Using the Internet in Ministry

In 1993-94, I participated in the Spiritual Nurturer program of the School of the Spirit. I didn't have any clear sense of the ministry for which this program would equip me, but I felt led to the program anyway. During the course of the program, I kept trying to figure out my ministry direction. I graduated from the program with hardly a clue.

In the summer after graduating from that program, I became exposed to the Internet. I soon realized that there were people searching for spiritual meaning who were using the Internet as a way of reaching out to others for help in their search. At that time, this was done primarily through Usenet news groups and email lists.

The Internet, I discovered, was a means by which people in disparate geographical locations could connect for many purposes. Initially, it seems like an impersonal medium, as one frequently has never met the people with whom one is communicating. But I soon found out that many people would really open up over the Internet, often in ways they would find very difficult in a physical meeting with others. Friendships developed, much like pen pals who never met each other for those not on electronic media.

I found this was a medium in which I could use the gifts developed in the Spiritual Nurturer program. People who felt isolated where they lived would share their spiritual questions and issues with me, and I could encourage them and nurture the gifts and leadings I sensed through what they wrote me. While I often felt I was doing very little, sometimes those with whom I corresponded seemed to feel they had been greatly helped in the process. Actually, in my own understanding, I should be doing very little, since it is Christ who is the true Teacher and Guide. My role is to point people to Christ, and help them find ways to nurture their own relationship with Christ.