Recently, I have been spending a bunch of time thinking about Online Ministry. What’s the definition? How does it relate to ‘the Great Commission’? You would be surprised how little information there is out there about this.
A co-worker and I have been journaling our thoughts over at Wikipedia.
One of my previous posts contained a video that, in general, accused christians of settling for mediocrity instead of striving for excellence in every area (in that case referring to GodTube.com). What I would love to hear from you is who is “doing ministry” well and breaking that stereotype.
I am not thinking churches or ministries with good design and information about themselves (although that has it’s place), but who is providing materials, resources or tools that are causing people to come to Christ or deepen their relationship with Christ online.
What do you think?
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June 14, 2007 at 13:18
I work for a small missions mobilizing non-profit called Mission Data International. The little org. has been around since 1999, and is known for the website ShortTermMissions.com which has been online since 2000.
Our goal as an organization is to bring people and missions together using internet technology. To our knowlege, we’re the only mission-geared org. whose sole focus is creating websites, other than one about ourselves.
In response to your post, it seems to me that most Christians think very little of the internet as a ministry opportunity. It has been hard for us as an organization to recruit finances and manpower — harder, it would seem, than our peers engaged in other mobilizing and missional efforts (though I don’t have exact numbers on this). We have a lot of ideas but no time or money to act on them.
And this is problematic in an industry that moves so quickly. The web landscape is constantly morphing, and Mission Data International doesn’t have the flexibility to move with it being so short-staffed. For instance, two weeks or so ago Facebook launched it’s Developer Platform. We see incredible potential in this opportunity for creating mobilizing tools that help people take their next step in missions.
But, sadly, we don’t have a “floating” programmer available to take on this new venue.
June 14, 2007 at 16:09
I have to say Gospelcom.net and heartlight (www.heartlight.org). They have done a great job of providing material for the God-seeker.
June 14, 2007 at 22:01
The best online Bible-study source is the Biblical Studies Foundation or bible.org Excellent site with tons of conservative commentaries, articles, and the home of the NET Bible which is offered free on download.
June 15, 2007 at 07:16
Interesting thoughts and definitely worth exploring. I am however curious if using Wikipedia for a discussion would perhaps be misusing the facility?
June 17, 2007 at 18:01
I think a good online ministry has to at least do one of three things.
1. To minister to Christians and effectively help them learn and grow spiritually.
2. To create fellowship among Christians (message forums, singles websites, stay at home moms, dads, homeschoolers, etc.).
3. Or it needs to do something to reach the lost who search for things online.
June 18, 2007 at 06:23
I use upperroom.org for a daily devotional, and enjoy articles at christianitytoday.com
June 19, 2007 at 05:06
Based in the UK, StPixels.com offers prayer, theological discussion, and general discussion (fellowship) in both chat room format and message board format. They also offer live streaming of music and sermon on Sundays. I think their ministry is perfect for those who cannot easily make it out of the home.
June 22, 2007 at 10:43
I’m part of a group of Christian educators who’ve been meeting for over 12 years. Recently one of our group challenged us to do something to “give back” to the C.E. community through a blog. We created the G.R.A.C.E. Writes blog site to do just that as a form of on-line ministry to other educators.
June 22, 2007 at 12:50
Interesting you should bring this up. I am in the beginning stages of a research project asking very similar questions. My goal is to understand what the success factors for a good ministry web presence are and put together some resources for those looking to develop their own internet ministry. See posts tagged “Effective Internet Ministry” over at my blog.
June 22, 2007 at 20:47
Bob K,
We are not using Wikipedia for discussion purposes. In my research of online ministry, I could not find anywhere that clearly defined and explained what online ministry is. So Wikipedia seemed like a good place to have a concise explanation for any one who might search for it.
Everyone, Thanks for your thoughts on this topic. I appreciate it
July 4, 2007 at 18:18
There are many online ministries on the web and not just ministries “promoting” themselves. One example is CyperPastor
July 5, 2007 at 12:10
Great wikipedia stub and discussion. I’m certainly interested in this topic, and constantly wrestle between the tradeoff of a “Christian ghetto” and providing an online ministry platform and toolset. I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive…
Wrote about some of those thoughts here if you’re interested