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Sharing Faith Online

More people may be using the internet for faith-related reasons than you might think. According to a survey done by Pew research:

"Nearly two-thirds of online Americans use the Internet for faith-related reasons. The 64% of Internet users who perform spiritual and religious activities online represent nearly 82 million Americans. Among the most popular and important spiritually-related online activities measured in a new national survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project:
38% of the nation’s 128 million Internet users have sent and received email with spiritual content.
35% have sent or received online greeting cards related to religious holidays.
32% have gone online to read news accounts of religious events and affairs.
21% have sought information about how to celebrate religious holidays.
17% have looked for information about where they could attend religious services.
14% have used email to plan church meetings.
11% have downloaded or listened to religious music online.
7% have made or responded to online prayer requests.
7% have made donations to religious organizations or charities. In sum, 64% of Internet users said they had done at least one of these things online and many had done more than one. This figure represents a substantially higher number of online faithful than the Pew Internet & American Life Project has measured in the past.
Also:
28% of the online faithful said they had used the Internet to seek or exchange information about their own religious faith or tradition with others.
26% said they had used the Internet to seek or exchange information about the religious faiths or traditions of others.

There is a wide variety of sharing methods that can be used to share Christian beliefs, values, or teachings. Here are some ideas for sharing that range from things that can be done with a few clicks to those that require some time and effort.

1. Share Links on Social Networks or in emails.

For some sites, you can just click to share it while you are signed in. For other sites, you may need to copy the direct link or the embed code and paste it in the post or email. You can share Christian graphics, daily devotions, websites that tell the Gospel story, or most anything that can enlighten, encourage and witness. You can find some links to interesting websites on our favorite links page.

2. Send Christian Ecards via email.

Links to sites that have some free cards you can send:

3. Write an article or story.

Then send to the webmaster to add to the JBC website. You could tell your testimony or write bits and pieces about the history of Joy Baptist Church or the community around Joy. Maybe you are being led to write an encouraging devotional or humorous tale of everyday life. Perhaps God wants you to write something that would "tactfully nudge people toward Christ or biblical principles"

4. Interact with People Online

Your talent might be in building friendships, engaging in conversations, answering questions, inspiring people, or telling stories. You could join/start a group at a social network or join a forum or chat room and interact with others. You might start topics to discuss various Christian beliefs or values. If that is something that sounds interesting to you, this list of social networks might help you find some online sites to make new friends: Social Networking

5. Become the administrator of a Social Network page

Both Facebook and Google+ create pages for known entities. A representative then "claims" the page to start adding content. That means that there is already a JBC Facebook page and a JBC Google+ page.  You might want to volunteer to be the representative or administrator. Generally, the page administrator monitors the page, adds fresh content and tries to encourage other people to post and participate.

6. Start Your Own Blog or Website

If your talent is communicating with the written word, you might want to start your own blog or webpage. 

I met a fellow online who posts an online church service and a weekly Bible Study on his blog He adds music to the Sunday service via youtube video embeds. He doesn't write the material himself, but cites the source as Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries who offers the material freely. 

Other examples:


Summary

We all have talents and abilities. A key to usefulness is making our talents available to God. The important thing is to ask God what He would have you do.

I hope this page prove to be helpful to you. If you need help with how to do something or have some sites to suggest, contact me via the webmaster email.

Related Information: