Internet evangelist

An Internet evangelist is a person who uses the Internet to present the Christian gospel message to the world. Probably one of the earliest and best known Internet evangelists is Adam Woeger, who started circa 1995 distributing millions of free Christian programs and files over the Internet each year. Internet evangelism is a relatively low cost way to reach people from around the world using computer networks.

Today, there are many ministers who have Internet ministries and who practice evangelism on the Internet. Internet evangelism can be carried on in any number of ways, including one on one chat room ministry [http://ied.gospelcom.net/chat.php], web information ministry and Christian books. It is a ministry which can be fulfilled by an individual at home, or a major web outreach team such as TruthMedia [http://www.truthmedia.com/] who produce a portfolio of evangelistic sites including Women Today Magazine [http://womentodaymagazine.com/] Power to Change [http://www.powertochange.com/] and IamNext [http://www.iamnext.com/]. View a collection of other evangelistic sites here [http://guide.gospelcom.net/resources/evangelistic.php].

Churches can reach out into the community through their Church websites, though research shows that very few church sites are user-friendly for non-Christians[http://ied.gospelcom.net/church-site-tips.php]. It is currently quite popular to put streaming audio and video sermons and entire church services online that can be experienced via the Internet. There are even Internet based churches online. Bible College courses are now also offered via the Internet.

Methodology and strategies for Internet evangelism are explained in the Web Evangelism Guide [http://guide.gospelcom.net/index.php]. One important method of gaining attention from non-Christians is the Bridge Strategy [http://guide.gospelcom.net/resources/bridge-strategy.php].

The Internet Evangelism Coalition has initiated an annual worldwide focus day to help Christians understand more of the potential for online evangelism. The first Internet Evangelism Day was held in April 2005, and the next is scheduled for 7 May 2006 [http://ied.gospelcom.net/index.php].

There are a number of opportunities for distance learning and training in web evangelism [http://ied.gospelcom.net/training.php].

Some organizations plan special training sessions, such as the Liberty University MA Communication Studies Internet Evangelism for the 21st Century held April 1-2, 2005, with sessions available online in mpeg and DVD (a further conference is planned in 2006) [http://ie-21stcentury.com/]. The Internet Evangelism Coalition also holds regular conferences [http://www.webevangelism.org/].

=External links=

*[http://www.instantworship.com Instant Worship] Internet evangelism ministry site *[http://www.evangelismtoolbox.com Evangelism toolbox] *[http://www.fishthe.net Fish The Net] - Evangelistic Tackle Box *[http://www.onlinebiblecollege.com Online Bible College] - Bible training on the Internet *[http://www.networkministry.com Network Ministry] - Global Internet ministry using technology to reach the major regions and languages of the world