On the way home from work yesterday, I was listening to a news item about a high school senior who had sent a letter to every student in his high school, presenting the simple message of the gospel to almost 3,000 of his classmates at Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was fascinated by the story and reminded myself to visit the website that this high school senior had developed, A Letter To My Friends.
I actually forgot about the website until today. When I visited, I was thoroughly impressed, not only by the courage and boldness of the three friends who had sent the letter (the radio program I listened to either did not mention the other two students or I was not listening well!), but by the strategy which is reflected in their approach.
Here’s what I found at the website (and after reading a .pdf copy of the letter at that website):
- The three students sent their letter to their nearly 3,000 classmates.
- The letter, which can be read here, invites recipients to contact them directly - by phone, by email, or by instant messaging.
- The letter goes on to say that if people don’t feel comfortable contacting them directly, they can still visit the website
- Upon arriving at the website, it is clear that the site’s primary thrust is an invitation for site visitors to come and investigate Christian community (in the form of their youth group).
- Even the website’s “How To Become A Christian” page invites those who want to make a decision for Christ to contact the three friends for help in making the decision.
- The answers to various questions which appear on the “Got Questions?” page invite people to contact them for more help, offering Josh McDowell’s More Than A Carpenter and a Bible for free.
I am thoroughly impressed. The aspect of all this that causes my heart to leap is that they are using media (first their letter and then their website) to invite people to enter into personal relationships with them and then experience authentic Christian community by meeting their circle of Christian friends.
If you’ve read the articles I’ve posted here since recently launching this site, you know that I am a proponent of using modern-day technology to introduce unbelievers to authentic Christian community (John 17:21-23).
Eric Bast, Nick Wall, and Meredith Christopfel have given us all a great example of this strategy.
I believe that the internet provides today's church with a historic opportunity .... to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love in ways which could only have been imagined in times past. The objective of this website is to explore the various ways in which today's technology can be used to spread the gospel around the world.
