FM eJournal - It Takes All Kinds of Online Ministries
DJ Chuang
May 2005

It Takes All Kinds of Online Ministries

 

by DJ Chuang

The incredible potential for ministry and evangelism over the Internet has been recognized for years, with consultations, conferences, and meetings between Christian ministry organizations dating back to 1997. The Internet Evangelism Coalition (in which the American Bible Society and ForMinistry.com are members) has met together annually and launched several collaborative projects. The recent Internet Evangelism Day (on April 24th) has raised awareness through diligent promotional efforts worldwide through mainstream media and local churches, as well as over the Internet, of course.

What's even more exciting is when things move beyond advocacy to action, from idea to implementation, from thinking about potential to actual participation.

The ForMinistry eQuip blog has featured many great examples of online ministries during the past year. To meet the people running some of those online ministries is a rare and special opportunity. During the first weekend in April, Liberty University hosted the Internet Evangelism for the 21st Century Conference. This was a first of its kind event designed for the general public that featured examples, best practices, and trends of online ministry. (And kudos to the organizers for videotaping most of the sessions and making them available online for all to see at a minimal cost!)

While plenty of information, tutorials, and examples of blogging are on the Internet already, many people find it helpful to have a personal tour guide present information at a workshop and to have the opportunity for questions and answers in real time. I was a part of a panel discussion on blogging, and the audience interaction was lively. Other sessions featured all kinds of technologies that were being used for online ministry: websites, articles, chat rooms, message boards, response centers, usenet newsgroups, podcasting, and video blogging (also known as vlogging).

What I've observed is two general categories of diverging perspectives about online ministry, and how an organization (or an individual) would engage its readers. Allow me a little liberty to oversimplify it as follows: content vs. conversation, authority vs. authenticity, official vs. transparent, controlled vs. "open source," infrequent updates vs. frequently updated, corporate vs. personal. The former perspective tends to be descriptive of traditional ministry organizations, while the latter perspective better describes those who are comfortable with the prevailing Internet culture.

It takes all kinds of online ministries to reach all kinds of people. Regardless of perspectives or philosophy of online ministry, what really matters about online ministry is doing online ministry. More succinctly, just do it! Like riding a bicycle, you learn by doing. We offer many resources, tips, and examples here at ForMinistry.com so that as you do online ministry, we'll be here to help you do it even better.

DJ Chuang is the ForMinistry eQuip channel host. He also writes for the eQuip blog, offering examples and tips of doing online ministry, updated every business day.

Comments? Write to us!

 

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