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Digital evangelism to the non-western world and unreached people groups
To share with Muslims, we do need to understand how they think. Here are several articles to help us think through these issues:
* The Missing Father – explaining a Trinitarian Concept of God to Muslims
* Understanding shame cultures – completely different to the culture you probably belong to
* Oral Communication Cultures – although Muslims are people of the book, they are also within a broadly oral communication culture (as indeed are many westerners who do not get much information from print media)
http://internetevangelismday.com/blog/archives/356
Not brochureware any more
Each time a new medium arrives, Christians may well adopt it reasonably quickly, but tend to perceive and use it in the way they used a previous medium. One example is Christian radio. For many years (and this approach is not extinct even today), the tendency was to transfer the medium of communal church worship directly to radio: hymns, prayers and sermons.
http://internetevangelismday.com/blog/archives/590
Contextualization - we must contextualize to effectively communicate the Christian Gospel
Contextualization means, quite simply, communicating the gospel in understandable terms appropriate to the audience. All Christian communication should be contextualized. A Sunday School teacher using simple language and child-related illustrations, games, and activities, is contextualizing. A pastor sharing a message in a senior citizens’ home, with appropriate sermon illustrations and an understanding of the unique needs of old people, is using contextualization.
http://internetevangelismday.com/contextualization.php
Relating to the culture: effective Christian communication must relate to surrounding culture
There are right and wrong ways of relating to the culture around us. “Draw three large boats in relation to the sea: the first a submarine under the sea, the second a hovercraft above the sea, and the third a ship cutting through the sea. Imagine the sea is the culture that surrounds us and that the three boats represent three relationships Christians can have with culture. There are those who are submerged in it, those who hover above it, and those that are in it but not of it. Which boat most represents your relationship to the culture that surrounds you?”
http://internetevangelismday.com/relating-culture.php
Digital communication culture
Computers and digital media are changing the world. We need to be like the men of Issachar, “.. who understood the times and knew what Israel should do...” – 1 Chronicles 12:32.
There are now over 2 billion users around the world, and the majority of them are in non-Western nations, especially the hard-to-reach ‘10-40 Window’ region. Many people look to the Internet as their first port of call for help and information on virtually anything.
http://internetevangelismday.com/digital-communication-culture.php
Other religions - the comparative differences between Christianity and other faiths
We need to understand the big differences between biblical Christianity and every other religion (including apparently ‘Christian’ cults)
http://internetevangelismday.com/religion.php
How people become Christians: Gray Matrix explains spiritual journey of conversion, salvation + growth
Engel promoted a revolution. Not Engels the Marxist thinker, but James Engel the missiologist. He first outlined what has become known as the 'Engel Scale of Spiritual Decision'. This describes the way in which an individual, or by extension a whole group, progress in their understanding of the Gospel, as God's sovereign grace begins to illuminate their hearts. By understanding the way God communicates, we can become better co-communicators.
http://internetevangelismday.com/gray-matrix.php
Free e-book: How to Think Like an Unchurched Person, by Pastor Bob Franquiz
What is it like to visit a church for the first time as an outsider? Bob Franquiz is a pastor who had never visited a synagogue before. He applies his experience to helping first-time visitors, both on a church website and when they arrive in person, in this useful 6-page PDF e-book.
http://internetevangelismday.com/bookreviews/think-like-an-unchurched-person.php
Book review: The Death of Truth, editor Dennis McCallum, Baker Book Publishers
Christianity and Christian ethics are under attack as never before. But so often, we are like a blind-folded child in a party game: we know someone is hitting us, but we don’t understand who, why, or the nature of the attack. This book is probably the best available for explaining ‘postmodernism’. Don’t be put off by this technical term! It really just means ‘mood of the age’.
http://internetevangelismday.com/bookreviews/death-of-truth.php
Book review: The New Community Rules - Marketing on the Social Web, by Tamar Weiberg
It’s a little over 300 pages, but reads easily and is a great reference tool for navigating social media sites such as Facebook and Flickr, understanding blogs and why YouTube is so popular. If you are in ministry and are not using social media, or just getting your feet wet, this book will really flesh out the why’s behind everything and how to leverage social media towards your organization’s goals.
http://internetevangelismday.com/bookreviews/the-new-community-rules-marketing-on-the-s...