What is Christian Influence?
Christian Influence is an online community that puts the Cross over gaming. We are a friendly, competitive, and Gospel focused team who strives to be a Godly influence online rather than being influenced by it (cf. Romans 12:2). We bring people together to share in Christ-centered content, community, and places to play games where you know you can trust the people you are interacting with to provide an edifying experience. We have partnered with Christian Streamers and Content Creators who believe in the mission of Christian Influence to lead the effort in Christ-Centered content and in our community. Our streamers and podcasters are held to a standard and expected to act as leaders in the community and exemplify Christ online. Christian Influence is continuing to develop and grow regularly, and our leadership team will always be exploring new ways for Christ to invade the online space.
What is the Missional Strategy?
We follow the acronym INVADE, because we believe that Jesus did not call his disciples to stay in place, but to “Go out” to the places that are in most need of His message. (cf. Matthew 28:19-20,Mark 16:15-16). Therefore, our ultimate goal is invade spaces that need the message of Jesus and build up and mentor new generational leaders.
What Do We Believe?
We are firmly evangelical in nature, believing in the authority, authenticity, and Divine Inspiration of Scripture, which teaches us the only path to Salvation is by Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ alone. Check out our creed and theological commitments here.
Where it Started:
This entire project started when the chaplain at a small school wanted to reach out to his high school students who he was losing in the fog of the Covid pandemic. He wanted to teach his students what it can look like to be a Christian Influence on the internet, and especially in gaming spaces. The idea was to have a community where like-minded gamers could play their favorite games together while making a concerted effort to avoid the toxicity, profanity and otherwise unwholesome environments that permeate the gaming community at large. And here we are now. We are committed to providing spaces where others who share biblical values and Christian ideals can make a positive impact on those digital spaces that are desperate for some Christian Influence.
What We’re Doing
Virtually all of our content is curated, commented on, and shared through the social media platform, Discord. Our Discord space can be found using our custom vanity link: https://Discord.gg/ChristianInfluence
Our discord is a space for Bible discussion, memes, media share, prayer requests, bible study, community game play, voice discussion and more. Our discord has several Admins, moderators, and effective moderation bots, to ensure our space is family-friendly and consistent with our standards of Christian faith and practice.
Presently we are committed to providing Christian Game servers across as many games as our current equipment can provide. We are the only Christian servers offered across several games. We are committed to providing a place where others can play with Christian community where language and inappropriate behavior and content is moderated.
Some people nowadays, especially young people, simply like to watch others play games or watch others chat on screen. Places like Twitch.tv, YouTube, and Facebook have platforms that allow people all around the world to stream their content to audiences far and wide. We are working hard to partner with Christian streamers who do not just stream with the Christian tag, but who are willing, able, and proactive about sharing the Gospel on their platforms. Presently we have curated a handful of streamers that meet these criteria and we actively share their streams on our Discord server.
Podcasting was a 2-billion-dollar industry in 2022 and is projected to double that by 2024. Christian Influence recognizes where many people are consuming content these days and we are now proud to sponsor our own podcast called: Under the Influence. The podcast is primarily a collection of stories and conversations between best friends who are seeking Christ in their life and encouraging one another to be more godly men.
Additionally, Christian Influence offers an actual play D&D podcast called, Of Lore and Legend, where eight players and one DM work to create an endless number of fun memories. Many podcasts of similar nature are permeated with foul language, crass themes, and a kowtowing to politically motivated trends around gender, identity, and whatever else is culturally in vogue. Our hosted podcasts actively avoid these inappropriate, cultural traps.
We also partner with Pastor Chad Harms’ very special Testimony podcast, where he interviews influential figures and hears from them about how they came to Jesus.
We continue to expand our reach and influence on most major social media platforms. We share some of the best sermon highlights from churches that are partnered with Christian Influence. We are committed to using our platforms to motivate through the Gospel. Additionally, we use our platforms to point people towards Christian community and more wholesome content unlike what is consistently found elsewhere on social media.
We believe that everybody should be reading and connecting with Scripture. As part of our effort to influence and disciple, we offer an over-Discord Bible study where people can delve deeper into the Word of God. As the community grows, we hope to continue to expand available time options and content choices regarding the studies we offer.
James 5:16a commands Christians in this way, saying, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another…” We believe it’s important in Christian community to be in prayer with and for one another. We are happy to connect those Christians who sign up to participate with a monthly partner whom they can pray with on a weekly basis through our Discord server.
We are working at providing days and times where fellow Christians can play their favorite games together. Part of community is connection and we are committed to working hard at helping Christians connect and play with one another. We also understand that some people who would otherwise love to play with us are unable to because they do not own the games we play. As part of the donations we receive from our patrons and church partners, we try to help our community participate by providing free copies of the games we play together.
Look, we understand that sometimes it takes free stuff to get people out of their shells and involved in community. We have no shame in offering just that, free stuff, every month. We want people involved and we want people excited about connecting and participating in Christian community. That means we offer gift cards, free games, free books, free merch and more, every month, to the winners of our giveaways. All this is made possible by our generous supporters.
How You Can Help
First and foremost, we ask that you partner with us by praying for our ministry and the people we are reaching and hope to reach. Also, we are a 501(c)(3) who survives on the giving of our supporters. You can consider supporting us financially with a one-time donation or monthly giving through our website. You can also support us through Patreon with either our $3.00 or $5.00 option.
You must log in to post a comment.