Edging Christianity from the Web

The saying really is true. All it does take for evil to flourish, is for good men to do nothing. As a Christian, I have seen and heard of many organizations and ministries jumping onto the web to “take the Internet away from Satan.” They stand with these idealistic goals of creating a website, and then turning lives to Christ, however most fail because of one important consideration. No one ever comes to their website.

In the world of the Internet, putting a new page up is like throwing a precious diamond into the ocean, and believing everyone who goes to the beach is going to come and see it. You sit all day on the shore, and stare at the place where you threw this diamond into the water, but everyone walks by without noticing. Finally, from boredom, you grab a couple friends, and show them where you put the diamond in the water. They all look and applaud at how beautiful the diamond is, and that you have such a nice place for it. They continue to pat you on the back, as your targeted audience passes by, walking along the shore line.

Why do Christians have such a hard time bringing people to their sites? 

The first answer is ignorance, not intentional ignorance or foolishness, simply a lack of knowledge. You see, most people will read the illustration above, and chuckle. However when it comes to the Internet, most people do just what is described. The Internet has several million web sites. Each web site has within it, one to a few hundred pages. This creates hundreds of millions of pages per year! The Christian Internet enthusiast creates their new website, and has no knowledge of how to tell people where they are.

The next problem the new webmaster encounters, is trying to list their website in a web directory. They immediately run to “Yahoo!” or another web directory, and run into their first problem. Ever since businesses have entered the realm of the Internet, web directories, and search engines have learned that they are the gateways to the Internet. If they don’t list you, then you don’t exist, and the commodity of having your web site listed is going to cost you. You can either pay the money to have your site listed within 48 hours, or you can post your site, “manually” and wait 4-8 weeks for it to show up. (If it they decide to post it at all.)

Most choose the inexpensive route only to run into the next hurdle. Find the home where your web site best fits. If any of you have recently looked for a Christian web site by browsing the directory, you know that Christian web sites have been pushed further and further down the directory tree hiding it behind confusing titles and layers, making it almost impossible for anyone to casually stumble upon. If you can navigate the tangle of layers to finally find a semi-relevant location for your web site, you advance to the next hurdle in your adventure.

Once they have found the home for their site, they click the “suggest a site” label on the page and only to find questions they didn’t expect to answer. Questions like, “What is the name of your site.” They pause for a minute, and hesitantly type in something they believe is creative. Then the next question gives them pause. “Please describe your website in 25 -30 words.” They think, and finally type in the answer, “This website is about Jesus.” They finish the questionnaire and sit back to watch the people begin to come. Only no one comes.

What does come is the next lesson in drawing people to your pages. They learn from their mistakes, and begin to notice that many of the search engines use the same database for their information. The Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org). If you can only be listed in “dmoz”, then you will be published not only in AOL’s search engine which targets several million users, but in Go, AltaVista, Netscape, Google, and many other search engines as well!

The more experienced webmaster navigates dmoz more easily with the experience from “Yahoo!” under their belt. They find the correct location, and even fly through the answers to the questions about their site. Two months later though, they still find that their site has not been listed in Dmoz. They re-navigate the directory, to make sure that their site really isn’t there, only to confirm the truth. No listing. However, the “Opposing Views” section has increased in size.

Disgusted, the webmaster turns to their final hope for putting their web site in the public view, the Christian web directories. The most popular Christian web directory is without a question, “The Goshen web directory” now more commonly known as “Crosswalk.com” (www.crosswalk.com).

The webmaster follows the screen prompts for entering their new website, and begins the agonizing two month wait again, only to find that their site isn’t listed. Dejected, they lose the desire to continue fighting, and another would be Internet ministry bites the dust.

Now is not the time to see ministries fold under the pressure, but to see them arise and win souls for Christ. We need to learn to be wise as serpents, and gentle as doves. We need to learn to be as shrewd as the “sons of this age” in advancing the kingdom.

However, we will not be able to do so as long as good men continue to do nothing. Until good men and women decide to take editor positions at Dmoz, and work hard to promote Christian websites in the Christian sections of the directory, instead of promoting Anti-Christian agendas, then we will continue to lose ground. Until established Christian websites will take new webmasters under their wing, teach them, and link to their sites to help build their web presence, we will continue to lose ground. Until we can stand as one, and work together to take the Internet for the Kingdom of God, we will continue to beat at the air in vain.

This Editorial was written by Kenneth Swett, a Christian and owner of Cornerstone Web Design. Ken can be emailed at ken@standing4him.org.