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July 27th, 2006 by Richard K Miller | Filed under Ideas, Mormon, Online missionary work.If you're new here, read more about the More Good Foundation. We help members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon church) share their beliefs on the Internet. Learn more about what Mormons believe or talk with Mormons at LDS.net.
I recently received an email from Chip that includes some great ideas for sharing the Gospel online:
Blogging on Gospel topics could be a missionary tool… especially for those in areas where there is a high density of [Latter-day Saints]. The “Every Member a Missionary” slogan could be applied through a blog.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to have an “approved” Church calling within each ward for “Ward Blogger”? The blog could be a source for Ward News but also point to [other content]. I wonder if the churches online websites for Wards could be integrated with a blogging server. We could have one blog per Ward.
Maybe we [could] have the Missionary Department jump on board here and embrace an “Online” Missionary Stake Calling for online editing of content and managing contact with people who visit their blog.
Especially in Utah and other locations with high concentrations of Church members, the Internet can be a great way to do missionary work. If faithful saints are the salt of the earth, and I’ve heard Utah referred to as the salt shaker, why not reach more people by blogging or publishing testimonies online?
Chip’s idea for a ward blogger is a great idea. The ward blogger could be charged with publishing the testimony of a family in the ward each week. The blog would be no more authoritative than a ward newsletter (i.e., it wouldn’t be construed to speak for the Church as a whole) but it would allow the stories of faithful saints everywhere to be read by thousands of people.
If you’d like to share your testimony online, please login into our Member Portal and click on Submit your Conversion Story. You can write about when you or your ancestors joined the Church, or tell us about how you gained your testimony. With your permission, we’ll publish your story online where the most people can benefit from it.
Great idea, Chip.
Disclaimer: Chip is my uncle.
My only hesitancy is derived from my experience in recent wards with respect to the ward web site:
Nobody uses it.
I think part of that is because of the difficulty in the process of getting your username/password (requiring your membership record number, which you have to obtain from a clerk).
If it were a blog, it would have open access, and perhaps more people would view it. Though even then, I would imagine the stats would be somewhat low in numbers…
It’s worth a try. Maybe the church should spawn another pilot program to test the waters?