Witness of the Christian faith in chat rooms & channels thru soul-winning, telling the good news of hope in Jesus Christ, leading others to salvation in Him.

Internet Evangelism

Using Chat to Witness

There are two general types of witness in chat rooms. The first is to witness through a Christian chat room. The second is to go into a secular or pagan chat room and share Christ.

Secular or Pagan Rooms

Usually the team meets in a separate room prior to going to a secular or pagan room. The team prays together, then goes to the selected room (chosen by a 'scout' just prior to the mission) and begins by engaging in general chat for a few minutes. From there the approaches differ.

Sometimes people then share through one on one conversations and others attempt to share Christ in the group. There are lots of different styles of witness in these situations, and ranging from a confrontational approach to a relationship approach.

Both approaches have been used successfully, but I lean toward the relationship approach. I try to find a common ground with one or more people in the group. I share in the room itself rather than one on one as much as I can, so that other lost people may see the witness.

I look for an open door to share that I have found some answers to some of life's needs. I try not to be pushy, but rather courteous and polite, remembering that I am visiting someone else's chat room. It is not much of a Christian witness, to me, to go in and demand an audience and insist that they listen. It is good to leave the door open to go back again and build upon the witness we have established.

Others use different approaches and find success with them as well.

These missions are sponsored from time to time by
Cybersaints

Christian Rooms

We've had all sorts of people come into our Christian chat rooms. Some are seeking help. Some are curious. Some are just to antagonize, usually with extremely foul language until we stop them by kicking or moderating. But there is a fine line. The slightly "off color" langauge we sometimes let slide if it doesnt become domineering, so as not to "clean" the channel at the expense of losing the opportunity to witness.

Sometimes folks come to a Christian channel with specific needs and problems, as Tim_A did in my first chat room experience. They are looking for spiritual help. Notice Tim_A's first response: "Not so good today." His next response was to explain the need, and the third statement was to ask for prayer. In these situations, it is easy to lead the conversation toward a question like "Are you a Christian?" or "Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?"

If the person tells me, "Yes," I always either talk with them a bit more to determine their concept of what a Christian is, or I ask them to share with me how they came to know Christ. If they respond with answers such as, "I've always been a Christian," or "I was baptized when I was 13," or even "I was saved at church," I like to explore further. Too often folks have walked down a church aisle and been received into a church without any counseling as to how to know Christ.

As you can see from my first chat room encounter, there are many distractions with folks coming in and out. Often people in the room will be insensitive to what is happening. One of the major challenges is keeping the conversation focused during witnessing encounters.

Anyone who has been active in real life evangelistic efforts is aware of the distractions such as ringing phones or crying babies that can interfere with witness. But in a chat room these distractions are the norm rather than the exception.

Some folks may be "hedgy" when asked if they have a relationship with Christ. If so, I usually make several "loops" away and back close to the subject, but if they continue to hedge I am not one to press too hard. Jesus didn't. He offered, tried to impress the urgency of the need, then backed off and allowed the person to make his own choice. That is the approach I try to take.

It is amazing how many people who have been "hedgy" will bring the subject up again when they see that I am backing away from it. I think the instability of the net makes people a little more aware of the urgency of their decision. They may not know anyone in real life who has shared the Gospel with them. If they don't let this person help them find Christ now, can they be sure this stranger on the other keyboard will be around tomorrow?

On occasion, I have given my own personal salvation testimony to someone to help them understand.

If they are receptive, I share what God's word says about salvation, and to offer to lead them in a prayer to accept Christ.

These conversations can be occurring in the open channel (where other Christians can join in to help lead the person to Christ, and others who may be lost can hear the witness as well.) But the channel may be too crowded and distracting. In that case it is best to draw the person away in private chat.

If there are other ops in the channel, I almost always solicit their prayer support as I am working privately with someone. I am careful to respect the individual's privacy though. I don't usually share the secrets people often reveal in private chat even with the other ops. Just as in the real world, each area of the net is a small community. Folks are open to discussion only if they know their problems are being kept confidential.