Chat Room Rules for Christians

2. Counseling, Witnessing, Bible Studies and Prayer:

1. Purpose and Goals:

a. The JesusLovesMe Fellowship is a Christian based chat ministry whose focus is to minister to the body of Christ and reach out to those that have not personally received Christ as Lord and Savior. A Statement of Faith for this ministry can be found here. If you are not a born-again Christian, please read the chat room rules found here.

b. It is our utmost desire to bring knowledge and growth to those within the body of Christ, and to share the Love of Jesus in order that some would give serious consideration to making Him their personal Lord and Savior.

c. The JesusLovesMe Fellowship welcomes all new visitors and we hope your stay is enjoyable and edifying. We desire that God would use this ministry to touch the hearts of our guests in order to draw them into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, and that your experience here will make you feel a desire to come back again.

2. Counseling, Witnessing, Bible Studies and Prayer:

a. When entering the room we ask that you turn off all auto popups and advertisements. Upon entering, please do not immediately jump into a conversation with others. Before jumping into a conversation, we ask that you first take a brief moment to observe the room to see if there is already a discussion, Bible Study or prayer in progress. If there is, please wait until an opportune time before greeting everybody or starting your own conversation so as not to interrupt the current dialogue in the room.

b. We desire that born-again Christian visitors participate with us in our focus to edify the body of Christ, encourage spiritual growth and maturity, and provide biblically based counseling to those who are in need or are hurting.

c. However, we would ask that the role of the new visitor be limited to a supporting role to the Leadership (i.e., follow rather than lead). Specifically, we ask that when OPs are present in the chat room, that the visitor allow the OPs to take the lead in discussing biblical, philosophical, and personal matters with our guests.

d. The visitor's supportive role is to contribute an attitude of agreement and cooperation to the JesusLovesMe ministry team whose goal is to bring help to others.

e. For those desiring to contribute more actively in this ministry of biblical counseling, we ask that you take ample time to observe and become accustomed to the approach and counseling style that is used by the JesusLovesMe ministry team. You may want to look at our guidelines for Leadership here, to get a better understanding of our Ministry. Overall, visitors should exhibit a more reserved level of participation (similarly to the way you would in Church), and should strive to get to know the ministry team by asking questions, and by showing your "fruits of the Spirit."

f. The visitor should try to make supporting comments and should not make contradictory arguments in the open room. Concerns and objections should be expressed in private with the OPs at an opportune time.

g. During Bible studies, we ask that visitors play a similar role as outlined above, and you ask questions rather than try to answer those asked by other guests. If you feel your contribution is necessary, please do so at an opportune time and in a cooperative manner that goes with the flow of the study, following the lead of the OPs that are present. It is not our desire to hinder the Spirit of God, but rather maintain order, minimize confusion, and maximize understanding for the edification of others.

h. If there is no OP in the room while you are there, and you are presented with an opportunity to provide help to another who has expressed a need, if you feel led of God, we ask that you first have an understanding of our Statement of Faith. The Statement of Faith is a list of doctrinal beliefs that are regarded as essential and fundamental by the JesusLovesMe Fellowship Ministry. If you do not agree in totality with these statements, we ask that you refrain from providing counseling, and suggest that you tell the others to wait or come back at a time when an OP is present.

i. At some point, after you have demonstrated good fruits, maturity, and wisdom, you may be asked by an OP to participate in a more active role in providing counseling to others. Please don't ask for this to happen, you will be asked if needed. We are constantly observing others so that we can determine those that God would have in a counseling role here to help others.

j. Do not ask to become an OP. We are constantly observing others so that we can determine the best people to put in a leadership role.

3. Unacceptable Chat Rooms:

a. If you are a Christian, we ask that you not hang out in chat rooms which are either satanic, sexually oriented, cultic, or otherwise immoral. In the JesusLovesMe chat room, people come there who are always looking at the rooms other people are chatting in. As such, your presence in those kinds of rooms could cause weaker vessels to stumble (Rom 14:21; 1 Cor 8:13). In addition, there is no Scriptural basis for having close fellowship with people who practice an ungodly lifestyle or who are involved in a cult of some kind (2 Cor 6:14; Eph 5:11-12). You can continue to show the Love of Jesus by talking to such ones in private dialogues, but Christians have no business being in those rooms. The Bible states that if you go to a place, and you offer the gospel of Jesus Christ and the inhabitants there will not receive your words, then you are to leave, and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony that you will not have fellowship (a close, personal, and spiritual relationship) with those who reject the Savior (Matthew 10:14, Mark 6:11, Luke 9:5).

b. If you disagree, and prefer to be active in cultic, satanic, or sexually immoral rooms (for whatever reason), then we ask that you not fellowship in the JesusLovesMe chat room until you decide to give up that desire.

c. We sincerely appreciate your understanding and cooperation, but if you are in any of those kinds of rooms when you enter the JesusLovesMe Chat room, you should expect to get a warning from one of the room leaders to leave the unacceptable rooms.