. . . seizing the potential:: a Web Outreach focus day ::
For immediate release May 2008
Publicity and media contacts
We offer below a range of news items and short articles which can be adapted and edited for
any Christian magazine, church bulletin, email newsletter or the religion section of a secular newspaper .
The articles can also be inserted directly into any web-page using a simple
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Who to send them to
Please would you print out and send one of these news releases to:
your favorite Christian print publications
a Christian radio news editor,
the religion news editor of your local or national
secular newspaper
any Christian or secular news agency in your country
with a polite explanatory letter. Please also email these items to any online publication, newsletter or blog.
You can if you wish customize the news item by adding a commendation quote of your own about
IE Day. Just copy/paste the text into your own word-processed document, edit it, and send
on your own headed paper.
If you click on the print link at the end of each news release,
that item alone will print out, ready-formatted for paper. Don’t feel that “someone else must
have already done it” – they probably have not! And if several people send the same item,
this does not matter. Just post it with a covering note from yourself.
Other opportunities
There are many other ways you can help to make IE Day known.
If you are a ministry already involved in web evangelism, IE Day offers
you a chance to enhance your ministry.
IE Day is supported by a growing range
of Christian leaders and organizations.
Interviews
These IE Day representatives are available for email/telephone/radio interview about the Day
[timezones]
or broader issues relating to online evangelism:
Robby Richardson, Executive Direction, Internet Evangelism Coalition (USA)
We offer two short audio introductions to IE Day voiced by Ruth Mark of Radio Worldwide, which can be used in radio broadcasts,
podcasts, church announcement spots, or you can even add one to your own site: 3-minute overview 1-minute introduction spot
You can also offer a link to these presentations in print, using this shortcut URL: www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/audio
Press releases
27 April is Internet Evangelism Day
"We'd love to use the Web for outreach, but we don't know how," is a frequently heard sentiment.
27 April has been designated Internet Evangelism Day – a worldwide focus day which answers this need, by offering churches and other groups the means to create
a web awareness focus spot in their activities. By using free downloads
from the Internet Evangelism Day website – PowerPoint, video clips, music, drama scripts or handouts
– churches can demonstrate to their members the huge potential of the Web for evangelism.
Their website also carries a wide range of pages explaining how best to build church websites, write blogs,
create video clips, and interact in many other ways with the worldwide web community, to share the gospel. InternetEvangelismDay.com
Churches who have used these materials are excited. "People were challenged and inspired!
As a result, we will review our church website, add evangelistic signature blocks to emails, and learn
how to use Bulletin Boards and Chat Rooms for evangelism," said a church in Australia.
"I want to thank you for the free resources you have provided through your website. This is a
huge help for small churches such as ours," claimed a church leader in California.
One surprising aspect that the IE Day team emphasize: web evangelism is for anyone,
not just the technically gifted. "There are many ways to share your faith online, without
any technical background at all," says IE Day Coordinator Tony Whittaker.
The Internet Evangelism Day website is at InternetEvangelismDay.com.
And you can listen to a 3-minute MP3 audio introduction to IE Day at
InternetEvangelismDay.com/audio.
New Online Tool for Church Websites
Summary
New online self-assessment tool from the Internet Evangelism Day team enables churches to develop and
improve their websites.
"Does your church's website communicate to outsiders as well as to the members?"
asks a new web resource. A church site is the congregation's 'shop window' to its community.
To fulfill this function well, it must be enticing, people-centered and easily understood by outsiders. Unfortunately,
many churches are unsure how to achieve this vital mix.
So the Internet Evangelism Day team has produced an online self-assessment tool. It leads a
church through a series of questions, to highlight areas of their website which may need development: InternetEvangelismDay.com/design
This questionnaire can also be easily added to other webpages using an insertion code.
A church site which has been prioritized for non-Christian visitors can be remarkably effective in reaching the
community. "Week in, week out, more visitors turn up at our church on a Sunday because of the website,
than anything else," writes one growing church in London.
The Internet Evangelism Day ('IE Day') site also explains other types of online evangelism, such as outreach
websites, video clips, blogging and podcasts. There is even a free 'conversation starter'
screen-saver to download.
Holding a focus day on 27 April
The IE Day team also encourages churches and other groups to hold their own 'web awareness'
focus day. The IE Day site provides downloadable video clips, drama sketches,
posters, handouts and a PowerPoint presentation, making it easy for any church to create its own IE Day program.
This can as brief as a 2-minute spot within a worship time, or an entire themed church service, seminar, or midweek
meeting.
Churches that have already held their own focus day are enthusiastic. "It was a real eye-opener for many,"
writes one in Muncie, Indiana. "We held a midweek evening presentation of 90 minutes, for other
local churches," says another from Dawlish UK.
A Canadian church leader comments, "I used a 10-minute presentation that focused on how anyone can get
involved in reaching out to the Internet community. I also added a section on using our church website as an evangelism
tool, as some of our members have already had great success with it."
"I am glad to commend Internet Evangelism Day," says John Stott.
Internet Evangelism Day is an initiative of the Internet Evangelism Coalition, an umbrella group of
major interdenominational Christian groups involved in Web ministry: InternetEvangelismDay.com
Interviews available: InternetEvangelismDay.com/publicity
Photos available: InternetEvangelismDay.com/photos
Recommended photo for this item: InternetEvangelismDay.com/churchphoto
Additional articles - ready-made material and MP3s: InternetEvangelismDay.com/articles
Leaders supporting IE Day: InternetEvangelismDay.com/supporting
Online RTF formatted version of this release: InternetEvangelismDay.com/latestnews
This is the Day for Digital Evangelism
There is a new program to help the worldwide Church understand effective strategies for online outreach. Churches and
other groups can create an awareness program using Internet Evangelism Day’s ready-made PowerPoint,
video clips, dramas, music and handouts. Or just learn how to build effective church pages, blogs or
outreach sites from the detailed IE Day resource site: www.InternetEvangelismDay.com
Internet Evangelism Day is 27 April 2008
...a resource focusing on Internet outreach
The growth of the Internet over the last 12 years has been incredible, and over one billion people
now use the Web. There are many thousands of Christian websites,
but the vast majority of these are written only for Christians. Very few are designed to
reach out effectively to non-Christians. Yet the potential is vast.
So the Internet Evangelism Coalition (an umbrella group of outreach ministries)
is offering churches and other groups a focus day program called ‘Internet Evangelism Day’.
The website is at: www.InternetEvangelismDay.com
This is purely a ‘web evangelism awareness day’ and resource site – there is no fund-raising
element. Many churches and other Christian groups have already used this exciting focus
within church services and other meetings. The IE Day site offers downloadable
materials for this purpose: 5-minute video testimonies of people who found God online, drama
scripts, PowerPoint presentations, discussion questions, and many helpful links. “Our
church just started a website and we think that this will give us an opportunity to
take it to another level,” says a church in St Louis, Missouri.
The IE Day team hopes for a range of outcomes. High on their list is that churches will create
effective websites which can reach out into the community, rather than just be an online
noticeboard for members. “It’s an exciting challenge,”
says IE Day Co-ordinator Tony Whittaker. “The potential of the Web is
enormous.”
Other leaders share his enthusiasm. “The Internet is one of the most key tools that
God has given us in the church today,” writes George Verwer, founder of Operation Mobilization.
“I am excited to see how God will reveal Himself in mighty ways through the uniqueness
of cyberspace,” comments Dr. David Tucker of Trans World Radio.
IE Day is endorsed internationally by a wide range of organizations and denominations.
For more news of Internet Evangelism Day, visit
www.InternetEvangelismDay.com
New Page Helps Church Websites Reach Out Effectively
What happens when a church creates a website with just its members in mind? Only the members
read it! But what is the result when a church has a site specifically designed to reach
outsiders, in user-friendly language which connects with their lives? …
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Read also how different magazines have written about web evangelism and IE Day recently: Religion Today [www.crosswalk.com/news/religiontoday/1315530.html] |
AG Evangel [www.ag.org/top/news/] |
Decision Magazine | [www.billygraham.org/DMag_PI_Index.asp]Christian Computing Magazine | [ccmag.gospelcom.net/0605/0605internetministry.pdf]Lausanne World Pulse Feb 06 | [www.lausanneworldpulse.com/perspectives/215/02-2006]Lausanne World Pulse April 06 | [www.lausanneworldpulse.com/perspectives/215/02-2006]Christian Post | [www.christianpost.com/article/20070429/27145_Digital_Christian_Outreach_Picks_Up_Steam.htm]Christianity.ca [www.christianity.ca/faith/sharing-faith/2007/04.001.html]
Internet Evangelism Day was initiated by the Internet Evangelism Coalition, an
umbrella organization of international evangelical Christian ministries involved in online outreach.
The following media representatives for IE Day are available for interview:
Sterling Huston, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association & IEC chair (USA) tel: (612) 924-8910
Robby Richardson, Gospelcom.net (USA) tel: (231) 773-3361 extension 236
Debra Brown, Brown Governance (Canada) tel: (613) 226-2704
Tony O'Hagan, Campus Crusade Affiliate; Senior Research Fellow, ITEE, University of Queenslan Australia)
tel: +61 (7) 3103-5504 (8:30pm-10:00pm), cell: 0421 230 767 (office hours), Timezone: "Brisbane" GMT+10, email Tony Whittaker, Web Evangelism Guide, IE Day coordinator (UK) tel: +44 (0)1283 702334 (day, GMT office hours) +44 (0)1283 702229 (evening) GMT
Web: InternetEvangelismDay.com
Email: officeInternetEvangelismDay.com
Photos to accompany this news item are available at InternetEvangelismDay.com/photos
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