Interdenominational group declares May Digital Outreach Month
An interdenominational movement designated recently May to be Digital Outreach Month, with Sunday, May 15, slated as Internet Evangelism Day.
The group, Internet Evangelism Day, is an initiative of the Internet Evangelism Coalition which holds office at the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, IL., according to Christian Newswire.
The purpose of holding Digital Outreach Month is to help churches learn about the ways that the Internet can be used for online evangelism. According to the IE Day website, the last 15 years have seen the world transform with a digital communication culture, changing the rules of effective communication both online and offline.
With some two billion web users, and double the number using mobile phones, the web has emerged, the IE Day website said, as a hyper-medium that links all digital media together.
Tony Whittaker, coordinator of IE Day said on its website, “The last 15 years have changed our world forever. Digital media are transforming the way we communicate, behave and even think. If Facebook was a country, it would have the third largest population in the world.”
In light of this, IE Day prepared a resource center to help churches around the world learn how to use the internet to share the gospel. Included is a one-year online guide with May 15 as its annual focus day, and the entire month as Digital Outreach Month, the website said.
Whittaker told Christian Newswire, “You do not need to be technical. There are many simple yet fulfilling ways of being salt and light in cyberspace.” The website includes resources to help Christians build a church website that can appeal even to non-churchgoers; and how blog and use twitter to share the gospel online. There are also opportunities to mentor others through email by linking with outreach ministries.
Free ebooks on internet evangelization
To further celebrate IE Day on May 15, several major Christian publishers have collaborated to offer free e-book downloads at the IE Day website of Christian titles that are normally paid for, which deal with evangelism through the web by using social networks and other digital forms, Christian Newswire said.
Naomi Frizzell, chief communications officer of The Lausanne Movement, told Christian Newswire, “This is a great opportunity to explore digital evangelism. I encourage Christians everywhere to take advantage of these free downloads to learn how to effectively share their faith in the digital world.”
How churches can help
IE Day is calling on churches and other Christian groups to lend time for digital evangelism this month, whether through featuring IE Day on its church bulletin, so that churchgoers can access the IE Day resource website, or set aside time during church meetings using free downloadable video clips, PowerPoint, drama sketches, etc. from IE Day’s website, Christian Newswire said.
The IE Day website also has pages that can be accessed using mobile phones. To learn more, go to www.IEDay.net.