A good idea just got a whole lot better.
In 1998 Anglican Media Sydney created Christianity.net.au, an internet site designed to present the Gospel to a generation fast turning to the Internet for answers.
That site has now been totally re-built and re-written thanks to the efforts of John Dickson and a team of internet-savvy evangelists from Anglican Media, Youthworks, Moore College and several other top Christian web-heads.
Features features features!
The latest version of Christianity.net.au combines all the best features of the previous site with specially written material that takes into account the mind-set of post-modern generations sifting the web:
"¢ God makes sense John Dickson has master-minded a new Gospel presentation that takes into account today's desire to personally investigate the ideas behind the Gospel. It presents the inquirer with questions to think through rather than bald statements of fact. It also allows them the ability to "dig deeper' on those issues that particularly touch them as they evaluate God's claim on their life.
"¢ Does it make sense to you? The most successful part of the previous incarnation of Christianity.net.au was the user's ability to submit a question about Christianity and receive a personal Bible-based answer. This much-missed service is back and better than ever. Inquirers can send the site a question that will be answered by a team of theological students, lecturers, ministers and youth workers.
"¢ The Facts + Viewpoints Maybe the question is an all-time classic conundrum? Christianity.net.au contains a collection of all-time classic Christian answers. The latest version of the site brings together trusted authors like Broughton Knox, Andrew Cameron and John Woodhouse to provide answers to some of the more enduring questions " everything from the reliability of the Bible to a Christian approach to the environment. The answers are edited for easy digestion but have lost none of their power, and the list is set to grow.
"¢ Making sense of the world The post-modern inquirer wants to know more than what Christianity says " he or she wants to know if it works. They want to see Christianity in action. The new Christianity.net.au contains regularly updated articles on current films, books, albums and other social phenomena likely to be on the mind of the average web surfer.
Youth-oriented but flexible
Christianity.net.au is squarely aimed at the teens and twenties market that makes up such a significant percentage of Internet users. Rather than drive users down a particular channel, the site is designed to encourage users to explore Christianity. This is definitely not a one-visit site! The construction lends itself to use by groups as well as individuals and is likely to become a favourite resource of Christian Studies and Scripture teachers. Also, Christianity.net.au isn't branded with any obvious denominational links so it's flexible enough to be used in a wide range of contexts.
Set to grow
Christianity.net.au represents a renewed commitment to on-line evangelism by Anglican Media Sydney. This new version is only the first stage of a re-invigorated site. The next update will include:
"¢ On-line Bible studies
"¢ MP3 and video resources
"¢ Searchable question libraries
"¢ The beginner's Bible research toolkit
And coming very soon, a free resource kit for churches and Christian groups wanting to integrate Christianity.net.au into their own internet sites and ministries.
