There are multiple ways to network in Christian settings. Though this is definitely not a list of every way to network in Christian environments, these points will give you the quickest and most common routes to create a network of like-minded believers.

Get Involved in Person

1. Join a community - The most basic way is to join a Christian church or school. This will give you a base group of people that you will see on a very regular basis. While not the most intimate of groups, this will give you a springboard from which you can make closer connections.

2. Participate in your community - Oftentimes, churches and schools will hold social events, such as Lenten activities, after-service coffee, or a weekly series on a topic pertaining to religion. By going to these events, you can make yourself known as an active, enthusiastic participant in your community. In addition, they allow you the time to relax and be together with members of your Christian network in an acceptable social context. Church and classes are great, but they are not the proper places to talk with others about current events or your ideas for the community you belong to.

3. Join an activity - If you are already an active participant in your church or school, you could join an organization or committee. Most churches and schools have extracurricular groups and activities for the members of their organization. This is important because while the greater organization gives you a sense of community, these smaller groups will get you in more consistent contact with the people who share your passions.

If your calling is to do service, there are service organizations you can join. You could become part of a women's spirituality group or a biblical book club.

4. Create an activity - If there is not a niche group that suits your needs or interests, you can start one up. Filling a gap in your community's services is the work of the Lord, and there are probably many people out there with the same needs as yours. Do not be nervous about creating and leading a group even if you have not done so before. Throughout history, the Lord's chosen people have stepped up to fill roles that they haven't been qualified for. Like Moses, you too have the Lord on your side.

5. Reach out to other similar communities - If you have friends or family that belong to a different church than you do, you could go along to their service every once and awhile to broaden the connections you have. Their church probably also has multiple events and groups, and many churches are open to others joining in on their clubs and social hours.

Get Involved Online

6. Join a group - Another way to network in the Christian community is to start or follow Christian blogs on the internet. Several prominent blogs about Christian faith, life, and community exist on the World Wide Web. While these may not give you a face-to-face, human interaction with others sharing your beliefs, they may alert you to resources and events in your area that you would be otherwise unaware of.

There are also many Christian social networking websites that may be of use. In addition, you may find Christian Facebook groups to participate in.

7. Create an online following - You could start a Christian blog, Facebook group, or Twitter account to get out the Word of the Lord. Having an online following can help you to expand your in-person network. While it may take time to amass followers, if you've already followed steps 1-6 on this list, you will have a network of people who will follow your postings. This group of followers will share with their friends, families, and networks, which will widen your network.

Mary Raishe is a freelance writer and a contributor on the Yahoo! Contributor Network and at political-heat.blogspot.com. She is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison pursuing a BA in Linguistics. In addition to contributing to student resource sites like Degree Jungle.com, she is a mother of one and a frequent traveler.

Around the age of nine I became exposed to pornography. My parents never talked to me about pornography, I’m sure they never thought they needed to. My parents loved me very much and would have been appalled at what I was viewing in other people’s homes. Viewing pornography led to experimenting with what I was seeing and even sexual abuse. I know that’s grotesque, but at 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 years old I didn’t know any different. No one told me looking at lewd, sexually explicit images was wrong. After all, if adults had it in their homes, then surely it must be ok. Here’s the problem with viewing pornography at such a young age, sexual desires are awakened and they never go away. Once you’ve had chocolate, you never forget what it tastes like. Pornography is the same, it is highly addictive and once you have a taste of it, it’s like turning a kid loose in a candy store for the first time, you can never get enough. What’s worse is that I never told my parents or an adult what was going on, if I had, maybe I could have understood that what I was seeing was wrong. What it did do was feed curiosity and fuel promiscuity into my teenage years. After I became a Christian at age 18, those desires were squelched for a while, but they eventually resurfaced. Those desires breathed life and it led to premarital sex. I realize as an adult that I am responsible for my actions; however, I cannot ignore the fact that being exposed to pornography at such a young age fed a fire that would take a miracle to put out. Jesus is my miracle and I don’t have a problem with pornography any more. In the mean time, I know there are kids and parents living in the dark about pornography and pornography trends among youth. A lot of the trends now days have to do with computers and the internet.

Here’s my advice to parents to keep what happened to me as a child from happening to your children.

1.     You do not have to let your child go to every sleep over, play date, etc. I know that you cannot protect your kids from everything, life happens. However, we live in an age where parents hardly ever tell their kids no because they don’t want to make them upset. If your child wants to hang out with friends, have them at your house where you know what’s going on behind closed doors. Buy a ton of snacks, get a ping pong table and make your home the coolest place in the neighborhood to hang out. If your child is allowed to go to another child’s home by themselves, talk to them! Talk about inappropriate images, bad touching, and yes, sex. My kids are age 10 and 8 and I talk to them about pornography, bad touching, alcohol, and drugs. I want them to know they can always talk about these subjects without feeling weird. I want to equip them to tell adults and friends no anytime they are uncomfortable. Give them a way out. Make sure they have your phone number and can call you anytime. And parents, if your child comes home and tells you about inappropriate things that happened, believe them.

2.     Do not let your child have a computer in their room where you are not able to view what they are searching on the internet. According to Dr. James Dobson from Focus on the Family, this is a sure way for your kids to have access to inappropriate web sites without your knowledge. If you are one of those parents who think your little angel would never do anything like that, WAKE UP!!!!! Your kids are human and yes, curious. In a 2006 study done by Family Safe Media, the largest demographic searching for nude pictures on the internet is age 18 and younger. This age group is also either the highest or the second highest demographic looking at these search words on the internet: porn, sex toys, teen sex, free sex, free porn, and teen porn. Family Safe Media also provides other eye opening statistics:

·        The average age for children viewing pornography is age 11

·        The largest consumers of pornography on the internet are ages 35 to 49

·        Seventy percent of 15 to 17 year olds have had exposure to hard core porn

·        Ninety percent of 8 to 16 year olds have viewed porn online mostly while doing their homework

·        Names of characters your children might look up on the internet and can be linked to porn sites, Pokemon and Action Man

3.     Understand that your children do not need to type in sexually explicit words to find porn on the internet. Pornographers buy expired domains that have nothing to do with pornography, like Pokemon. They buy the domain at an incredible price, keep the name of the domain, but display pornography. Your child may come across pornography simply by looking up topics that are related to homework. Pornographers are crafty and sly individuals who want your kids to see their sexually explicit images. Imagine little Johnny doing a homework assignment on George Washington. He types in the president’s name on google, clicks on a link, and there in front of him are pictures of nude people. He is embarrassed, so he tries to click off the link, however, he can’t because these pornographers have a little trick up their sleeve called “mousetrapping” where multiple pornography pages begin to loop onto the page and you cannot shut them off. This is why it’s important to have the computer in a place where you can see what they’re looking up. (You can visit www.familysafemedia.com for lots of other helpful information on children and pornographic websites.)

4.     Make sure you are spending as much time with your kids as possible. Our culture and society have our kids involved in so many activities, we are running ourselves ragged. Gone are the days of dinner at the table and weekends spent together. Your child doesn’t need to be involved in everything. They do need you to be involved in developing their heart, not just their athletic or music abilities. I know, I was involved in lots of stuff as a kid, softball, swim team, volleyball, basketball, track, music lessons, band and choir. Looking back on my childhood, I wish my parents would have said no to me being in everything and focused more on spending time together. It’s during family time where communication blossoms and you can talk about topics like pornography. The devil wants you and your kids to be distracted, he wants you to be too busy to communicate. Mark my words, if you don’t communicate with your kids, he will.  Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities in the heavenly place.” NLT

The devil is an advocate for pornography and you must fight him by communicating truth to your children.

In closing I would like to say that you can never be too informed about pornography and its effects on your family. The number one demographic searching for pornography on the internet are ages 35 to 49. Individuals ages 35 to 49 are likely to be parents and have children living at home. According to Family Safe Media, the place where children are most likely to see pornography, is in the home. My conclusion, parents, if you are looking at pornography, so are your kids and the damage is life changing.

Do whatever you can to protect your child’s innocence.

Darla Harms