August 9, 2002
You’re invited to the 2002 Internet Evangelism Coalition
Annual Meeting!
-
September 17 & 18
-
Sheraton Gateway Suites in Chicago
The Annual Meeting begins with a reception and dinner on the
17th. Dr.
Quentin Schultze, Professor of Communication Arts
& Sciences at Calvin College, will be our speaker. On the 18th,
presentations by the American Tract Society and Evangelische
Omroep (EO) will demonstrate new online evangelism
strategies.
For more information go to www.webevangelism.org.
This is a landmark occasion for the Coalition . . . the
sending
out of our inaugural issue of the Internet Evangelism
Coalition
E-Newsletter! The
purpose of the newsletter will be to
communicate activities of the Coalition and ways we can work
together to advance evangelism on the Internet.
Since it’s beginning, the IEC has maintained a relatively
low
profile, seeking the counsel of Internet and ministry
specialists
and practitioners to identify and refine goals and develop
effective collaborative strategies for meeting those
goals. With
initiative, and a lot of prayer, we believe that together
the ideas
we voice within these brief news items will blossom into new
ministry opportunities and spawn new champions for shared
vision.
Included in the newsletter are brief synopses of the major
projects coordinated by the Coalition:
· Internet Evangelism Training Curriculum
Upcoming events, naturally, will also be profiled in this
newsletter, as well as information related to evangelism and
Internet use. I
invite you to share resources you have
discovered by sending an e-mail to iec@wheaton.edu.
Plan now to attend the Coalition’s Annual Meeting, September
17-18 in the Chicago area.
Dr. Quentin Schultze, who was the
keynote speaker at the consultation that launched the
Coalition in 1997, will address the meeting and review our
progress over the past several years. You’ll want to be there!
Please keep this venture fully bathed in prayer. We believe
without a doubt that God is using and will use our work
together to bring many into His Kingdom. I also want to
challenge you to look for opportunities in current Internet
projects that could be enhanced by partnering together. We
believe that bold new ministry lies ahead!
Yours for His Kingdom on the Net,
Three years ago, a task force was created to determine how
training for Internet Evangelism could be done online. While
the cost for creating online training made it unfeasible at
the
time, we’re pleased to report that a scaled-down version of
the
project will soon be online.
Experts tell us there is great need for Internet evangelism
training because conventional evangelism techniques are
usually ineffective online.
Dr. C. Thomas Wright (North
American Mission Board, SBC) has just completed a
curriculum for Internet Evangelism Training.
The curriculum will address many of the needs of Internet
evangelists who look for opportunities to engage people in
conversations through chat rooms, discussion boards and
Instant Messaging.
For more information contact
One goal of the IEC is to identify and promote the wide
range
of Internet evangelism efforts. To begin the process, a
research project was launched under the direction of Bob
Hodge (Taylor University) and Keith Stonehocker
(Christianity
Today) that established guidelines for identifying
evangelistic
websites, describing their purpose and evaluating their
effectiveness.
This is by no means a comprehensive study, but it gives an
initial read on how Christian websites are sharing
Jesus. The
research project is designed to show the Christian community
what is already being done and thus inspire additional
effective
strategies for Internet evangelism.
The results and guidelines of the initial Website Research
Project have been posted on the Taylor University Website at
Strategic Consultations are being planned to define the “how
to” of Internet Evangelism. Each Consultation Group (4-6
people) will meet together on specific topics and then present
their findings to the entire Coalition. The first Consultation
Groups will address Global Issues and Local Church Referral.
The E-Toolbox has a new look! Check out the new features
and top 10 lists for the different categories of
resources. New
evangelism tools and sites are continually being added
including Arabic (& Muslim) and Chinese resources. Go to
www.evangelismtoolbox.com for
more information.
- Find thought-provoking information about all sorts of
Christian communication issues at newWway.org, a part of the
Southern Baptist's very significant contribution to online
evangelism: www.newwway.org.
- Although it’s normally best to keep pages written for non-
Christians and those written for Christians entirely
separate, of
course non-Christians may stray onto any Christian
page. It is
therefore appropriate to include a link that explains the
Gospel
to any such visitor.
Tony Whittaker has created one within the Web Evangelism
Guide, which appears as a link on every page footer:
www.web-evangelism.com/mypage/meaning.php
- Chat room evangelism is often
overlooked. Yet millions of
people go into chat rooms every day. You may not feel able
to
create evangelistic pages – but anyone can use a chat room.
To learn more:
www.web-evangelism.com/resources/chat.php.
(Above items courtesy of Web Evangelism Bulletin:
- Joni and Friends has a list of churches that have
incorporated a handicapped ministry:
http://www.joniandfriends.org/cdm/index.shtml.
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Questions and comments regarding the Internet Evangelism
Coalition Newsletter are welcome. E-mail iec@wheaton.edu.
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