I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard variants of that question at Christian gatherings and conferences over the last decade. As blogging, social networking, Twitter, mobile texting, and other services cropped up in turn, Christians—always eager to share the Gospel with the world around them—have wondered how to “use” these “tools” to change culture for the better.

I’m certainly sympathetic to this general goal, but these phrases are clearly the vocabulary of the broadcast media era, when television and radio transmitted the Christian message to millions around the world, to great effect. But unlike traditional broadcast media, social media feels less like a tool that can be aimed in a particular direction, and more like a general background against which we go about our everyday lives and conversations. Now everyone is a broadcaster, and no central authority manages the message.

In the back of my mind, I’ve always wanted to ask, “Instead of trying to figure out a magic formula that will transform social media into the perfect evangelistic tool, why don’t you just be a Christian who participates in social media?”

These thoughts came to mind while reading a roundtable discussion about Christians, blogging, and the internet. Blogger Jared Wilson, asked “Can social media truly have a positive influence on Christianity?”, responded with this sharp insight:

Obviously I am interested in some level of influence, or else I wouldn’t post my thoughts in public forums for others to read. But the context of thinking of social media as a “tool” to influence others — and here I think of self-appointed marketing gurus, some of the pastorpreneurial tribe, and anybody who obsessively monitors their stats and rankings — seems so strange to me…

Can social media have a positive influence on Christianity? Yes, locally and worldwide. But probably not… in that sense of heavy influence. But social media edifies me when I’m reading the right people…. all of us here probably receive messages throughout the year from folks who say a particular post or tweet encouraged them, addressed some concern of the day, etc. So use of social media that glorifies God — whether it’s reveling in the gospel, reflecting on a Scripture, or just in the spirit of Christian camaraderie being silly among friends — can be a positive influence in someone’s need of the moment. Our days go by fast; our needs change. I would think a short-shelf-life medium like Twitter might be keenly appropriate for encouragement in that context.

When you approach blogging, Twitter, or other networking with this attitude, your social networks become an extension of your normal communication—which, if you’re a Christian, will be influenced by your faith and desire to share the Gospel. I think that’s a very practical way to “be a Christian online,” and is more likely to positively influence your “audience” than trying to implement a noble-sounding, but vague, media strategy. Among other things, it simply feels more authentic—who wouldn’t be a little suspicious upon learning that their Christian friends were trying to “use Facebook to reach” them?

Where have you seen Christians having a positive influence through blogging or social networking? Were those Christian influencers guided by a strategy, or simply “being Christians?”

Every day, we pass up opportunities to connect with people because we assume that they’re too busy, or too angry, or too different than us. When we jump to such conclusions, we may be missing out on an opportunity to share God’s love. Our Daily Bread offers us a simple story about how reaching out without judgment can be a life-changing action:

Two young men with mischief on their minds approached a missionary’s outreach bus parked in a downtown area of a German city.

The missionaries were there to offer refreshments as a way to open up conversations about Christ. The two visitors, wearing skull-and-crossbones bandannas, were there to offer trouble.

But the missionaries didn’t respond to the ruffians as they expected. The Christians welcomed them warmly and engaged them in discussion. Surprised, the guys hung around long enough to hear the gospel. One trusted Jesus that day. The other, the next day.

Those two young men and the missionaries who reached them were light-years apart culturally. The guys were German; the missionaries, American. The guys were involved in a culture of darkness and death; the missionaries were shining the light. The cultural divide was crossed with cookies and nonjudgmental love.

Are there particular people in your life that you ignore because you think you’re too different from them? Have you ever shared God’s love with someone who was “different”? How did it go?

John Edmiston certainly has. In an article at the Lausanne World Pulse, he lists 10 ways the internet is changing evangelism and missions. It’s clear from his list that the internet is providing unique ways for Christians to make themselves available. It’s also clear that in order to be visible to the vast majority of the population, you need to be visible online.

Within five years, at least half the globe should be online; within fifteen years, Internet reach should be almost universal. Global proclamation will soon be within the reach of any Christian with a computer.

Here are three of the 10 items from Edmiston’s list. You can read the rest at Ten Ways the Internet is Changing Evangelism and Mission:

2. Ratiocination. People “think aloud” in cyberspace. The theology and practice (including ecclesiology and missiology) of most Christians is now primarily formed as a peer-to-peer online process with occasional expert input. There is less and less reference to decisions promulgated by the central governing ecclesiastical bodies of the major world religions. People do their own thinking, and they do so increasingly online through sources such as Wikipedia; out-of-copyright commentaries; and through browsing various websites, e-groups, and postings on social networks. Those ministries who wish to influence opinion need to start doing so in cyberspace, because that is where Christian opinion is now largely being formed.

3. Exploration. People do their private, personal, and controversial thinking online. If a person wants to find out about a suspected medical matter or investigate a forbidden political opinion, they first check it out online. A Muslim wishing to find out about Christianity is not likely to ask his or her family or imam; rather, he or she will look at Christian websites. About one-quarter of all Internet users make regular queries about religious matters. They are exploring their own and other faiths. The Church needs to have an evangelistic, apologetic, and missionary presence in this new global marketplace of ideas.

[...]

5. Validation. People use the Internet to check things out. This applies to everything from a “too-good-to-be-true” investment scam to the local church they plan to attend when they move to a new city. One oft-quoted statistic is that eighty-five percent of young people check out a church’s website before deciding whether or not to even visit that church in the first place. Churches and organizations that are easy to validate online have a huge competitive advantage. This includes having a clear statement of faith and making your ethos, programs, meeting times, address, contact information, operating principles, and finances clear and above board to the honest online enquirer.

Read the rest of the article at LausanneWorldPulse.org.

The site you’re on right now, Gospel.com, was started three years ago in order to highlight Christian content from smaller internet ministries who might have previously been overlooked. Our goal is to facilitate numbers 3 (exploring) and 5 (validating) above.

Even a short three years later, the time and monetary cost of establishing a digital presence has gone way down. Now, it’s trivial to start up a blog and a Facebook page for any idea you might have. What this means is that individuals, ministries and churches have it easier than ever to make themselves available to people seeking information about Christ and Christianity.

How have you seen the internet change how you interact with your faith? Have you ever used the internet as a platform for evangelism?

Since I’m working today, that means that I have no idea how the US v. Slovenia match ended up. As soon as I clock out today I’ll be sitting down to retroactively cheer on the Stars and Stripes to victory (hopefully)!

For most of the US, the World Cup is just another blip on the sports radar. But to the rest of the world it’s the culmination of years of waiting. Billions of people will watch, analyze and enjoy the World Cup.

A few ministries view the World Cup as a prime opportunity for evangelism and outreach. Mission Network News reports on the efforts of HCJB to reach out to the youth of South Africa:

Not far from the excitement at Cape Town Stadium in Fish Hoek Valley, four churches will be using sports and the heightened interest in soccer to convey the message of Christ.

In a press release from HCJB Global, pastor of King of Kings Baptist Church in Fish Hoek, John Thomas, said, “Since the World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world, it follows logically that it has to be the biggest event to reach people for Christ.”

For the next four weeks, up to 1500 youth from age 4 to 17 will have the chance to improve their soccer skills, while they also improve their life skills such as teamwork, self-discipline, good sportsmanship, and making the best of everyday according to God’s Word.

After activities conclude daily at 4 p.m., that day’s World Cup games will be shown on a large screen while the children enjoy refreshments.

Pray for the kids HCJB and their partners will be impacting through this ministry. Pray also for God to be the ultimate victor throughout all of South Africa.

Do you think sporting events are a good way to reach out to people? Who are you cheering for this World Cup?

It’s no surprise, given the heated debates and apologetics that characterize much of the interaction Christian evangelists and Muslims, that missionaries would look for different outreach strategies.

One such alternate evangelism approach tries to do exactly that, but it’s not without detractors. It’s called the “Camel Method,” and it introduces people to Jesus not through the Bible, but through a book that’s much more familiar to most Muslims: the Koran. A New York Times article last month illuminated a growing controversy in missionary circles:

Instead of talking about the Jesus of the New Testament, missionaries using the Camel Method point Muslims to the Koran, where in the third chapter, or sura, an infant named Isa — Arabic for Jesus — is born. Missionaries have found that by starting with the Koran’s Jesus story, they can make inroads with Muslims who reject the Bible out of hand. But according to [Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary president] Dr. Caner… the idea that the Koran can contain the seeds of Christian faith is “an absolute, fundamental deception.”

David Garrison, a missionary who edited a book on the Camel Method by Kevin Greeson, the method’s developer, defends the use of the Koran as a path to Jesus. “You aren’t criticizing Muhammad or any other prophets,” Dr. Garrison said, “just raising Jesus up.”

The “camel method” has been criticized by many Christians for introducing Muslims to a non-Biblical Jesus, and some call it a “bait-and-switch” evangelism technique. But defenders of the practice claim that starting with the Koran, rather than the Bible, lets missionaries avoid predictable and unproductive debates.

They also say that starting with the Koran avoids giving Muslims the impression that you are attacking their faith and leaves them more open to dialogue. A Christianity Today article notes that:

International Mission Board trustees found the method valid after a 2007 investigation that included issuing principles of contextualization. “Historically, a missions approach has been to extricate Muslims from their community once they converted, which didn’t do much for planting the gospel among Muslims,” [IMB president Jerry Rankin] said.

An IMB-sponsored survey in 2002 found some 125,000 Muslims who had come to faith in Christ through the camel method, been baptized, and were orthodox in their practices.

Joseph Cumming of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture [...] estimates that 90 percent of missionaries living among Muslims refer to verses in the Qur’an without inciting the heated arguments found in the U.S.

What do you think? Is it dangerous to use a non-Christian text like the Koran as a first step in evangelism? Or is it worthwhile if it lets missionaries avoid pointless debates and out of hand rejection?

Share your thoughts!

Each of us has unique needs, a unique background and a unique personality. Thus, the method of witnessing which will be the most effective is unique to each individual. You may find televangelism pointless because it would never have been effective in leading you to the Lord, but many thousands have been touched by television ministry, even if you are not among them. As an unbeliever, you may never have responded to that young pastor inviting you to attend service. But I did.

….The moment when an act of witness captures the attention of an unbeliever is a mysterious and sacred act between God and his creation. It defies all of our projections and predictions about what ought to be effective….

How is the Spirit asking you and your congregation to witness? Is it perhaps a little unconventional? Would it seem to require extraordinary faith and courage? Understand that when God places a desire in our heart to serve Him, it never comes without the necessary strength and courage. Follow the calling of the Spirit boldly with the knowledge that someone very special and unique is waiting for you to proclaim the Gospel in your own special and unique way.

Read the full devotional at Delve into Jesus.

Let’s set aside the specific issue of street preaching (which you can discuss here if you want) and ponder the devotional’s central question: how is God calling you to be a Christian witness?

Has God ever called you to share the Gospel in an unconventional or uncomfortable way? What was the result, both for you and for the people you witnessed to?

Well, here’s something else to add to that debate: an interview with missions coordinator Paul Borthwick about the future of short-term missions. As somebody with a lot of experience in both long- and short-term mission trips, Borthwick has some worthwhile insights. He’s straightforward about both the potential drawbacks and opportunities that confront short-term mission trips. Here’s a brief exchange that illuminates his perspective on mission trips in general:

What’s the most common mistake that churches make in short-term missions?

Definitely a lack of long-term planning. If short-term missions guaranteed long-term results, then Mexico would be the most Christian nation on earth, and Tijuana would be the Holy Land. I heard a statistic recently that 30% of all teams from the United States go to Mexico. Now, I’m not saying there aren’t needs in Mexico. But from a long-term, strategic point of view, that’s not the place that needs the most new evangelical ministry.

I’ll give you an example from my own church experience. Our long-term strategy was to invest in the 10/ 40 Window. Yet all of our short-term missions trips were going to the Caribbean and Central America. So we had these people coming back with a heart for Haiti, and we couldn’t support them long-term because our strategy was for North Africa.

In other words, we were not thinking about the big picture. Many times, short-term thinking goes along with short-term missions. When you ask churches and missions agencies what their long-term kingdom goals are, you usually find them coming up short.

The rest of the interview is well worth reading, particularly if your church is planning short-term mission trips in 2010. If you’re planning, or participating in, a mission trip, have you thought through the issues that Borthwick raises? In retrospect, have your church’s mission trips been positive events, or have they suffered from the problems mentioned in the interview? How will this year’s mission trips be different than past ones?

You can head over to Out of Ur and read all of Angry Preachers. Here’s a good chunk of the post:

Before I’d walked even a block from the festival, I bumped into a small crowd whose attention was fixed on two men speaking loudly to the bedraggled onlookers. One held a handmade sign that read—I kid you not— “TURN OR BURN!” He spoke into a bullhorn, warning the young people of God’s coming judgment and listing in vivid detail the sins that would lead them to an eternity burning in hell. The other man held an open Bible and vigorously debated anyone who disagreed with his companion’s portrayal of God.

For the past two days, I’d watched these young people pursue beauty and friendship and community. Groups of sunburned 20somethings had made their way from one stage to the next, avoiding mud puddles and speaking with awe in their voices about their favorite musical experiences of the weekend. And now, as they left the safety of the festival grounds, they were immediately confronted with Jesus. Or at least two of Jesus’ representatives.

A few in the crowd poked fun and tried to fluster the preachers. What really caught my attention, though, what overruled my fatigue, was another response. Despite this generation’s reputation as cynical and sarcastic, many of the young wore visible sadness on their faces. Some pleaded with Bullhorn Man for a different portrayal of Jesus. A few people asked Bible Man if his God had any love for them. One young man was on the edge of tears as he tried to convince the men to lower their voices, to show kindness in their words about Jesus.

Ten minutes of this street theatre was enough and, quenching my desire to punch Bullhorn Man and Bible Man, I continued toward the train. As I often do after encountering this version of Christian witness, I angrily questioned why these men did what they did. How could they possibly think their language and posture was helpful? Is this what Jesus had in mind when he felt compassion for the harassed and helpless crowds—sheep without a shepherd—and asked his disciples to pray for more workers for the harvest? My irritation only increased as I thought about how the irreligious and marginalized of his day were attracted to Jesus. Whether or not they would have accepted his easy yoke, certainly these festival goers would have been intrigued by the alternative life Jesus proclaimed and demonstrated.

This method of spreading the Gospel doesn’t sit well with me. It’s always awkward and always uncomfortable. I find it rather telling that whenever I encounter someone like this the only people giving them serious attention are other Christians. Christians who are desperately attempting to ascertain why Christ is being portrayed like this. And, without fail, the rest of the crowd is making fun of the preachers or yelling back at them.

The thing is, most people who do this sort of street evangelism have a deep desire to see people turn from their ways and see the light. They just happen to pick a shocking way in which to preach that message.

Out of curiosity, I’d really like to know if you or anyone you know has found salvation through the efforts of an angry street preacher? And to be clear, I’m not writing about all street evangelism, just those that choose to do it with questionable signs akin to “Turn or Burn” and screaming through megaphones.

Christians have taken many different approaches to this question. I’ll highlight responses from two different online ministries below. Do you agree with either (or both) of them?

Uplook Ministries answers the question by arguing that God works in people’s hearts in many more ways than just through overt preaching of the Gospel. They conclude:

God has promised us that, if we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). He is not eager for anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). “For there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:12-13). We do not know how God is dealing with people in lands yet unreached by the gospel, but from Scripture we can see that He will never condemn anyone unjustly, but will be faithful to reveal Himself to anyone who looks for His salvation.

We also know that John saw in heaven “…a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10). Not only every nation but every tribe will be represented in heaven.

Notice that they all sing the same song. We are not saying that sincere Muslims or Hindus, trusting in their religion, will make it to heaven. There is only one Saviour, and everyone in heaven will be there through the salvation provided by God’s Lamb, the Lord Jesus.

Read the full answer at Uplook Ministries.

The Faith Facts ministry answers the question:

…the Bible also teaches that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2)! And it implies that whoever seeks after God earnestly will find him (Deuteronomy 4:29; Psalm 86:5; Proverbs 8:17; Jeremiah 29:13; Matthew 7:7-8). God is fair as well as just. We are confident, for example, that the Old Testament patriarchs who lived by faith before Jesus’ earthly ministry, are in heaven. So certainly some people have gotten to heaven without knowing Jesus in the personal way that the New Testament speaks of. Ultimately only God can judge as only He knows the individual’s heart. We hold out hope that for those who have not heard but have not rejected God, those have been misinformed, or those who are unable to understand (children, mentally ill, etc) may be pardoned by a just God.

Certainly, the Bible does not teach “universalism.” Universalism is the idea that everyone gets to heaven.

The Bible clearly teaches that the only certain way to heaven is through Jesus (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). We are confident that God will not hold anyone accountable for any knowledge he did not receive. At the same time, the Bible emphatically states that Christ is the only sure way to salvation. Anyone who has heard of the saving grace of Jesus, and rejects it, would be thumbing his nose at God (John 3:36).

Read the full answer at Faith Facts website.

Do these answers satisfy you?

Share your thoughts!

Do you actively and consciously share your faith with others? What part does witnessing play in your everyday spiritual life? And what does your witness usually look like—is it a traditional verbal presentation of the basics points of your faith? Do you try to witness with actions but not words? Something in between?

How often do you share your faith with others, and how do you tend to do so?

Share your thoughts!