://www.gospelcom.net/bible/)

• Increase your cult awareness (in the newsgroup alt.support.ex-cult)

• Set up your email to automatically append a signature at the end of each message you send, and include a Biblical quote there. Also, remember that as a Christian you are an ambassador of Christ, and are always called to show others the same love God showed you. Email is no exception.

• Look up correct street addresses and the new ZIP+4 codes for your regular mailing list on the US Postal Service's site (http://www.usps.gov/). Send a letter to an old friend.

• Use the web for research by using a powerful meta-search engine like Metacrawler (http://www.metacrawler.com/). Use the money you saved by not purchasing the Encyclopedia Britannica to give a hot meal or a week in a hotel to someone who needs it. (Not that there's anything wrong with buying yourself an encyclopedia.)

Introduction · Uses of the Internet · Getting On the Net · What To Do With It · Recommended Reading