The lower-left oval shape represents a group of people who are fairly
resistant and lack knowledge. The challenge is to use approaches which
reach down as far as possible into the bottom left-hand corner!
Push
Print, video, radio and TV are mainly 'push' mediums. They communicate by sending out a consecutive ('linear') prepared message, usually only to a single area of the world.
Pull
The Web however is a 'pull' medium. It pulls in visitors - though only on the basis of a defined interest. People usually go only to pages on subjects they are searching for. And of course, the incredible advantage of the Web is that it is global: anyone, anywhere - in China or the Middle East - can find a page in seconds.
Two-way
The other unique property of the Internet is interactivity. Not only are users in control of which pages to visit, they can also send feedback to a webmaster. They can easily ask questions, receive help and advice, leave comments in a guest-book, or discuss issues on a Bulletin board or an email discussion group. This option to build 'community' around a website is very important. It helps people feel wanted and that their opinions are valued. It gives them a place where they can ask questions in a safe way, when perhaps they would not do that face-to-face.
For evangelistic websites, this interaction is very important. Very few people become Christians just by reading something. Conversion is usually a long process, and involves friendly interaction with people who are already Christians. Think back to how you became a Christian. For most people, seeing the life of Jesus in someone else, usually through experiencing friendship, is the most powerful witness.
All mediums are not the same
TV is not just radio with pictures. Print is not just speech written down. So too the Web should not be
seen as just another way of delivering tracts or sermons. It is a revolutionary medium which
can be used for evangelism if we understand its unique dynamic and develop strategies
which understand and 'work with the grain' of an interactive medium where the user is in control.
The original Engel Scale proposed 13 steps through which people usually travel on their spiritual journey:
+5 Stewardship
+4 Communion with God
+3 Conceptual and behavioral growth
+2 Incorporation into Body
+1 Post-decision evaluation
New birth
-1 Repentance and faith in Christ
-2 Decision to act
-3 Personal problem recognition
-4 Positive attitude towards Gospel
-5 Grasp implications of Gospel
-6 Awareness of fundamentals of Gospel
-7 Initial awareness of Gospel
-8 Awareness of supreme being, no knowledge of Gospel
For a more detailed graphical picture, click here
You can see from this scale that perhaps we should present the Gospel differently to people who are at different points. Someone at -7 on the scale cannot be treated the same as a person at -3 who has already understood much of the Truth and is almost ready to place their faith in Jesus.
The problem is that Christian outreach often only touches people who already have an understanding of the Gospel because of previous church background. They know the language and concepts already. So, we can be quite good at reaching the 'once-churched', yet may miss the 'never-churched' completely.
Gray is the color of life
The Gray Matrix adds a horizontal axis to this scale - antagonism/enthusiasm. This very simple picture is very important because it helps us to understand important evangelistic concepts.
For people who may be antagonistic or uninterested, we must work hard to identify with their feelings. We must avoid a 'preachy' approach, and instead place ourselves at their level, in their shoes, relating to their interests and language. This is sometimes called "contextualization". It has nothing to do with compromising or watering down the Gospel. Catherine Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army, said,
"God forbid that I should ever teach any adaptation of the Gospel. But I contend that we may serve it up in any sort of dish that will induce the people to partake of it."
Contextualization is important to communicate with those of other faiths or none. "You never know till you try to reach them how accessible men are; but you must approach each man by the right door." (Henry Ward Beecher)
Christian organizations involved in online evangelism may be wise to choose a different name to brand themselves for a non-Christian readership, than that they use for their Christian supporters.
More on the Gray Matrix
Detailed analysis of the Engel Scale
"If you want to make an evangelistic page, don't write about the Gospel."Are you serious?
But what are most people searching for online? The things that interest them!
"Bait the hook according to what the fish likes, not what the fisherman likes." (Hemingway)Write pages on these secular subjects or felt needs and you can target any group of people. This is often called the 'Bridge Strategy'. Others may use a different name (for instance 'magnet pages'), but it means the same - identifying with the real interests. This does not mean that we make trick pages that are not really about the subject they claim to be. If we write a page about restoring VW cars, or breeding mice, or a favorite musician, the page must truly be 'about' that subject. It must be as good and informative as possible, maybe with many helpful links to other pages on the subject.
There are several ways that you can draw people 'across the bridge' to pages which explain the Gospel:
a. Your testimony
Whatever sort of site you have, make a link to 'meet the webmaster' or 'my story'. Here is a chance to share your testimony. (But don't call it 'testimony' - that's a Christian jargon word.) Introduce yourself first, where you live, what you like, etc.
Then go on to explain how something happened to you which changed your whole view of life. "People are interested in people." They always turn to the human-interest stories in newspapers first.
Short audio or video clips of the person can also add interest to a testimony page.
b. 'Meaning of life' links
On any type of website, you can offer a link such as 'What is the meaning of life?' or 'Finding real fulfillment'. These do not sound preachy or even Christian, yet show some sort of non-threatening 'spirituality' content.
c. Parable meanings
Jesus used stories with a message as his main means of evangelistic communication. And he didn't always explain the meaning - he left people to go away and think!
Whatever the subject of a website, it is possible to write a page which brings out a parable or allegory from the main subject. For instance, a site about restoring VW cars can include a page which suggests that just as old cars need new engines, we need something new inside our lives. A site about breeding mice, can include a page about how a mother mouse cares for her young, and this is the same as God's care for people.
There is an angle like this for almost any subject. Films, books and music lend themselves very well to this approach. They often contain meanings which the writers never intended.
All these types of pages can also link to a central part of the site which explains the Gospel in meaningful easy terms . . .
Explaining the Gospel
It is actually hard to explain the essentials of the Gospel in a web-page, taking these factors into account:
It may better to link to an existing Gospel presentation, instead of writing your own. There are some high-quality presentations available from major ministries, and they often have the advantage of a follow-up system for inquirers. Power to Change is a good presentation in a growing range of languages:
You can, if you wish, link to such presentations through a narrow top frame: [How to] [Demo] which integrates their pages within your site, though not all webmasters are happy with this. (Power to Change team are!)
Take time and prayer to find a clear strategy and focus for an evangelistic site. The best sites are usually preceded by months of prayer and online research.
From bottom up, before anything is written, plan to:
Pinecrest Community Church is a very good example of a welcoming church site which is
reaching many very effectively. Church sites can also use the 'bridge strategy' to draw people in, by making pages on secular topics. A page of secular community links (covering shops, schools, colleges, tourism, local history, etc.)
is particularly good for a church site.
Churches with pages designed to welcome non-Christians are finding them to be an
effective outreach .
An online two-way discussion for inquirers, based on the Alpha evangelistic group Bible study concept, is a strategy with big potential for church sites: And surely all church sites should carry testimonies of some members.
It is possible to create church sites without knowing HTML using template-editing systems provided by a number of groups. [>more]
There is a free poster about this Guide which you can print for your church noticeboard.
CCC has partnered with other ministries and groups of churches to promote the site using secular advertising on buses (for a regional church-based campaign) and TV advertising. This approach is very successful: [>more]
a. Sport, hobbies and special interests
Jason Stevens is built round an individual Christian sportsman.
But there are few other such sport pages.
Hobby pages and affinity-group interests represent a major evangelistic opportunity.
b. Science
c. Health and personal needs People have so many personal needs and desperately seek answers online. Running on Empty is a well-designed site which deals with inner emptiness and needs, without seeming preachy. Christina Burbeck gets encouraging feedback.
The needs of business professionals are addressed in a very effective integrated outreach to business people.
d. Women's interests
Technical note: despite a complex front page, Women Today Magazine and IamNext work well at any screen resolution, down to 640 x 480 or even WebTV, and do not force irritating horizontal scroll-bars at these lower resolutions. (This is easily achievable by using percentages and avoiding graphics which would force a table too wide.)
A case study on effective communication
Editor Claire Colvin writes: "It seems so obvious that a Christian site is not necessarily an evangelistic site. One of the biggest barriers that stops a site from being truly evangelistic is language. One thing you'll notice on the Women Today site is a lack of Christian terminology. You don't see words like 'church, pray, salvation, holy, sanctified, born again, repent'. Instead, you find articles written from a Christian perspective but presented in regular English."
e. Teens
Other top teen/student sites:
f. Children
Games can be a feature of children's websites, and can be easily added to a page using Javascript.
g. Bulletin board apologetics discussion
h. Looking at the culture One of the most popular evangelistic sites on the Web (with many millions of hits) is Pastor Dave Bruce's Hollywood Jesus. He used to work in the film/broadcasting industry and writes about recent film releases, not as normal film reviews, but instead looking for parable meanings from the story-line. Leslie Hand's Movie Glimpse uses a similar strategy - read her explanation of this approach.
Hobbit Lore makes excellent use of the Lord of the Rings story to present the Gospel.
A similar strategy can be used for many pop songs and music groups. Music pages receive millions of hits. The words of most songs are about emotions or situations which make a starting point for a parable interpretation. A similar approach can be used with fiction and plays. Yet almost no-one is using this approach - which could touch millions of people.
Shoot the Messenger.
analyzes popular culture from a Christian viewpoint: music, film, literature, magazines, TV and cultural trends such as fashion, recreation, New Age beliefs, social, philosophical and political issues. They are excellent non-confrontational evangelistic sites carefully targeting non-Christians.
'Reality' TV is unbelievably popular, with shows such as Big Brother and Survivor attracting millions. UK's official Big Brother website had millions of hits in a week. More British people voted to remove Big Brother members, than voted in the 2001 British government elections. Gospelsearch has used this approach in English and several Scandinavian languages to create the Big Father site.
Understanding our culture
It is also important to understand what other religions and cults believe.
i. Other approaches There are thousands of other subjects for evangelistic websites. Hobbies, people, history, tourism. If you have an interest in it, you are equipped to write about it! There is a big need for sites which engage with New Age and occult issues in a sensitive way.
5. Church pages
On a church page, visitors will expect the material to be Christian! However, most church sites seem to be written only for their members. Outsiders are not always obviously welcome. Few church sites carry any sort of link explaining the Gospel. Even fewer make such a link look enticing and relevant to non-Christians.
This comprehensive page of resources is also available for easy syndicated insertion into any website.
6. Top evangelistic sites
Power to Change
Power to Change from Campus Crusade Canada is an excellent general-purpose evangelistic site, combining a clear explanation of the Gospel, questions and answers on particular problems, and testimony. It is available in a number of languages, and the team is looking for help to translate it into new languages. Consider linking to it, rather than attempting to write your own explanations of the Gospel.Using the 'Bridge' approach
There are many good evangelistic pages using the 'Bridge' concept:
Sports have a worldwide following - there are even Chinese-language Manchester United sites! An evangelistic site can be built around a particular sport, team, event, or sports-people.
The Goal and To the Next Level use testimony in a very effective way. Doug Reese, webmaster of To the Next Level, shares recent encouraging feedback.
Life's Big Questions is an excellent and thought-provoking presentation of the relationship between science, cosmology and faith, featuring interviews with top scientists. Note how the site does not criticize science or sound preachy. Because of this, and because it interviews top people in their fields, it retains credibility. Fred Heeren reports recent feedback from this site.
Health sites are the second most searched-for on the Web. (You can guess the number one topic.)
There are many opportunities to create support pages around a particular illness. Sadly,
although a number of Christians have done this, often they have defined the page as a 'support
page for Christians', which seems to exclude non-Christians. But others have realized the
importance of building pages that welcome non-Christians, on such topics as heart problems,
diabetes, sudden infant death, post-abortion trauma, Parkinson's disease, or post-polio
syndrome. There are many opportunities to create other such sites.
Women Today Magazine is a remarkable comprehensive site (1000+ pages) from Campus Crusade Canada. Note how it offers useful information for living, and does not obviously appear to be Christian or preachy on the front page. There is testimony and evangelism in there - when people are ready for it. One of the site team writes: "This strategy has worked well for Womentodaymagazine.com, which receives over a million hits from all over the world each month. By taking a 'value-added' approach to sharing Christ and offering people legitimate products and services, both IamNext.com [see below] and Women Today Magazine are very effective in gaining a hearing for the gospel."
Because Campus Crusade also produces Christian Women Today, a site of similar appearance but for Christian women readers, this makes a wonderful opportunity for a case-study comparison. At first glance, some Christians would see comfortable Christian words on front page and inner pages - prayer, Bible, saved, etc., and say, "Ah, this is the best evangelistic site. This must preach the Gospel." But no! Christian Women Today was designed for Christians. No doubt some non-Christians will visit, as with any site.
IamNext is another valuable site from CCC.
Using the same strategy as Women Today Magazine, this highly effective, non-preachy site can easily engage young people and students.
The team writes, "In the first 10 days of April alone, 12 people prayed to receive Christ and eight people re-dedicated their lives through IamNext.com,
Campus Ministries' new evangelistic website for university and college students. Site statistics
indicate that hundreds more have been exposed to the gospel by going through The Four Spiritual Laws
and reading student testimonies. Reports of more conversions and rededications are coming in each day."
Sadly, most Christian pages for children look very like Sunday School lessons for those with
plenty of Bible background. There are few truly evangelistic sites for children who know little
of Christianity. What is the reason for this? Here is a big gap to fill!
Many evangelistic sites include bulletin boards for feedback and discussion. 'Apologetics for non-Christians' sites are particularly suited to this type of interaction. Some are designed mainly for discussion, others include additional apologetic material too:
Almost every culture spends a large part of its leisure time in an unreal world! Where? The world of stories: books, theater, films, video. Why did Jesus communicate almost entirely through short stories? And often leave people to go away and think...?
It is very important that Christians learn to understand the post-Christian 'post-modern' culture we live in, so that we can learn to present the Gospel in appropriate terms. These resource sites for Christians are designed to equip us for this:
There are many other ways for sharing the Gospel online: