Below is an article on an initiative started in the UK. I think it would be a great idea for several churches to get together and do for their city. The more churches the better, it makes social marketing more effective. You could have thousands of people posting, tweeing and googling about the opportunity to ask spiritual questions in a safe and anonymous atmosphere. Of course there would be a lot of work to put into it such as training people, gathering materials to send (these materials would all be free to send over the internet) a quality website to connect through and provide many resources.
The website can be simple as with GroundWire.org.uk or it can offer many other resources such as downloadable information, links to local churches a prominent link to a local suicide hotline, educational and or evangelistic Christan videos and more.
I used to run a regular chat room in AOL. It was centered around Christian business but we had many peole come into the room asking questions about Christianity. I invited many of those to one on one chat and several of those were meaningful and we chatted regularly for weeks.The unfortunate part of it is that these people were from all over the world and not part of the community I was in. I my self would love to participate in something like this in my city.
New online evangelism initiative launched
The UK-based Internet Mission has just launched GroundWire UK, a new initiative providing 1-to-1 chat 24/7, offering people online the opportunity to chat to a Spiritual Coach at any time of day or night!
GroundWire’s aim is to help the church to connect with people online, they are seeking to help those with spiritual questions to find Jesus and find a local church that can help them more. The emphasis is evangelism rather than counseling although pastoral advice and care is a natural part of the help they give.
GroundWire is looking to recruit new volunteer Spiritual Coaches so that the work can grow in the UK. They are also looking to partner with churches and Christian organizations who will promote the “opportunity to chat with someone who cares” facility from their website or on other literature that they give to those they are seeking to reach out to.
“It is so important that we are found where people are going looking for answers! At some point during nearly every day there are people in need having to wait to talk with a Spiritual Coach, we really don’t want them going away without finding someone who cares to chat with!”
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