|TOP|Following the success of last year’s first ‘web awareness’ day for the Church, the second annual Internet Evangelism Day is being planned for 7 May, 2006.

Many Christian leaders are recommending that churches use this opportunity to enhance their own ministries. “I warmly commend this initiative to you,” says John Smith of the UK Evangelical Alliance.

Dr. Sterling Huston, Chair of the Coalition and director of special ministries for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, emphasises that the Internet "offers churches, Christian organisations and individuals an amazing and rapidly expanding opportunity to share the good news of the gospel with a world in need."

Initiated by the Internet Evangelism Coalition, an umbrella group of major organisations involved in web ministry, the IE Day website will offer various resources to help Christians understand and utilise the Internet to reach the world. It explains how to build a church website that can reach out into the community, or start an evangelistic blog.

|AD|The site also offers downloadable resources so that any church or Christian group can easily create a web awareness focus within their services or other meetings. These include a PowerPoint presentation, video clips, music, drama skits, posters, handouts and many other ideas.

"I encourage all evangelical leaders to take advantage of this initiative and explore their options for using the Web to win as many as possible to Christ," says Pastor Ted Haggard of the US National Association of Evangelicals.

Many other Christian leaders also suggest that churches use this new resource to learn more about the potential of the Web to communicate the Gospel.

The IE Day team further encourages every one to participate in web evangelism, emphasising that the Internet is not just for the technically gifted.

"There are many ways to share your faith online, without any technical background at all," says IE Day Coordinator Tony Whittaker.

The IE Day website aims to provide a resource for churches, Bible Colleges and other groups that desire to use the Web for outreach, in addition to delivering the facts that ‘over 1 billion people use the Web,’ ‘the Internet is changing the world,’ and ‘God is using the Web to transform lives.’

For more information on The Internet Evangelism Day, visit the website at www.InternetEvangelismDay.com.