By Cheryl Sloan Wray
The traditional styles of personal ministry — talking about one’s faith, inviting someone to church, vocal witnessing, lifestyle evangelism — still apply in today’s world, but a new form of sharing faith is quickly gaining ground in the tech-savvy 21st century.
Just a few years ago, few people even knew what a blog was. Today — through such sites as MySpace, Facebook, Typepad, WordPress and Blogger — Christians are using blogs to share their faith, not just with their families or communities but with the entire world.
And Christian women have found a spot just for them in this new world.
Blogs (derived from the term “Web log”) are online journals that are very easy to access and maintain; blog users can journal about their daily lives, share photos, share their beliefs and basically tell “their stories.”
Missy Smith, who works in the Early Learning Center at The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, in Birmingham Baptist Association, shares her life experiences and her faith through her blog, www.pajamamama.net.
Smith started blogging two years ago as a way to capture her feelings and struggles in words.
“I think better out loud, so instead of talking to myself, writing it down was the next best thing,” she said. “And now I just love to blog, and it is so cathartic to me.”
Smith said she mostly writes about her husband and children, but she also has dealt with her struggle with depression, along with materialism and friendships.
“Anything a woman deals with is fair game on my blog,” she said.
Underlying all of her stories, however, is the story of her faith. Smith said that her “blog is all about my faith, since my life is a constant journey of sanctification.”
“My failures and successes are little blurbs of God’s faithfulness to me in this journey, and my desire is to let other moms like me know that they are not alone,” Smith said. “I don’t mind letting it all hang out, so to speak. If I can encourage others in their journey, then it is just an added benefit.”
Rhonda Gehman, a member of Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover, in Birmingham Association, sees her blog (www.throughmyeyes.typepad.com) in a similar manner.
Gehman began blogging as a way to document everyday events in her life, and soon it became “an easy way for me to create a journal, help me remember things and to also give family members and faraway friends a glimpse into my life.”
Anything from Gehman’s life is game for her blog, she said. She writes about her children’s activities, talks about her own work or may talk about how great the message at church was on Sunday.
“I can complain a little bit about my husband or children or sing the praises of my husband and children,” she said. “I can share about my younger daughter’s sporting events or the college life of my older daughter.”
Gehman agreed with Smith that blogging can be stimulating.
“Blogging very often is a venting session,” Gehman said. “I can talk to my blog and get things off my chest without venting to any person. It’s also a great way to keep a journal without taking the time to keep up with a book.”
Lisa Rose, director of church and community ministries for Montgomery Baptist Association, has had a personal blog since 2006 for many of the same reasons and has recently extended her blogging activities to an online home for her work ministry (www.mbaccm.blogspot.com).
Rose uses her blog to share ministry ideas and stories of what the association’s churches are doing in the community, recommend good reads for community ministries and tell about upcoming events.
“I can get the word out to a far greater audience that just our e-mail list,” Rose said. “I am able to keep volunteers better informed, and it is appealing because it is all right there. People can open the page and look at all they need to know.”
The women all agree that blogging has opened up a new world of personal ministry for them, and they all attempt to use their blogs as witnessing tools.
Rose said that her personal blog was wonderful when she and her husband were going through the adoption process, and she has used it many times for prayer requests.
“It is a great way to send prayer requests, inform others of what’s going on in my life and share good things that have happened to us,” she said.
Gehman said she is not shy about sharing her faith and personal convictions on her blog.
“Since outsiders read my blog, you never know what ‘blog-hopper’ might be reading,” she said. “So I never know that if I discuss my personal convictions, it may hit home with them.”
Smith said she wants her blog to be a source of encouragement for others who read about her own struggles and victories.
“I believe that the body of Christ should encourage one another in the Lord. I want to let readers know we all struggle and to spur them on to good deeds, which is what we should do for each other as family,” Smith said.
“Letting them know that I struggle with a particular thing and how God brought me through it hopefully will give them what they need to look to the Lord to help them through whatever they are going through.”
Blogging, because of its ease of use (you don’t have to have Web site design skills, for instance), is an accessible ministry tool. There are things, though, that are important to remember as an individual starts to blog.
Rose said many blog services charge a fee, but that the free sites (WordPress and Blogger are two examples) are just as effective. She also said to remember that a blog is still a public outlet.
“Don’t share too much personal information, and consider using privacy blocks or making it an invitation-only site,” she said.
Gehman added to that by advising that bloggers never talk about an upcoming trip or vacation when their homes will be empty or their spouses will be gone.
“Always blog about the trip after you come home,” she said.
Her most important piece of advice, though, is just to give blogging a try and realize that it can be anything you want it to be.
“Just do it,” Gehman said. “It doesn’t have to be done daily, weekly or even monthly. You can use it however you want to, and with so many possibilities.” (TAB)
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