AS
the number of people attending church continues to decline
in many areas, a sixth year pupil from Wallace High School
has launched an Internet website which he hopes will inspire
Christian teenagers and young adults all over the world.
Peter McMurray from Ballinderry set up
the
www.all4God.co.uk website only recently, but already it
has been accessed over 3500 times and has a growing
membership of almost 50 people.
"It took longer to set up than I had
anticipated, but finally it launched in September and has
been growing rapidly since the start of January when I
started promoting it on Bebo" he explained.
The central vision for the site is
described as: 'Young people uniting; standing as one;
working to advance the Kingdom; to reach lives, to touch
souls; being a generation that seeks God's face.'
As well as a host of articles and links
to related websites, all4God offers a discussion forum for
religious debates, music reviews, prayer requests and
relationship topics.
Peter is encouraged by the response so
far: The site was set up with the intention of being a place
where people from around the world would come together and
we have received hits from the UK, the USA, Australia and
New Zealand."
Although his own spiritual grounding is
with the Church of Ireland, the website is non-affilliated
and the forums are open to both Christians and
non-Christians alike.
"I run the main site largely by myself," Peter said,
"although during the setting up of the site I had a lot of
help from my friends advising on how to improve it."
A useful 'notice board' feature of the
site allows young Christians to share their sources of
inspiration with others. Podcasts of Christian rock music,
DVD recommendations and a 'must-read booklist' are all
available.
"In terms of growth, it required quite a
lot of work and prayer, posting about the site on forums and
Bebo groups, and also emailing people," Peter added.
Since coming up with the idea for a
locally based Christian networking outlet with worldwide
appeal, Peter has found a previously, unearthed passion for
writing: "I posted one of my articles on a forum I regularly
used and they decided to put it on their main site along
with one of my other articles.
"This gave me a real boost and the idea
that maybe people outside my small Scripture Union group
might be interested. In addition to my own site, I have had
articles featured on both the 'Hope-Revolution and 'Ignite'
Christian websites."
There is also plenty of space available for
other would-be writers to upload their work to all4God where
it can be appreciated. Peter's enthusiasm shows no sign of
abating and he is delighted that the site is helping to
spread God's word: "I try to post at least one new article a
week," he said, "and the forum tends to get some activity
every day."
Despite the initial success of his web-based evangelising
project, Peter has no immediate designs on a career in the
pulpit: "My current plan is to do some form of medicine,
although I would like to do something involving part-time
ministry when I am older."
21/03/2008
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