In the past month I have been working to learn more about technology that I haven't ever used before online. I have myself have never really gone beyond a basic blog, facebook or myspace for social media as I have never had the need to do so. I have stayed connected with friends and family through these and they have been great in doing so. Yet, I have done very little to reach out using online web 2.0 technology for the purpose of ministry up until this last month. I have heard of many of the new technologies out there but never learned much about them or used them. They are very well established and used for internet news and developments, but not many Christians have plugged into them for ministry purposes in proportion to the size of those resources.
For example if you are on any of these social websites take 100 of your followers and or friends and look at what they are using those resources mostly for. The main use is staying in contact with friends and family and then a few to network or sell things or find a place to live or to find a new job. On twitter you find a large influence of people using it for online business and promoting things they sell. What you don't find is many people using these platforms for ministry. There are some doing so but the most developed uses of them are not usually ministry focused from what I have observed in the past month.
Years ago when I put up a website for Desired Life Ministries I didn't really know how to built things into the website and develop interactions with other social sites to make the most of the website. What I built though 4 years ago for the ministry included more interactivity than I would guess 90% or more of church and ministry websites today currently have in place. I think perhaps because Christianity as a whole is still approaching ministry from how our culture once interacted with the church and us as believers. We no longer can just send out postcards and put up websites and buildings and just expect people to come in and hear the gospel and turn their life over to Christ. Yes, that still can and does work on small levels, but often those who respond to those methods are those who grew up in the church and end up coming back from that type of evangelism. Either that or they are church hopping.
My background being in real estate and marketing I have seen the changing trend in how people no longer just want to be marketed to or in other words just evangelized to. They more and more are wanting to be interacted with and to be engaged with. The world has a very skewed idea of who and what Christians are so just broadcasting to them to come join us when they are mistaken in who we are isn't a good game plan to reach them.
The gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit has not changed, but the methods in which we can get that message to people is changing. The focus of DLM is more towards discipleship than evangelism, but part of that focus in discipleship is to help others learn how to reach our lost world so this needs to be addressed with the ministry.
I am by no means an expert on how to do this nor do I have that much experience having just started much of this a month ago to reach into social media platforms and form interactive platforms for ministry. As I started looking for a way to do this I discovered blog management software that offered a free license for non-profits and installed it and began to customize it and that's where the new website came from.
I then decided I would also use it to publish a blog with the intent of developing it into something to make a difference in the lives of those who read it. I tried to do this from a personal blog years back, but I knew that was not going to make the kind of impact I envision a ministry blog making in peoples lives. The only thing I carried over from the old blog was the process I went through to get here to document the journey less anyone think the process of ministry is one where you figure it all out overnight. When I started in ministry the examples presented to me gave me the impression it would be 6-12 months and things would be just as I had envisioned from what God had put on my heart. That is seldom the case. The examples you see of fast ministry are the exception and I have wondered if fast growth tends to die out within a few years since then. The roots have to grow and strong big things take a long time for those roots to grow.
In the first 2 years of ministry I found it very helpful in hearing others share their story of what they faced and went through into what they were called to do. Hearing over and over the stories people had in going into ministry I began to see many of the same things in my own life and story. All of that lead to me mapping out the lifemap model that fit what I went through and every story I heard from others who entered into ministry and their calling. It wasn't just the model those in ministry went through but the process anyone who followed what God lead them to went through.
I have found many blogs and developed resources that share and spread the news on things developing in our nation and the world relating to our faith. I have never felt the Lord calling me to that type of ministry as a primary focus and I don't see the need for another ministry with that focus. The focus of my calling and as a by product this blog is to stay within the process of the lifemap model.
I have been exploring web 2.0 and the technologies developed within it to see how those technologies might be used for the purposes of helping others learn and walk in the lifemap process. The lifemap areas being the restoration of the heart, the renewal of the mind and the empowerment of vision that comes from a restored heart and renewed mind.
I thought there would be more websites and resources online already developed with Christian influences online. Yet, so far in all of these technologies that I have found and explored the strongest influence in Christianity using these techonologies - especially those of blogs and networking social web 2.0 resources appears to be those in line with reformed theology. Some of the top blogs in terms of readership and monthly visits are those from a reformed point of view. They also seem to be some of the most passionate and dedicated people online in their realms of internet development.
It may just be that I have yet to find other developed resources within Christianity that are out there and interacting with the world online. If you know of other sources please leave a comment with the ones you know of and have found of value to you personally in your walk with God.
