This is the first in a series of articles that will explore how Web 2.0 is changing the effectiveness of ministry within the church.

We are going to take a look at the social networking site Facebook. This site, a competitor of Myspace, was originally targeted at college students. However, now it is open for anyone to join. Facebook has become a great platform for connecting with people and it is not littered with all of the garbage that you can get bombarded with on other sites.

Lets get into what Facebook can do to change your ministry.

Read the entire article:  Web 2.0 ministry: Facebook – by Joel Klampert

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THE AGE OF THE MOBILE WEB IS AT HAND by Teri Heaton @ PoMo Blog

The big geek news of the week so far has been the unveiling of T-Mobile’s G1, the first mobile phone built with Google’s mobile operating system, Android.  The device’s importance to media companies is simple: we’re no longer dealing with simple phones or text-messaging, although it’ll take awhile for these mini-computers to reach mass. The Mobile Web is our playing ground now, and play we must. Media companies should be at the forefront of application development, even at the local level.

Read the entire Article…

Related Article: The New Harvest: Cell Phone Ministry

In no particular order:

1) Prayer Request.  People are hurting and we all experience rough periods in our lives. Providing an avenue for web visitors to talk about their issues and solicit help is an excellent way to Minister Online.  Providing an avenue for visitors to share and ask for prayer is the first step.  Your eMinistry Strategy should also include follow-up on the prayer request and long term discipleship.

2) Audio/Video Sermons.  The Bible says, ‘How can they hear without a preacher’.  Audio Sermons are the easiest and quickest method to get your Sermons out to the masses.  Posting them on your Ministry website will allow members to hear sermons that they missed and again allow visitors to hear your messages to determine if the Word speaks to their spirit.  This is one method of attracting cyber visitors to visit and/or contribute to your Ministry.  On-Demand sermons are vitale to the growth of every Ministry.

3) Podcasting.  In this age it all about being Mobile.  People are always on the go and love to take music and video with them.  Having access an Audio or Video Sermons any time on an IPOD or MP3 Player will allow your messages to be available 24/7, anytime or anywhere by anyone.

4) Blog.  Everyone wants to hear what the Pastor or Ministry Leader is thinking, planning, or hearing from the Lord.  Blogging allows Leaders to just ‘talk’ to the congregation in an informal environment. I personally would to hear what’s on the heart of my Bishop and his wife.  Blogging allows their thoughts to freely flow and assist in developing a ‘kindred’ spirit with the congregation.

5) Social Community.  Ministry is about Relationships.  Building strong relationships within the congregation empowers the church and brings a sense of unity.  Incorporating an application that allows Church members and potential members to stay connected throughout the week beyond a Sunday morning or Mid-Week experience is an excellent way to retain members and grow the Ministry.  This also includes Discussion Boards that allows members to share and discuss issues and share their views on various topics.

6) Event Calendar.  Everyone wants to know what is going on and what future events will be hosted by your Ministry.  Providing this information helps to inform existing members and allows future visitors to see if there are activities that match their Ministry needs. The key element to the Events Calendar is not to just have one, but KEEP IT UP TO DATE!!

7) Some type of Flash element. We live in a Visual Age. Let’s be honest, a dynamic, visually appealing website is a little more exciting than a static website.

Online Tithing!! This is a must.  Having an avenue where church members and website visitors can make contributions to your Ministry is a MUST HAVE.  To really make online Tithing useful, it should include functionality to allow users to schedule payments and configure ‘Recurring‘ payments.

9) Online Store.  A vital part of any Ministry is Product.  The ability to market and sell your Ministry products online is a key element to expanding the breathe and width of your outreach.  Products are a great way to allow the word that God has given you to be distributed locally, nationally, and globally.

Over the past few days, the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me in ‘list’.  Everything that I am hearing is in 1 – 2 -3 order.

So here’s the latest:  What are the Goals/Objectives of eMinistry?

I prefer to use the term Objectives because we are in a War; against the spirits and principalities of darkness in the CyberWorld. (This last statement is a book in itself)

The overall objectives of any eMinistry should not be that different from the goals of any Church.  At the core of any Ministry is Evangelism.  So why should online Ministries be any different?

Objective #1 – Spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Objective #2 – Lead the unsaved to Jesus Christ

Objective #3 – Help the Saved move from a level of Salvation to Sanctification and teach them how to maintain their Sanctification.

Objective #4 – Increase Knowledge of the Bible

Objective #5 – Provide a place of Refuge, Healing, and Deliverance

Objective #6 – Build a strong sense of Community with the Body of Christ

These are not the only Objectives but encompass the core of any eMinistry Strategy.

Ever visited a website and wanted to ask a question?  Usually, the only way to ask a question is to send an e-mail to the Blogger, Support Team, WebMaster or Administrator. This can be very frustrating.

Now image if your visitors could IM you on your blog or Ministry website?  This would really make your site Interactive.

A nice little app called Meebo will allow you to create a Chat application that can be placed on your site in 3 easy steps.  Users can check to see if your online and send you an IM.  If you not on, IMs can be retrieved at a later time.

Go to http://www.meebo.com/about to learn more. Don’t forget to Meebo me….!

Sample App….To Meebo me, scroll down the left column on my Blog

I just found a website called MyChurch.org.  According to the site, ‘MyChurch.org is a free online tool for churches to perform outreach and build communities by networking their congregation. Some of its features are a library for sermons and media, a social network, a sharing board, a collaborative blog, a photo sharing app, and an event calendar for you and your church.’

MyChurch.org can be used to compliment or supplement your exsiting Web Ministry.  This a great place to begin a Web Ministry.

And of course, the best part is that this service is FREE!!

I recently purchased a Blackberry Curve which I absolutely love.  One of the reasons for purchasing my Mobile device was to be able to access the web and read the bible online.  Each morning on my way to work, I do my Daily bible reading.  I was pleasantly surprised to come across a website called YouVersion.

YouVersion is a new way to read the Bible.  It incorporates your Daily Bible reading with the power of the Internet and creates an avenue to “read, study, share, contribute, create, broadcast and communicate the Word of God with others – globally”. YouVersion is a type of Online Community that allows users to collaborate with others and share their thoughts on various Bible Passages.

I love the fact YouVersion includes 31 Bible translations in 16 Languages. The best thing about this website is that the Bibles versions can be accessed via any Mobile device with Internet access.  Whether your using a Blackberry or I-Phone, YouVersion is compatible.

The idea behind YouVersion is to empower believers to become knowledgeable in the word of God by making the Bible accessible at all times.  As the founders of YouVersion put it ‘we are engaging people into relationships with God as they discover the relevance the Bible has for their lives.’

Here’s a YouTube video entitled: An Introduction to YouVersion created by LifeChurch.tv

Today, we live in a society full of acronyms and labels. Everything has a term or definition that uniquely describes and distinguishes itself from the next thing. With the expansion of the Internet and Web 2.0, a lot of non-technical terms have re-invented themselves in Cyberspace. The latest term that I have personally embraced is ‘eMinistry’.

What is eMinistry?

eMinistry, in my own terms is ‘the use of the Internet and other Electronic Media as an Evangelistic and Ministry tool with the sole purpose of interactively communicating the Gospel of Jesus Christ and expanding the Kingdom of God globally’.

According to Rev. Dr. W. Davies, ACS Technologies, ‘note in the definition of eMinistry’, the focus isn’t simply on the tools but on meeting the wide-ranging needs of the people. Too often, churches focus on the “E” that is “Electronics,” rather than on the “Ministry”.

I stand in total agreement with this definition.

When creating Web and Media Strategies for our Ministries, we must not lose sight of the fact that our main purpose is to Minister to the people and create RELATIONSHIPS. The tools are just the vehicle to reach the people. We must learn how to effectively incorporate both the tools of eMinistry and the work of the Ministry into a single entity that will go forth in the Power and Authority of the Holy Spirit and accomplish the purpose of winning Souls for the Kingdom of God and expanding the Kingdom of God globally.

The thing to remember is that eMinistry is not limited to the Internet. eMinistry involves all forms of Electronic Media that includes computers, cell phones, MP3 players, and other devices. As the church embraces the idea that these products can be used to send and receive the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, more souls will be won for the Kingdom of God.

eMinistry for most Ministries, is a Church Website with some flash elements that contains Ministry information, Prayer Request, an Events Calendar, etc. and allows access to audio and video sermon archives. These items are great and I commend you if you ministry is involved with the use of of these items. But that is where eMinistry ends for at least 95% of all Ministries functioning in this Age of Information. The other 5% of eMinistries are ususally involved with some type of Social Networking such as MySpace, FaceBook, MyChurch in an attempt to build virtual communities.

Ministry is about Relationships. Our walk with Jesus Christ is ALL about our Relationship with him.

So the question I ask is this, ‘What have we as eMinisters done to foster online Relationships with not just our Christian Brothers & Sisters but more importantly non-Believers that do not know Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour?’

Jesus said in Matthew 19:10, ‘For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost’. That is one of the main reasons that we are in Ministry: to let the lost/unsaved know about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It takes relationships with people to Minister to them.

As we continue to Minister on the Internet, we can save souls by becoming eMinisters that build relationships that will allow us to speak a word of Salvation to those looking for Jesus Christ online. Once they receive salvation, we need to continue to build our relationship with the newly saved to build the community and Kingdom of God.

When we use Internet Tools tools, the focus can be the Christian community because Christians continually need to grow and receive a Word from the Lord. But our main focus in these areas are to build relationships with the non-believer. Some of you may ask how do we accomplish this on secular sites?

Remember, everyone at some point in time needs someone to talk to, ask questions about God, or advice. You would be surprised at the number of people looking for God online. We need to provide a place of Refuge, Healing and Deliverance in these social networking territories. And how do we do that, by remembering that Ministry is about Relationships.

Posted by: eMinister

Luke 10:2 (NKJV) Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

According to Wikipedia, in 2007 over 798 million people around the world accessed the internet or equivalent mobile internet services such as WAP and i-Mode at least occasionally using a mobile phone rather than a personal computer.

Image having a room of over 798 million people available to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If only a small portion of these cell phone users receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ, say 5%, that would be approx. 39.9 million new believers. Talk about ministering to the masses!!

But ‘how can they hear without a preacher’?

As Ministry Leaders and Evangelist, we must begin to develop eMinistry strategies for Cell Phone Ministry. Development of Cell Phone content to educate, encourage, and minister to users about the Kingdom of God and the goodness of Jesus Christ as our Savior will be the key to a successful Cell Phone Ministry.

With today’s technology, the same content that is displayed on Church Websites, Ministry Blogs, Sermon Audio and Video can now be accessed via a Cell Phone.

Whether its via a Cell Phone that has Internet access or basic SMS text, there is a message from the Church that can be communicated.

SideNote: I use my Blackberry Curve to access the Internet when I am away from my computer. I read scripture using YouVersion and watch videos on Godtube.com. I even access my blog via my cell phone (see image above).

There are a number of tools which I will discuss in future blogs that will assist in creating Cell Phone Ministry content. Some of these tools include converting your existing website to a .mobi or Cell Phone compatible format and creating your own site specifically for Cell Phones.

There is a Harvest to be reached.

Please, please do not ignore this Harvest. As eMinisters, will be accountable for their Salvation and must make use of the eMinistry tools that God has equipped us with to Minister to this New Harvest.