On April 25 (which also happens to be ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, is Internet Evangelism Day. This is an annual event designed to encourage Christians and church congregations all over the world to make the most of the internet to evangelis.
In the past, to reach people with the gospel in many places you had to be physically present. Whilst this is still true to a certain degree, the internet has opened up many possibilities for evangelism that never existed before. There are a number of aspects to online evangelism that are worth considering.
Firstly everyone in the world (well almost!!) is now on Facebook. Facebook is a very natural place to talk about what is important to you, and all your friends, and sometimes friends of your friends can get to see it. Jesus said “shine your light,” and Facebook is an easy place to do this.
Secondly there is room for churches to be evangelistic and this gives a place for curious and interested people to “check out the church” without having to actually come and see it for themselves. This non threatening environment can help bring people to Christ – if the website is built with this in mind.
There is also a place for deliberate online missions, and attempts to reach people with the gospel in various places and languages. There are a number of websites already doing this, and believers and churches are encouraged to become online missionaries.
David Alley is a partner with Internet Evangelism Day and is proud to support the great work that the people there do. This year as part of IEDay our church in Rockhampton is going to be broadcasting live video to the web a special presentation on Internet Evangelism. I will be the speaker.
You may watch the live broadcast, at 10:30 am (GMT + 10:00, Brisbane) on Sunday April 25. An archive of the video will be available a few days afterwards.
