Strategy for outreach to the blogging world ‘Blog’ is short for ‘weblog’. Blogs are a type of website, but differ from the usual site style, by having these characteristics:

a.. An informal, personal, ongoing diary-type commentary by an individual: either about his/her life, or opinion/news about a specific topic. b.. Most blog entries are plain-text mini-articles, though pictures, audio, and even video clips can be incorporated too. c.. Latest entry appears near the top of the front page, with previous entries below it in date order. d.. Entries are usually short; longer posts are sometimes split so the balance of the item is on a new page. e.. Readers often have the opportunity to add their own comments about a blog entry, or even respond to other people’s feedback. f.. Readers can opt to receive an alert by RSS every time a new entry is posted on the blog. g.. Most blogs are created and updated through a web-based interface system such as Blogger. No technical knowledge is needed to start a blog, though technically-minded people can install software on their servers to create sophisticated and customizable blogs. So-called ‘blogging’ has vastly grown in popularity over the last few years – the whole world of blogging is sometimes called the ‘blogosphere’. It matches (and shapes) the modern desire to receive (and be able to comment on) information in short personalized conversational blocks. Many people, even in the Western world, are in fact some distance along the oral communication spectrum.

Key differences: blogs versus other websites There is a vital structural difference between a blog and a typical conventional website: a blog is effectively only ‘one page deep’. Visitors usually read only the latest entry on the homepage, unless they follow extra menu links that blogs usually offer, such as ‘about me’ and ‘books I am reading’. Because a blog is informal and personal, it can create a feeling of personal relationship between users and the writer – this is called a sense of community. The journalism principle remains true: “People are interested in people.”

To achieve its purpose, a blog must continue to have new postings added at regular intervals. This requires continued commitment and discipline.

Increasingly, web users also expect ordinary websites to have blog-like fresh comment and news too. Some conventional websites also incorporate a blog section, and some blog sites are also designed to draw readers into a linked conventional website on the same subject. In the secular business world, blogs have proved to be a good way [http://www.blogs4god.com] in Christian language and addressing Christian concerns – we can call this the 99 percent problem. While non-Christians may accidentally find them, in most cases they are unlikely to stay to read, unless they happen to be seekers. To use Christian blogs for outreach, we must understand how they work best and the ways they differ from conventional websites. Spend lots of time reading different secular blogs: find them in directories such as BlogCatalog [http://www.technorati.com] Analyze which ones are actually readable, communicate well, and why this is. You’ll notice an incredible range of blog subjects. Some few people have the gift of being so perceptive and witty in writing, that they can write engagingly merely about their own lives and thoughts, and others will read the blog for these things alone. Such blogs can become wildly popular with web users – for example see the secular blog Petite Anglaise [http://danbrennan.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/03/an_online_heali_1.html] As they get to know us, they sense that we have things in our lives that they do not yet possess and they effectively give us permission to share. It’s that fragrance spoken of in 2 Cor 2:15. Writing that is from a Christian worldview, and from a heart that has been transformed by the Holy Spirit, should sound different! One area we must carefully avoid: whining and complaining. Many secular blogs take the opportunity to rant and unload a lot of negativity!

Here’s the blogging strategy Build a blog around a secular topic or felt need that interests you. We should always ‘write what we know’. The subject could be sport, music (including pop music), your hobby, local community activities, a health issue you face, some project you are involved in – just about anything. The blog can even just be a diary of your life (like Petite Anglaise) if you really have the gift of writing compellingly about yourself. Women are more likely to do this well than men! Some people create a family-news blog primarily for the extended family. Postings that contain your opinion on anything (Christian or secular) should be tentative, sensitive and open-ended, inviting the reader to comment online (or at least, to think).

The blog name should not sound Christian but be catchy and easy to remember.

A local community-based blog can include links and postings to appropriate local church activities.

Where you feel there is an appropriate faith angle to add within the context of your secular topic, express this in a non-preachy, sensitive, jargon-free manner. An explicit faith comment is almost certainly not appropriate in every posting. “Less is more.” To help you remember not to lapse back into ‘Christian-speak’, try to imagine that you are writing for a specific non-Christian that you know. Indeed, it will also help if you find a non-Christian who is prepared to critique your writing and give you his or her reactions to it.

You can also tell your personal story on the blog ‘about me’ link. This should not be an in-your-face preachy testimony, but an overall introduction to you as a person. Who are you? What do you like? Where do you live? Pets? Interests? But of course, you can go on to add that finding a relationship with Jesus has been the most significant element in your life, and how it happened. [How to write a testimony].

Blog systems also enable you to add additional links, such as ‘books I am reading’ and ‘favorite sites’. Here’s a chance to include a book or two that would be truly accessible to non-Christians. But add some secular books too, showing you are not stuck in the Christian ghetto.

Likewise, in the ‘favorite links’, you can add appropriate sensitive outreach sites such as Power to Change, [http://www.womentodaymagazine.com] or others appropriate to your particular readership. Also include some best secular links for your chosen topic, including other blogs.

Fruit is most likely to result from a blog outreach as you slowly build relationships with individual site visitors, either through their feedback postings, or in private email/messaging to them. If most of your readers turn out to be Christian, you obviously need to reposition the style, content and language of your blog. The X-Spectrum perpective may help you.

Examples of outreach by Christian blogs 1.. Lois Turley is an experienced web evangelist who has produced several different outreach sites. When she was diagnosed with the eye problem ‘strabismus’, she started a blog on this health issue: Eyes Apart. [eyesapart.com]

She writes,

“Eyes Apart helps people with vision impairment and social acceptance issues relating to crossed eyes. This often provides opportunities to tie in how God has helped me through my own vision struggles and given me clearer spiritual vision too.”

2.. A Filipino Christian immigrant in Switzerland blogs her expatriate experiences here [http://www.biblehelp.org/evangelism.htm] [2]

[http://www.ethnicharvest.org/ideas/friendship.htm] at work. Indeed, we can redeem the blogosphere for Christ!”

3.. Kelsey writes about her family experiences, in a blog enticingly and self-deprecatingly called ‘Holy Mama! [http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/proofing_grammar.shtml] or jumbled thoughts will reduce your writing’s credibility.

Many blog entries are far too long and self-indulgent. Some, indeed, are virtually unreadable. Unless, of course, you produce something so intentionally banal it is popular, as Dave Walker has with his The Dullest Blog in the World [http://www.blogger.com] LiveJournal | [http://www.wordpress.com] Xanga | [http://www.typepad.com] Life with Christ. [http://www.movabletype.org] (Review) | [http://www.wordpress.org] ExpressionEngine [http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.asp?p=412902&rl=1]

c.. Start-a-Blog [http://www.techsoup.org/howto/articles/internet/page2084.cfm]

e.. How to start a blog [http://www.microsoft.com/athome/intouch/onlinejournal.mspx]

g.. Wikipedia guide to blogging [http://www.nevon.net/nevon/2006/01/more_choices_wi.html] such as RocketPost. [http://www.particlewave.com/YourBlogAndSEO.php] 2 | [http://www.webpronews.com/ebusiness/sitepromotion/wpn-3-20041210HowToBuildTrafficToYourBlog.html]

4. [http://www.mikesfootballblog.com)

then you can use it to point to the actual URL wherever your blog is currently located. So, for example, if you have started with a free online service, and then decided to upgrade to using your own installed software, your URL remains the same. http://ied.gospelcom.net/blogging.php

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