"Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy upon you." So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis (Ten Cities) how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed." (Mark 5: 19-20)

What has Jesus done for you? Have you told the world about it?

I find myself pondering over this question a great deal recently; can I honestly say that I live up to what Jesus asks of the Gentile in the above passage from Mark's Gospel? Much of the work that I do as Operations Manager for The Project is to encourage others to use the communication resources that are available on the internet. I could develop a large website independent of the Christian Church, but my efforts would be better spent working with people who can build their own communication of faith through the internet. By working on relatively small website projects with local and national church groups, I am able to help more people to access the Gospel and Holy Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus.

About 14 or so years ago, I had my first internet ready computer. It was an absolute thrill - exploring a new 'digital' world for the first time. Back in the early 90s, at least for the early periods of the internet, it was possible to get your hands on a booklet of websites that you could find on the internet. This booklet apparently covered most of the available content on the information super highway and was only about 60 pages. Now, of course, it would be impossible to list every website as content changes. One of our main challenges at The Project is to anticipate change and react to it quickly. I think it is safe to say, from all my meetings with clergy over the past several months, the one issue affecting individual website development is time limitations to make the changes and updates that make a website an important communication tool. People often ask why I don't charge for updating church websites, and the reason is because it must be done in order to make the most of online communication, and would be a further financial burden that would only prevent more church groups from exploring their online potential.

One of the other big questions I seem to get a lot from church groups is: why do we need a website? Well, consider Mark 5: 19-20, see how Jesus tells a Gentile to go into the ten cities of the Decapolis and spread the word of His work. There is a reason why I have called my blog ‘The Decapolis Review’. I strongly believe that we at The Project are following Jesus' command, to go forward and tell people how much the Lord has done for us and how he has shown mercy upon us. My challenge to you now is to not just consider a church website as a place to advertise times of your church services - but to develop it into a tool to fulfil Jesus' command to 'tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy upon you'. Write articles, ask church members to write about their faith journey, publish regular stories from people's real-life experiences that would speak to another - use the internet to spread the Good News in whatever way you can. I am doing it by helping you to help others - and I am grateful for it.

 
Daniel T. Gibbins
Operations Manager & Senior Project Leader