Lausanne World Pulse – Perspectives Articles – Reaching an Online Generation
December 2009
In terms of size, the Internet is already very large. Let’s just take two figures: there are 1.5 billion Internet users with 300 million of them on Facebook. At the end of 2009 Facebook will probably be as big as the USA. The new generation is online! The number of users is exploding and is going to grow to three billion in the coming years thanks to mobile phones with Internet access. The potential to spread the good news is phenomenal (click here to read more about this).
It has been twelve years since I started using the Internet to share the gospel. In 1997, I launched a website to promote the church I was planting in the south of France. Then, in 1998, I launched a Christian portal (www.topchretien.com), and in 2003, a multi-lingual evangelistic website called www.LookingforGod.com. Since that time, sixty million people have visited the websites and millions have accepted the Lord or rededicated their lives to him. I am blessed and amazed to be a laborer in his harvest! But one laborer alone cannot make a big difference. Jesus said, “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers [plural] into his harvest.”
Therefore, together with other laborers representing different Christian organizations in about fifteen countries, we developed the Jesus Internet Project to strategically position websites on the Internet, in the main languages of the Internet. Some websites act as bridges to the main websites (landing pages), others present the gospel, others are entirely dedicated to the follow-up of seekers who want to learn more about Jesus. We are calling it the “stepping stones strategy.”
Together, we want to use and promote a common brand: Jesus.net. We invite every person or organization on the Internet to join us. Our goal is simple: make Jesus famous on the Internet! We will develop and offer a tool which is able to transform every website into an evangelistic one. The real strength of Christians is revealed when they overcome their differences to work in unity.
For many, the Internet is an additional audience for their ministry. For others, it is a way to earn money. I believe the Internet is the best opportunity for Christians to work together to make Jesus and his message known.
We need to understand that the Internet is far bigger than any organization and that building one’s “own little kingdom” is not the solution. Together we can do what no one can do alone!
What Are Christians Doing on the Internet?
Christians have launched websites to present their services and their message. As a result, there are a huge number of sites, most of which receive very few visits. If you type the word “God” in Google, you will find 365,000,000 pages—one million pages to visit each day during one whole year.
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Eric Célérier is a French pastor and founder of TopChretien.com, a Christian Internet portal for French speaking people which receives 1.2 million visits per month. He also initiated Jesus.net and is an active member of the Lausanne Strategy Working Group. He and his wife, Muriel, and their three children live near Paris. |