Proximity Marketing Ministry Case Study Update and Internet Evangelism Day - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Howdy all?!? I'm in the thick of my own personal case study on bluetooth broadcasting and I should have something concrete to report in the next few days. In the the meantime, I bring you news of a coordinated worldwide church focus on internet evangelism...

Churches to Hold Web Focus Day April 27
"How can we use this new-fangled Internet thing to share the gospel?" Christians are asking. A worldwide "web evangelism focus day" is helping to provide answers. Sunday, April 27, has been designated as Internet Evangelism Day. Churches can download free materials from the Internet Evangelism Day website. These materials make it easy for churches to create a short presentation about online outreach on or near that Sunday. A PowerPoint, video clip testimonies, drama scripts, music and handouts can be used to create their own customized program lasting from one minute to 50.

Church leaders who have already used these materials are excited. "This is a huge help for small churches such as ours," writes a church leader from California.

The Internet Evangelism Day team emphasizes that web evangelism is for anyone, not just the technically gifted. "There are many ways to share your faith online, without any technical background at all," says IE Day Coordinator Tony Whittaker.

Christian leaders are also enthusiastic: "I am glad to commend Internet Evangelism Day," says Dr. John Stott.

Churches can start planning their focus day now. More information is available at:
www.InternetEvangelismDay.com

Free Church Website Tool Released
The people behind Internet Evangelism Day also provide year-round resources about online outreach. The ministry explains many ways that Christians can share the good news, including through church websites. Churches often find it difficult to create a site that will engage with outsiders in their area, and find themselves asking, ""How can our church website help us reach out into our community?"

A new online tool released by IE Day provides churches with a free 15-page evaluation report. Users assess their own website by answering 55 simple questions. Their customized report is immediately displayed online, ready to print or save. The report's recommendations are tailored with specific practical suggestions, based on the questions that were ticked. View the evaluation tool here:
www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/design

A church site which has been prioritized for non-Christian visitors can be remarkably effective in reaching the community. "Week in, week out, more visitors turn up at our church on a Sunday because of the website, than anything else," writes one growing church in London.

The tool also provides the parable 'A Tale of Two Golf Clubs' (which is available to republish) to illustrate the principles of effective church websites: www.InternetEvangelismday.com/golf

Church leaders have welcomed this new resource. "This competent evaluation tool provides a valuable service to churches that will help them strengthen their effectiveness in outreach through the Internet," says Dr. Sterling Huston, director of North American Ministries for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Gary McClure of LifeWay Ministries agrees, saying, "This checklist is an invaluable tool to identify critical areas for improvement. Every church should study this regularly and act on it!"

For more information on IE Day, visit
www.InternetEvangelismDay.com

Contact: Tony Whittaker, Coordinator, Internet Evangelism Day
Tel: +44-1283-702334 (GMT office hours)
email: InternetEvangelismDay.com/feedback
IE Day is an initiative of the Internet Evangelism Coalition, a group of online ministries, at Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, US, and is coordinated from WEC International's Derby UK office. It is completely free with NO fund-raising component.
Leaders available for interview: InternetEvangelismDay.com/publicity
Photos: InternetEvangelismDay.com/photos
Leaders supporting: InternetEvangelismDay.com/supporting
More article ideas: InternetEvangelismDay.com/free-articles

Biblical Ministry Partnerships and Networking: Part One - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Sorry for the delay in posting again. An aging truck and dental repairs kept me away from my keyboard...

As I search high and low across the web for networks of believers seeking to partner together for the glory of God, I'm struck by a hard reality. Many believers want to team with other Christians, but missing from most of these partnerships is a grounding in "the truth [that] is in Jesus," (Eph. 4:21).

The Holy Spirit clearly commands us to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." This exhortation naturally extends to our ministry partnerships. At the same time, the end goal of the Spirit's giving apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers is "unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God" which leads to a "mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." In other words, unity in the Spirit is rooted in the knowledge of the Son of God and living according to the truth of the Spirit as measured by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Therefore, we are not to pursue unity for unity's sake. We are to continually maintain the unity of the Spirit based in the truth of Jesus Christ our Lord.

So how should this play out in our ministry partnerships? Should we team with those whose theology is relatively weak or who make room for sin? What about those we simply disagree with on certain non-essential truths?

Thankfully, our Lord has provided us with clear examples of biblical cooperation, both in the sense of what sort of partnerships to avoid and in regard to legitimate working relationships for God's glory. For more insight, let's quickly look at the lives/teachings of the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter.

Paul, called out of an uber self-righteous Pharisaical life, carried a Spirit-given hatred for false teaching and sheer disdain for false teachers. When God removed the scales from Paul's eyes (literally and figuratively), He berthed in Paul an extreme passion for the Spirit-revealed truth of God and seeing the church grow in that truth. Anyone or anything that "exalted itself against the knowledge of God" was completely unacceptable.

As is still true today, false teachers and deceptive teaching in the first century presented a very real threat to the Body of Christ. Thus the Holy Spirit led Paul to crusade against them. In fact, based on Paul's teachings in Ephesians 4-5 and the Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus), we realize that perhaps the primary role of overseers is that of encouraging sound doctrine and defending biblical truth.

Paul's Spirit-led stand for the truth of Christ took some interesting turns. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul declares that if anyone--apostle, angel, or otherwise--comes declaring a good news of Jesus Christ other than what the Galatians initially received, let that person or angel be damned to hell forever! Pretty strong words, indeed. But they were a natural outgrowth of shepherding the Body of Christ according to the truth of Christ. Elsewhere, Paul opposed even the Apostle Peter, when Peter hypocritically picked sides between the Jews and Gentiles in Antioch, (Galatians 2:11-21).

But contrary to his mis-steps in Antioch, Peter habitually stood for truth and opposed false teachers. Especially notice the significant time Peter spends in his second epistle warning his readers against coming false teachers and notice his blunt description of such wicked wolves: "who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves," (2 Peter 2:1).

Also in Ephesians, the Spirit declares that the church has been built upon the apostles and prophets (in context the New Testament prophets such as Agabus), with Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone." The foundation of the apostles and prophets includes their example, as Paul said, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ."

Not only did Paul and Peter refuse to team with people simply claiming to be Christians or even those who named Christ but failed to do so according to Scriptural truth that is in Christ Jesus. No, Paul and Peter (and the other apostles with them) opposed unbiblical teaching and deceptive schemers publicly, with great regularity, and filled with Spirit-led indignation for "arrogant obstacles to the obedience of Christ" and those who dare build such barriers.

As we consider whom to partner with, we should avoid relationships with those who have strayed from the truth in Christ Jesus and "even expose" the unfruitful deeds of darkness, (Eph. 5:11). We should also avoid partnerships with non-believers which would in any way reduce their perception of their guilt before God. The sons of disobedience should never get the impression that we (much less God) are okay with their sin or that they're not that bad off spiritually. In fact, the Holy Spirit commands us through Paul to "not be partakers with them, for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light," (Eph 5:7-8).

The impulse to partner with other believers is a godly one. But we must "be careful how (we) walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of (our) time, because the days are evil," (Eph. 4:15). We must not team with those who are not living and preaching according to the truth that is in Jesus.

The standard for our lives and our locking arms with other believers is the eternal word of the living God. Paul and Peter and John and others took on false teaching and false teachers; they did not let core doctrines and dedication to wholeheartedly seeking Christ Jesus according to His revealed truth slide.

Then who should we partner with and what Scriptural examples of godly partnerships should we emulate? That's the subject of my next post...