Gospel.com Blog

Internet Evangelism Day is coming! Internet Evangelism Day–set for April 29 this year–is a time for your church and community to focus on the utility and importance of the internet in spreading the Gospel of Christ. Whether your church has a complete internet staff or doesn’t yet have a website, it’s important to keep up with the ways in which the internet is being used to minister to people around the world.

There’s lots more info at the Internet Evangelism Day website, including an overview of the day’s purpose and a list of ways your church or group can participate. Mark your calendar, and consider talking to your church or study group about taking advantage of IE Day to learn more about online ministry.

Is your church website any good? There are many factors that go into making an effective and useful church website, and not all of them require advanced technical knowledge. The Internet Evangelism Guide has a new feature up that will help you make your church site as good as it can be–take their church website self-assessment test and see how you rate. There are over 50 questions, each accompanied by an explanation of why it’s important. Take the test, and identify the areas in which your church site can be improved!

Several months ago, we mentioned COMIX35’s animation contest–an open call for evangelistic animations for use on websites and mobile devices. The contest deadline has been extended to November 1, and some important changes have been made to the contest guidelines to make it easier to enter the contest, particularly for overseas artists. Here’s the scoop from COMIX35:

The deadline for COMIX35’s Animations for Web & Mobile Devices Competition has been extended to Wednesday 1 November 2006. There are also some changes to make it easier for people to enter, particularly from overseas. These include acceptance of previously-created animations, Web Animation entries of any length, electronic submission of animations, and no more exclusivity required on submitted animations. A complete list of the changes may be found at the top of the Competition pages. There are cash awards for both the Web & Mobile Device categories.

That means there’s still time to enter the competition, and if you weren’t able to do so earlier, check again–the guidelines have been loosened a bit. You’ve got a bit over a month before the deadline–good luck!

This year’s Gospelcon conference took place last week–if you missed it, check out the Gospelcon blog for a number of workshop recaps and observations from the conference. The workshop roundups should give you a good idea of the ministry aims of Gospel Communications and the Gospelcom Ministry Alliance. Planning is already underway for next year’s Gospelcon; keep an eye on the conference blog for details!

Gospelcon, the annual internet ministry conference hosted by Gospel Communications, is almost here! The conference, which takes place later this month in Chicago, features three days of workshops, training, and networking about every facet of internet ministry.

Registration closes soon, but if you’re curious you can read more about the conference at the Gospelcon website–check out the list of speakers and the schedule of workshops. And if you can’t make it this year, the Gospelcon blog will be reporting live from the conference as it happens, so you can check back there for updates.

Much of evangelism and ministry work is based on communication–the use of good old-fashioned words to connect with people. So what happens when ministry meets a medium like the internet, which through technologies like email, instant messaging, and podcasting seems to be redefining communication with each passing year?

That’s the question addressed in a recent article at Christian Computing Magazine. Terry Wilhite lists ten ways that the internet is changing ministry communication [PDF format]. If your ministry makes use of the internet–and what ministries don’t use the internet in some fashion?–take a look at Terry’s list and think about how internet trends are transforming the ways that we talk and write.

How do you run a successful Bible study online? Participating in a Bible study online instead of face-to-face has its advantages–scheduling meetings isn’t a problem, and it can let you explore Bible topics with friends and family around the world. But it poses its own set of challenges as well–without in-person interaction, it can be harder to keep focused and to keep people committed.

Barry Willey of the Officer’s Christian Fellowship has written a short essay on how to study the Bible online in which he addresses some of these challenges. The essay has useful advice for anyone interested in an online Bible study, but might be especially useful to military men and women stationed abroad who want to interact and study with family back home.

Just a reminder: Internet Evangelism Day, set for May 7, is fast approaching! IE Day is a special opportunity for churches and individuals to learn about and discuss the internet’s potential as an evangelistic medium. The IE Day website has plenty of resources you can use to plan a special online evangelism-focused Bible study or discussion group. Mark your calendars!

…Answers in Genesis, whose website was just chosen by the National Religious Broadcasters organization as the “ministry website of the year”. Very impressive! If you’ve not visited their site lately, give it a look–among other things, AiG is putting podcasting and blogging to very effective use.

The date has been set: May 6 is Internet Evangelism Day 2006!

If your church or study group wants to get involved, the IED website has many resources you can use to raise awareness of the importance of internet evangelism–there’s advice on planning IED activities, strategies for improving your church’s web outreach, and more. It’s a great opportunity to help fellow Christians better understand the internet and its potential for Gospel outreach!