Despite its long history of resisting change, the church is being transformed from within by a new wave of technically savvy innovators and designers. From Asian fashion to mobile application, obscure startup to global phenomenon, here are six inspiring examples of Christians finding innovative new ways to engage the internet generation.

Twitter is the preeminent platform for microblogging, and an obvious candidate for a condensed version of the Bible. Several groups have been independently summarising entire chapters into 140 character tweets:

@biblesummary created by Chris Juby 2010-2013;

#twible created by Jana Riess (@janariess) 2009-2013;

@140bible created by Chris Rhodes, Kent West and Nathaniel Jones 2010-13.

Chris Juby was the most successful at harnessing social networks to encourage exploration of God’s word through his tweeted summaries, gaining over 30,000 Twitter followers.

Who’s going to take the next step and publish all 31 thousand verses of the Bible as Tweets?

Craig Groeschel (@craiggroeschel) founded Life Church (@lifechurchtv) in 1996 and ventured into online sermons in 2007 using the virtual world Second Life as his pulpit.

Today Life Church is one of the largest churches in America and employs a full time digital ministry team headed by Bobby Gruenewald (@bobbygwald).

This team of Kingdom focussed digerati has created platforms and applications used by millions of people around the world, including YouVersion.com (described later) and churchonlineplatform.com which allows any congregation to host online, interactive services. LifeChurch is at the forefront of using innovative technology to enhance and extend christian community.

Christian clothing often comes across as an anti-fashion statement, but an edgy label from Hong Kong is taking a different approach.

Amen Papa was founded by Salina Yam Ka-man, husband Geoff Poon and partner Leo Chan in 2012. By prayerfully combining Christian verses and themes, an innovative flair for design, modern textile technology and astute marketing the trio have created a powerful new brand which is worn by celebrities and has been sold in upmarket stores like Harvey Nichols and Bauhaus.

Every design is created with a prayerful desire to bless the wearer, including details like scripture stitched into linings and incorporated into packaging. Staff are trained to explain to shoppers the Biblical inspiration behind each article of clothing or accessory. With outlets in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, many people are encountering the Bible for the first time through an Amen Papa shop assistant or fashion item.

Piggy-backing the Christian message onto leading platforms and technologies is vital to reaching the next generation.

As an example of this, Mary Fairchild (@maryfairchild) uses About.com to share Bible verses and advice about Christian living through a predominantly secular platform. Serving over 90 million visitors per month, About.com is one of the largest question and answer sites on the internet. By moderating the content at christianity.about.com, and providing follow up ministry through a regular newletter and social media, Mary Fairchild is reaching thousands of people with the Gospel.

Simon Amadeus Pillario has just successfully crowd funded his dream to create a graphic novel of the Book of Judges. The novel will include every word from an unabridged Bible text and is rated 15+ (not suitable for children) to ensure that the pictures accurately reflect every detail of the story.

A major challenge for Bible sites is how to engage the connected generation with material which is purely text based. While photographs are a popular medium for illustrating individual verses, they are not suitable for longer narratives. The “word for word” Bible comic will provide a rich media experience capable of engaging readers for entire chapters or books.

Pillario says he is researching every detail of his drawings, using the styles, fashions and traditions which were common in Bible times. Just like Eugene Peterson’s innovative Message Bible translation, the graphic novel format will bring richer understanding by combining the writer’s creative insights with a deep respect for the original texts.