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?

And whatever your church’s level of internet engagement, is it serving the church effectively?

Share your thoughts!

The “study” involved polling 445 iPhone and Blackberry users about their relationships with other people and their kit, and discovered that iPhone users consider themselves to be extrovert intellectuals who know a lot about the media but find a lack of high-tech gadgets to be a turn off.

35 per cent of iPhone owners said they would find a partner with out-of-date electronics a turn off, though a quarter have dumped someone who was spending too much time playing with their phone.

33 per cent of those with an iPhone have used a text message or e-mail to break up with a partner – which is harsh, though nothing beats fax for that sharing-the-pain experience. When it comes to good news electronics are, apparently, out: none of those polled would propose marriage by text or e-mail.

When not dating, 20 per cent of iPhone users admitted to frequently watching adult material on their 3.5-inch screen, and more than 60 per cent consider themselves to be extrovert.

Porn use on these devices doesn’t surprise me; the adult industry always finds a way to exploit new technologies, and unfortunately far too many people succumb to the temptations they offer. (For what it’s worth, XXXChurch has submitted a version of their XXXChurch software to Apple’s app store and are currently awaiting approval, which should hopefully help those who want accountability find it wherever they connect to the internet.)

However, I was surprised by the statistics about ending relationships via text messages or email. It seems to me that you owe it to the person you’re dating to have that conversation in person.

Do you think that the advent of these technologies is making it too easy to pursue shallow relationships? How have you seen smart device usage affect your relationships? Have you seen positive change come about in any of your relationships because of technologies like the iPhone or Blackberry?

For those that do participate in social networks, I’d like to ask you: has social networking had a positive impact on your faith?

What do you think?

Here are some of the examples they provide:

• Teach senior citizens how to use the Web.
• Show a non-profit how to use social networking to grow its base of supporters.
• Help install a wireless network at a school.
• Create Web how-to materials for a library’s computer cluster.
• Refurbish hardware for a local computer center.
• Update a non-profit organization’s website.
• Teach the values of the open Web to other public benefit organizations.

As you can see, you don’t have to be an expert coder or a seasoned computer engineer to help out.

I think this is a wonderful idea—and easily translatable into a ministry environment. Who do you know in your community who could use some internet-related help? What local ministries or organizations could you help by donating a few hours of time upgrading software or training their staff? If you’re reading this blog post, chances are you have the skills to help a person or organization in your community in some way.

I note that UrbanMinistry.org has already jumped on this—take a look at their virtual volunteer opportunities, and think about how you or your church might get involved in a virtual service project this September.

Hyatt’s point is a compelling one, and puts words to the vague unease that many Christians (even the most tech-savvy ones!) have about the role of online churches and worship communities. Hyatt’s argument is that while an online church community can reproduce many of the things that define a true church, they simply cannot replicate the low-key but critical face-to-face interaction from which real, everyday Christian ministry springs.

At an online church, Hyatt argues, you’ll never hear Bob Churchgoer gripe about his difficult work week, or Jane Choirmember recount her ongoing struggle with migraines. And without those little interactions, we’d miss out on countless small opportunities to serve others and meet their needs (maybe inviting Bob out for coffee to relax, or volunteering to watch Jane’s kid next time a migraine knocks her out of commission.)

I almost agree with Hyatt… almost.

At this point in my life, online church isn’t for me, for many of the reasons Hyatt describes. I think Hyatt would be correct if he were arguing that few or no online churches active right now can replicate the intimate fellowship that happens in a face-to-face church, with all the Christian encouragement and ministry that spring out of such things.

But I’m not comfortable saying that online church can never meet those needs. I don’t know about you, but I’ve encountered plenty of online forums—not even Christian or church-related ones–where people share the same everyday gripes, praises, and pleas that they would in a face-to-face environment. This might be an indictment of my poor socialization at church, but I actually learn as much about prayer needs and praise reports through Facebook as I do from the post-service cookies-and-coffee break where most congregational chatting takes place.

There are many things an online community would have to do to (some of them quite difficult) to create an environment of authentic fellowship, but I don’t see any reason why it’s impossible. I can think of several reasons why it could actually be a good idea—for one thing, you can’t have been on the internet at any point in the last ten years and failed to notice that people tend to open up online about their ideas, opinions, and problems in ways that they might rarely do face-to-face.

So while I sympathize with much of Hyatt’s concerns, I’m a little unsure whence comes his insistence that virtual church is a complete spiritual dead-end. A follow-up post is promised, so I’ll be watching Out of Ur to see where he leads the conversation. What do you think? Have you experienced genuine church worship and fellowship online?

[image from flickr user shadysidelantern]

• First up is a very thorough 55-question church website quiz you can take to find out how your church website is doing. The quiz isn’t meant to be a list of set-in-stone guidelines—you might disagree with a few items, or some of them might not apply to your church’s site—but walking through this quiz is a great way to make sure you’re thinking about all the right questions. Notice that plenty of the questions are strategic rather than technical; these are questions to talk through with your entire church leadership, not just with the person who designed/is designing your site.
• A good follow-up to the quiz is IED’s list of 70+ tips for effective church websites. Lots of good discussion-starters, covering both technical and strategic aspects.
• It’s important to get your church’s website working effectively for your ministry. But it would be a mistake to assume that just having a website covers all of the necessary bases of your internet presence—what about social networking, blogging, and mobile devices? The IED site has a good overview of how to incorporate social networking sites like Facebook into your church’s ministry, as well as corresponding pages on ministry blogging and mobile devices.

Don’t let your church settle for an ineffective online presence—read through these resources and see what you can apply to your church’s website and internet ministry.

If you’re not familiar with Internet Evangelism Day, there’s still time to learn about it and get your church community involved. Each year on IE Day (this year, it falls on April 27), churches are encouraged to focus on a massive missions field that we interact with on a daily basis, but which often goes unmentioned by the church: the internet! It’s a day for churches to educate themselves about the evangelism opportunities that the internet makes possible, and to pray for the ongoing evangelism work taking place online every day, all around the world.

If you and/or your church aren’t overflowing with technical knowledge, don’t worry—the IE Day website has some excellent, user-friendly materials available for free download to help you learn about internet evangelism and share what you know with your church community:

• An explanation of why the internet is an excellent missions field, and a discussion of whether or not internet evangelism achieves results.
• Free resources and ideas to help you set up an IE Day service at your church—anything from a full church service focused on the topic to a small group discussion. And IE Day isn’t just for churches; all Christian groups and organizations are encouraged to take some time on or around IE Day to give some thought to the ways that the internet can be used to share the Gospel.
• Strategies for making effective evangelistic websites, and for improving your church website so that it actually speaks to non-Christians.

There’s much more to explore over at the IE Day site, so take some time to look around. There’s still a month to go, so you’ve got time to plan something (big or small) for your church, small group, or ministry. Mark down April 29 on your calendar!