In New Testament times, the Roman Road system was strategic in God's plan. It enabled the spread of the Gospel throughout the then-known world. In the same way, the Internet today is a worldwide network which can facilitate effective Gospel communication.
The Internet has become a 21st century Roman road, marketplace, theater, backyard fence, and office drinks machine. Web evangelism gives believers opportunities to reach people with the Gospel right where they are, just as Jesus and Paul did. The Web is an open window to the whole world.
The Web's explosive growth has been remarkable. In ten short years, it jumped from being a minority hobby for computer enthusiasts to a communication medium used by over 1000 million people worldwide. If your visit to this website lasts ten minutes, in that time interval 460 people will have used the Web for their very first time.
The world impact of the Internet and the digital revolution will be as far-reaching as the invention of the printing press.
Relationship and connection are at the heart of the Internet. Before the Web, a person's circle of relationships was usually initiated by face-to-face contact, and then sustained by pesronal meetings, letter or phone. Naturally, there tended to be a geographic limitation to a circle of relationships. But with the Web, relationships can be initiated and maintained online, and physical location is no longer an issue. Using the Web, people can also maintain, at least at a limited level, a much wider range of relationships.
The nature of the Internet is a pull medium. There is no automatic audience for any website. There are only three ways that someone will find a site:
1. using a search engine
2. following a link from another website
3. by a personal recommendation - in an email, on a contact card, in print, TV/radio etc.
The majority of website visits start through a search engine. Most other visits result from following recommended links on websites.
Because people are in control of which pages they visit, in general they only find sites they are searching for - those which correspond to their particular interests and needs. Only rarely do people find sites by accident about topics which do not interest them, and even more rarely will they linger at them. (If you have no interest in chess, when did you last accidentally find a chess website?)
Most people are not seeking for God. Although research shows that a surprising number of people do search the Web on broadly ‘religious' topics, we must assume that these relate to all types of religions, including searches for horoscopes, fortune telling, and similar New Age issues.
It is said that in any population at any one time, only about 2% of the people are knowingly seeking for God.
The Bridge Strategy
"Bait the hook according to what the fish likes, not what the fisherman likes." - Hemingway
Here's the logic:
1. Most non-Christians are not seeking for God.
2. Most online non-Christians have no wish to search for Christian websites.
3. All online non-Christians are searching for websites on needs they have, and topics that interest them.
4. Therefore to reach non-Christians, we must create websites around the topics and felt needs that they have. This is the Bridge Strategy.
It is "fishing on the other side of the boat": John 21:5-6.
The Bridging Transition
A bridge site must be truly about the topic or need that is its starting point. There must be no sense of ‘bait and switch' - this is not a ‘decoy trick'. But we can then transition across, with integrity, to:
* testimony pages - of the webmaster, or other people associated with the site topic. (But don't use the word ‘testimony' - it is a jargon word. ‘Life story' is much better.)
* parallel pages: almost all secular topics contain embedded within them a spiritual parallel which can be drawn out.
* ‘meaning of life' questions: pages which ask leading questions
* a gospel presentation; the three previous categories of page can gently lead to an explanation of the way of salvation (within the site, or as an off-site link).
What can we write Bridge pages about?
Anything! If you have a hobby or sport, you share that interest with millions of others. If you have come through a difficult personal problem or illness, you can be sure that is a felt need for millions of others. Do you have a professional interest? This is a wide-open field. The potential is mind-blowing.
(Examples)