Evangelizing from the Web is written as an encouragement to fellow Christian to use the web as a tool to bring the Good News to non Believers.
So we call ourselves Christians. We go to church every Sunday. We sing a few hymns, say a few prayers. We repeat this week after week, month after month, year after year. This is what we do, for we are Christians, right?
What about evangelizing?
"What's evangelizing?"
"Oh, you mean preaching the Gospel? That's for preachers to do, or missionaries."
"There're churches all over the place. Surely, anybody who needs the Gospel have gotten it by now."
"We don't know how to do it, let the experts handle that. We are just plain, regular Christians."
Is that your response when the subject of evangelization come into the picture?
If we call ourselves the followers of Jesus Christ, we should be mindful of his call, as articulated in Mark 16:15: Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
It was those words that sent missionaries to bring the Good News to every corner of the world, to brave hostilities and even death. Yet the fulfillment of God's command was so important to them that they willingly braved it all, that the command be carried out.
We got it so much easier. The world is now wired up so we no longer need to brave open seas, tribal spears and enemy fire. With the Internet, we can "go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" from the comfort of our desk. And yet, many people who call themselves Christians are not heeding God's command. Forget about becoming a missionary in a strange land, forget about witnessing to relatives and friends, many simply prefer to act out the Christian thing - things like going to church, singing the hymns and praying the prayers. I'm not saying we shouldn't do that. What I am saying is that we aren't doing all the things that we need to be doing.
If you call yourself Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, you are aware of the need to evangelize but you have never done it before; you are not sure how to start doing it, but you want to if you can; then the following questions and answers might help.
- What should I, as a Christian, do?
According to Mark 16:15, we should go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. In order words, we should spread the Good News, that Jesus Christ died for us, and that by receiving him as our Saviour, we may have eternal life with God.
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Is there a way for me to spread the Gospel from the comfort of home?
Now there is. With the brilliance of the Internet, you can bring God's Good News to every corner of the globe.
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How do I use the Internet to evangelize?
If you have a blog, website, or a social networking account (Facebook, Twitter), use it as a platform to spread the Good News. You can write a blog post or a webpage describing the Gospel.
If you are not able to write it yourself, you can use what I have written, the Gospel According to Tim. I place a link to it at the bottom of my webpages, so people looking for information may stumble upon it. You can similarly place a link to it from your blog or web page, twit on it and mention it on Facebook.
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I don't want my friends to think of me as a Christian fanatic!
I would understand if you face persecution for your faith, but if you are ashamed to be a Christian, then your should reexamine your faith. Okay, perhaps you are not comfortable spreading the Gospel to people that you know - your friends, family members and relatives. That's all right. God's command is to "Go into all the world ..." There's a whole world of strangers waiting for you to spread them the Gospel. That's what I love about the Internet. With it, strangers from the farthest corner of the world can read my webpage and be exposed to the Good News.
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Those who are Internet savvy would have gotten the Gospel elsewhere. If they don't believe, there's nothing I can do.
Don't let others do the work you're commanded to do. Non-Believers are everywhere, off the web and on it. Just because they are Internet savvy doesn't make them less sinful - consider the hackers and virus programmers out there. Spreading the Gospel doesn't mean going to some remote strange land to preach to some tribal group somewhere. For all we know, there may be more Believers in the deep jungle than there are in the concrete one. Also, it's not just the poor and the destitute that need the Good News - although often times they are the ones that Christian spend the most time and effort reaching to. Often, it's the intellectual, the rich and the privileged that are far removed from the Good News. Often the more brilliant the mind, the farther the person from God. They all need to be saved and be exposed to the Gospel.
The Internet allows us to reach out to a segment that is often overlooked. The educated. The computer savvy (perhaps not in programming skills but sufficiently well versed in using the computer and surfing the Internet). A person who looks a lot like you and me. They too need the Message.
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What if nobody believes?
Some things you should just leave to God. It's nothing to worry about. Just spread the Good News, as is commanded, and let God do the rest. One day, when you meet God face to face, you may be surprised to learn that your seeming act of futility has worked wonders in places you never thought about.
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But it's impossible to reach every person in the world.
By no means let that stop you from reaching out. Even if millions and millions of people read your webpage and at the end of it all, only one person accepts the Gospel, the whole heaven rejoices. Remember, even one lost sheep saved is worth the whole exercise.
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But I don't get any response. Nobody writes back saying, "Yes, yes! I accept the Good News, I want to be a Christian.
Don't let that stop you. Placing the message on the web is like throwing seeds on the ground. Some will fall on the rocks, some on good soil. Some will sprout, many won't. Even if you never heard from anybody for your effort, do not despair. You are doing what is expected of you, and God will be well pleased.
One day, when you meet God, He will show you the fruit of your labour. Because you took the effort to spread the Good News, thousands of people were exposed to it, and many believed. Without you, none of the thousands would have gotten the exposure, and none have the chance to believe. Think about it: because of you, someone somewhere gets eternal life with God. If not for you, it would not have happened.
Many people who look like Christian are remotely Christian. So don't be fooled by the going to church, the praying and Bible knowledge of some. God can tell a diamond from a fake.
To be a Christian doesn't mean going through the motion, conforming to society's expectation of how a Christian should look like. There's a saying that if it quacks like a duck or walks like one, it must be a duck. But some times, the decoy looks more duck than the genuine article.
If you consider yourself a Christian, do what is expected by God, go ahead and spread the Good News to all creation. The next time you write a blog, the next time you tweet, consider adding a link or a message, so that someone somewhere may be exposed to God's Good News. With the web, it's so much easier now to spread the message, so don't let go the opportunity. Do it anonymously if you have to. The bottom line is you do it, and for the effort, one day God will reward you handsomely.
About the Author
My name is Tim and I'm a web publisher. My websites are read by thousands of people all over the world every day. They visit my websites because they are looking for information and my sites provide it to them. As a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, I want to provide them not just the information they are looking for, but the Best News of them all, which is the Gospel. Just like Gideons International placing Bibles in hotel room drawers, I am placing a link to God's Message on every page of my site, so that visitors will be exposed to the Good News. I am doing in obediance to God's command, as expressed in Mark 16:15.
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