Leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church voted February 7 to establish a Coordinating Committee for Internet Ministries (CCIM), aimed at serving the Adventist world church and its regions.

The committee, to be chaired by world church vice president Mark Finley, who heads the church's Centre for Global Evangelism, will focus on facilitating initiatives and services for global Internet evangelism and ministries, including allocation of funding as available, making recommendations to church administration.

The panel will also oversee content development for the church's online presence; initiate and coordinate use of Internet technology and services by the church and support lay ministries; promote and support use of new technologies in fostering the church's mission; develop guidelines for corporate identity and standards for the world church's Web presence and that of regions and other entities; and develop procedures for the registration and management of world church and regional Internet domain names.

"With the exploding interest in the Internet internationally, the world church's Administrative Committee took a progressive step forward in establishing a coordinating committee for Internet ministries," Finley told Adventist News Network (ANN) in an interview. "The committee will facilitate initiatives and services for global Internet evangelism, as well as bring together church and lay entities in a concentrated focus to reach people for Christ through the Internet."

"There is no doubt in my mind that Internet evangelism is going to give us a possibility that far exceeds what we've been able to do through the other media. I think that our opportunities in Internet evangelism are really, virtually, unlimited," Pastor Jan Paulsen, world church president, said in a recent broadcast interview.

The new Internet panel will build on earlier church initiatives that had been coordinated through the Council on Evangelism and Witness.

"What we began three years ago at the Council on Evangelism and Witness today has been exceeded," said world church's Communication Director Rajmund Dabrowski, named as a vice chair of the committee. "The growing number of Internet-based ministries bodes well for using technology in the mission of the church," he said. "Yet, often we are asked about directions. The CCIM will consider how to use Internet technology to go beyond where we are and connect the online community with the living community of the church."

It is anticipated that the committee will oversee the current outreach initiatives, international Internet forum and will facilitate networking among the growing number of church sites and ministries in different parts of the world. "The growing involvement of the church in Internet presence and outreach calls for a greater intentionality to make it attractive and effective," Dabrowski added.

According to John Banks, media relations director for the world church, "The CCIM provides a forum for Internet evangelists and various ministries. The mission of CCIM is to offer an excellent opportunity for networking in the development of a community committed to the mission, vision and values of the church."

The growth of the Internet, particularly during the past 10 years, has been astonishing; according to InternetWorldStats.com, usage has grown 182 percent between 2000 and 2005. As of December 31, 2005, documented Internet world usage according to the Internet World Stats database is 1.018 billion people. This figure corresponds to a 15.7 percent penetration rate of the world's population of 6.5 billion, and there appears to be little end in sight. Adventist church leaders say the Internet represents a powerful mission opportunity.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church was among the first to utilize the potential of the Internet's predecessors, such as CompuServe, and was one of the first to have a headquarters Web site, beginning in 1995. Today, the world church offers a variety of information from the www.adventist.org Web site, as well as subsidiary sites such as http://news.adventist.org, where the weekly Ground7 News podcast can be found.

Other members of the committee will include John Banks as secretary; Webmaster John Beckett; world church undersecretary Larry Evans; Daniel Houghton of Hart Research; Rick Johnson of the world church information services department; Bettina Krause, special assistant to the president for global initiatives; Nancy Lamoreaux, North American church region information technology director; associate world church treasurer Daisy Orion and Kurt Johnsson of the Voice of Prophecy. Two lay representatives and representatives of world church regions will be named later. [Editor: Mark A. Kellner for ANN/APD]