-An Internet Ministry Warning:

 My wife sent me this picture today. One must always remember to balance ministry and time on the internet with family or this could happen to you:

-Are You Using Social Media to Bless Others?

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." -Matthew 5:16 ESV

There is already so much garbage on social media. I use Facebook to keep in touch with my family which lives on both coasts and in between. It is a wonderful tool. And I intend on encouraging and blessing others in the process.

-Social Media: Cradle to the Grave- Ministry Implications?

According to AVG, the Internet security firm, nearly 92% of children in the U.S have some type of online presence by the time they reach just 2 years of age. The young children either show up in articles and pictures in their mothers social net page or they have their very own site.

We are seeing the rise of a new phenomenon with the lives of people receiving full documentation on the Internet from the time they are born and even before. 

-Facebook Has Over a Billion Users: Implications for a Worldwide Harvest

Facebook has over a Billion users which includes nearly half of all those on the Internet worldwide.  According to a LA Times article Facebook execs are shooting for the rest:

"We’re not a company that is just trying to add more people," said Chris Cox, Facebook’s vice president of product. "What we are trying to do is build a service that everyone in the world can use."

-Evangelism and Social Media

 

The OurChurch.com blog has an article on evangelism and social networking where they evaluate and link to a recent PBS article.

John Saddington of ChurchCrunch, was one of those interviewed in the PBS article and points out:

“One of the nice things about social media is that it establishes a two-way conversation… Instead of blaring our faith into people’s faces, we can use blogs and social media to dialogue.”

The social media really does make it possible to naturally share your life and faith with your friends and relatives. A genuine tool for evangelism.    

-The Problem of Speaking 'Christianese'

In an article that read many years ago that no longer exists online; Paul D. Watson pointed out the problem of using Christian words and speech when trying to reach out to non-Christians:

“Christians speak a different cultural language than non-Christians.  Unfortunately this language isn’t necessarily spiritual by nature.  One of the hardest tasks of an evangelist (the New Testament term for Church Planter, but that is another post.) is deculturalizing the Gospel so that the lost can hear the Good News without all the white noise of Christian culture.”

I read a bunch of Christian blogs and Facebook postings everyday. Many will not appeal to ‘regular’ folk because they are written in ‘Christianese’—words, terms, and expressions that are commonly used in church and among fellow Christians. The fact is there are increasingly more folk out there that do not share or understand the common ‘churchy’ language than do.

-Barna: The Techno Generational Gap in the Church

Research by The Barna Group shows that there is a major divide between different generations and how they approach the new media. This seems rather intuitive for anyone with grandchildren.

But it would be helpful for church leaders and outreach folks to get a hold of in order to plan a more effective ministry to different generational groups.  Most churches are adequately reaching the Boomers and the Busters but the church technology is way behind in addressing the younger generations where they live:

-Why Ministry on the Internet and Blogging?

Soon nearly every family in America rich or poor will have a computer or access to one and/or a tablet or cell phone with access to the internet. Internationally, the internet is growing at a phenomenal rate. As a media for ministry the potential is really unlimited.

It is really amazing how many people can be reached and how many nations can be touched by a very simple ministry located on the World Wide Web.