In the urgent search for sustainable New Media business and ministry models, there are two things to keep in mind as we get started.

First, we need to recognize that millions of people are using the Web for spiritual purposes, representing an evangelistic opportunity of historic proportions.

Arguably, people looking to the Internet to be a significant part of their faith experience is one of the best opportunities in the history of the Church using media for outreach.

The universal desire to connect with other people has converged with interactive technology and the Great Commission. And we are living through a period, the key moment, of change in the way the gospel is shared and created using media.

The Internet has not eliminated the old ecosystem of spreading the gospel, but created an alternative one. In the New Media world, the disconnected don’t just receive messages, they send them.

People that don’t have any specific religious identity and disenfranchised Christians alike are actively engaged in spiritual expression and feedback via blogs, online video, interactive features in online communities, syndication systems (by which they subscribe to various websites and blogs, receiving notice whenever those sites are updated with new content), user-created content tags that allow them to categorize and search for content by highly specific terms.

This Web activity of the disconnected expresses a yearning. They are looking for someone to show them where to go next.

Creating channels that matter

The second tip for creating New Media Ministry Models is…

Be a leader that has a clear strategy for creating channels that brings the disconnected together.

The question to ask around the leadership table is: “What would happen to online seekers in our community if we didn’t set up this channel?”

What we do for the gospel through New Media, Conventional Media or any media has to add up to something bigger than reach, ratings and revenue. If we’re not clearly defining and building toward those goals, then why are we doing it?

We have to resist the temptation to add a new digital stream, channel or site without a strategy. It’s easy to fall into this trap because creating new channels, especially around social media, is so simple and inexpensive.

But, without clear direction and accountability, our New Media venture will experience a much greater risk of dying a very public death. We’ve all seen websites that look unattended or abandoned. Audio or video streams with little traffic. Inactive Facebook pages and Twitter profiles with egg avatars.

A strategy first, platform second, approach will go a long way in keeping our names and brands off dead or dying channels.

So, let’s review. First, we need to have our eyes (and hearts) open to all the people on the Web that are expressing their spiritual longings. Second, we need to think strategically about how to put ourselves in a position to communicate with them… to organize the disconnected, to bring them together, and to help them move toward fulfilling their God-given destinies.

Focusing on these two things alone can increase our motivation to adopt the new enabling technologies that will dramatically change the way we do business and ministry in the digital era.