Digital Evangelism Issues

We are giving away three normally pay-for Kindle and PDF ebooks from our ebook page.

Right through to 7 May, you can get: Coffee Shop Conversations and Living with Questions by Dale and Jonalyn Fincher. Download them here.

Netcasters is also still available for a short period.

Win paper books today

You can win a copy of the following books, just by tweeting or Facebooking about them. Postings to Google+, LinkedIn or a blog are also valid competition entries.

Signed by the author:
Tweeting Church: Good News in only 140 characters
Paul Clifford, published this month by CreateSpace
ISBN-13: 978-1475168570

All you need to do is Tweet using the hashtag #wintwchurch or Facebook about this page, and then you must email us to say you have done it. This second stage is essential so we have an easy way to contact you!

Use these ready-made one-click links for Facebook and Twitter.

@stickyJesus – how to live out your faith online
Tami Heim and Toni Birdsong
Digital Scribe Press
ISBN: 978-0-9228962-0-4

You can win a copy of this acclaimed book: review. All you need to do is Tweet using the hashtag #winsticky or Facebook about this page, and then you must email us to say you have done it. This second stage is essential so we have an easy way to contact you!

Use these ready-made one-click links for Facebook and Twitter.

Bad grammar and spelling are key factors that rob a website or blog* of credibility (see infographic below). So says Professor Fogg, author of Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do in the Stanford Credibility Project where you can read chapters 6-7 of his book.

Web writing must also:

• be shorter and easier to read than print. Edit repeatedly to cut word-count, shorten sentences, improve clarity and remove jargon or words that may not be understood by second-language English readers.
• be proofread by someone else.
• have enticing headlines and subheads, short paragraphs and lots of white space.
• use bullet points to display lists of options or ideas.
• follow a consistent house-style.

Web writing needs the gifts of a journalist, not a preacher.

* OK, people will cut a bit of slack to blog writing, which is not always totally polished and checked. But church, ministry, or outreach sites really deserve no serious mistakes at all!

Test yourself?

See these principles applied to the same article:
before | after

Spot how many differences you can see between the the two versions? Hint: there are at least 11! List those you can see, with your own thoughts, in our comments section.

Recommended books, including free ebooks

• Writing for the Web by Crawford Killian.

• Free ebooks from the Plain English Campaign on clear writing.

• Other recommended writing books.

Like this infographic? Get more copywriting tips from Copyblogger.

You may not necessarily associate the terms curator and curation with the Internet, thinking of them as applying primarily to museums and art galleries. A museum curator has to be an expert and enthusiast in her field, and want to share that with others.

A curator classifies and displays precious objects or pictures, placing them in context with each other, and explaining their story and significance.

Incidentally the root and origin of these words is the same as that of church curate, from the Latin curatus meaning care. The Puritan Divines, and other church traditions, often spoke of the cure of souls which really meant spiritual care. That’s a nice resonance for this discussion.

Back in the day

In 1995, when the Web was only just out of the egg, students Jerry Yang and David Filo created an online guide to the then relatively limited range of websites. They called it Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web and it evolved into Yahoo!

This was a hierarchical directory of websites, with subtopics nested within main topics. Bizarrely, it still exists, though no one knows about it, and it’s wildly out of date. A similar open-source directory DMoz still also exists, with volunteer topic editors, though most people have never heard of it. It is likewise very limited and mostly out-of-date.

These are effectively dead because it is a significant task to maintain a ‘best of’ topic area, add new websites, and weed out old ones. And because Google is perhaps the most successful automated curation system ever, it has replaced most such directories. Within limits, Google search results, based on algorithms that factor in the known popularity of web-page, can sometimes by a reasonable ‘best of’ list.

However, even Google cannot achieve what a human can – create a carefully chosen ‘best of’ list for a specific topic and context, perhaps with reviews and impartial explanations.

And in a digital world with zillions of websites and deafening ‘noise’ (unneeded and useless information washing around), curation is increasingly essential.

Examples of curation

Internet Evangelism Day’s resources are, in part, an attempt to curate useful resources and set them in context. For some Twitter users (those who like to function as mavens), their tweet stream is mostly a rolling curation of recommended resources and ideas. Social bookmarking and blogging can be examples of content curation. ‘Best of’ tweet streams can be amalgamated into a Paper.li daily/weekly online newspaper. However, social networking curation has a short half-life – ie. after a day or two, it is lost, buried by newer stuff.

Pinterest enables you to create a very visual and personal set of permanently curated images and resources, with the advantage that it is incredibly easy to use.

If someone we trust says that something is good and useful, we believe it. The web is one big crowd-sourcing device, where we can do the spade-work for each other, and share the good stuff.

What can I curate?

Almost anything! There is a big need in the fields of evangelism, discipleship and missions, to offer people a ‘best of’ list of resources, perhaps with added value advice too, especially as a permanent set of pages that can be easily found, rather than merely Twitter or Facebook streams, which have a half-life of minutes.

Here are a few potential areas (for which I am not aware that anyone has created a webpage – if you know of any, please add in the comments section), with reasons why they are so strategic:

1. Discipleship and group Bible-study free ebooks, suitable for pastors and leaders in the majority world. There is a huge shortage of such culturally appropriate and balanced ebooks, either in easy international English or other languages. I do not know any listing that draws together what is available, with reviews of contents and target readers.

2. Another majority world need: a one-stop list of the relatively limited number of evangelistic full-length videos for Africa, Mid East and Asia, available either as DVDs, digital downloads or streamed. (YesHEIs.com is a curated list of video shorts in multiple languages.)

3. List and review of discipleship and evangelistic smartphone apps. There are very few of the latter. This is a huge area of opportunity. It could also include pages of advice and resources on how to build apps.

4. How to script, shoot and edit an evangelistic YouTube short, with best links to free or cheap resources for each component of the task.

5. In the world of Christian books, I know of no list of evangelistic titles that are truly suitable for outsiders, including explanations of who they’d be most appropriate for. This is a huge need.

6. How to write, proofread, edit and publish an ebook, including getting it listed on Amazon as a Kindle book.

There are vast numbers of similar niches – some to help Jesus followers in evangelism or discipleship, others to directly engage with not-yet-followers.

If you are a relative expert in a niche area, you like sharing good things with others, and have time to keep a curated list up-to-date, this could be for you.

It’s worth highlighting that a ‘best of’ list is precisely that. If you build one, many people will write asking for their web-pages to be included. A resource like this is of value precisely because it excludes the mediocre, maybe even the only moderately good. A “10 best” is vastly more valuable than an off-puttingly large “50 half-decent”. And
don’t be afraid to classify into sub-categories containing manageable numbers of focused recommendations.

Direct evangelism

You can also use curation for direct online evangelism, by including appropriate evangelistic, conversation-starting pages on life issues, popular culture etc, testimonies or similarvideo-clips within a wider range of secular recommendations. You can do this using Pinterest, and on many other web platforms.

It is one of the keys to appropriate evangelism – connecting with people on the basis of their common interests and felt needs.

Read more

Read a very clear explanation by Rohit Bhargava of content curation and why it is increasingly significant, and also this EContent page.

Please add your comments on areas you think need a curated ‘best of’ or ‘how to’ page.

Photo: Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow. Credit: geograph.co.uk | Creative Commons

March 13 sees the publication of a very significant book, available in paperback and Kindle:

Viral: How Social Networking Is Poised to Ignite Revival
Len Sweet
Waterbrook Press
229 pages paperback
ISBN 978-0-307-45915-2

What’s it about?

About 10-15 years ago, you and I were relocated from our comfortable familiar home to a new land. Not necessarily unwillingly, like the Jewish exiles taken to Babylon. Not necessarily a worse new homeland. Some of us ran ahead. But others left trails of a resistant struggle. A few may have barely noticed they’ve been moved at all.

It was … the huge move from print communication culture to digital. Len Sweet styles those of us who grew up in a print culture as ‘Gutenbergers’, and those who grew up in, or have whole-heartedly adopted digital, as ‘Googlers’. It’s an apt and helpful simplification for a social revolution as far-reaching as Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press.

His book is probably the best and most insightful explanation of these two communication cultures, the tension between them, and the huge implications for Christians, the church and especially the retelling of the good news. We just cannot continue doing the stuff we used to do, because it won’t work any more. So this book really is mission critical.

And – there’s a clue in the title – he believes that online relationships and social networking can share the good news powerfully in ways there were never possible before. It is likely to be the most significant book on digital ministry to be published all year.

For this reason, it is the chosen book recommendation for Digital Outreach Month.

You can preview 22 pages of the book below, using the arrows at the bottom right of the frame below:

A look back at a selection of DEI posts people liked…

Free stuff for editors and webmasters – sources of free evangelistic content (including Easter resources).

Grab the attention of passers-by – ideas for church signage.

Ebooks for church ministry – free ebooks and resources from Yvon Prehn (including Easter resources) and Bob Franquiz.

What does Europe really believe? – stats and maps.

Latest Web Evangelism Bulletin

And if you missed it – with the opportunity to win a free Len Sweet book and iPhone evangelistic app, the latest Web Evangelism Bulletin is now online, covering:

• Win iPhone app – Talking About Jesus is incredible conversation starter.
• News from Puerto Rico – Spanish language outreach and phone app.
• Conferences – coming this year.
• Things to do on IE Day – creative ideas for your church.
• Mobile phone ministry – mobile changes everything.
• Win new Len Sweet book – VIRAL book publishes in March.
• Social media – great resources.
• Watch Oscar winner – animation short.
• Tailend fun – our usual funnies.

Get a summary Bulletin email from Feedburner every two weeks.

Regular readers of this blog will have noticed an occasional tendency to enthuse about the Japanese animé films from Studio Ghibli. So here we go again! Arrietty is their latest.

Released in Japan in 2010, it came to Europe in early 2011 and UK/Australia in July. Now, finally, North America gets it too – released on 17 February, under the US title The Secret World of Arrietty. The delay must be in part because Disney, for better or worse, has rejected the existing English soundtrack and started again with different, American, actors. Actually, when watching Studio Ghibli I generally prefer to switch to the Japanese-language version and read the English subtitles.

Because it is a sheer delight. Pure treasure. The artwork and soundtrack are beautiful, detailed and subtle. At one point, you can even hear the sound of a ladybird’s wings starting to open. The story-telling is gently paced and harmonious. The opening song and other music from French Breton celtic singer and harpist Cécile Corbel a joy – see video below. (Lyric: English  | Japanese) Indeed, Ghibli theme music is usually haunting and first class, as this orchestral medley demonstrates.

True to the book

If you have read Mary Norton’s The Borrowers books or seen the BBC serial, you’ll recognize the first two books’ narrative as retold in the Ghibli version, although it is slimmed down and placed in a Japanese setting. It is very true to the spirit of the original, unlike the Jim Broadbent/John Goodman 2007 film which was pure gung-ho Tom and Jerry action. The BBC made a new 90-minute TV version with Stephen Fry, Victoria Wood, and Christopher Eccleston, shown Christmas 2011. BBC also aired two mini-series in 1992-3. All three are available on DVD.

If you want to come to the story fresh, skip the spoiler synopsis in the Wikipedia article, which has lots of helpful information about the film. For a sensitive and detailed review, see Helen McCarthy’s article. McCarthy is a foremost expert, writing and speaker on many areas of Japanese culture including animé. You can watch her lecture From Nausicaa to Ashitaka: The development of the heroic ideal in the 20th century works of Hayao Miyazaki at the University of Maryland.

Reviews in National Catholic Register and Christianity Today are enthusiastic.

DVD availability

If you missed it as a movie in Europe/Australasia, the English DVD (Region 2) is available in UK and many other countries. Release in North America is mid-2012 after its movie theater run. You can already buy the Japanese-language version (all-regions DVD with English subtitles) from good Asian suppliers such as ZoomMovie with cheap delivery charges. You may also prefer the British dub to the Disney US English dub (which inexplicably has removed Cecile Corbel’s song).

Gift ideas

Studio Ghibli DVDs make great presents! Individual titles are relatively cheap on Amazon. A boxed set (DVDs work in all regions) of all 14 movies is available from specialist animé dealers such as Anime United and often from independent sellers within Amazon.

If you don’t know the genre, start with the less fantastical Studio Ghbili titles such as Only Yesterday, The Cat Returns, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa, Whisper of the Heart, and Ponyo. The pre-Ghibli Castle of Cagliostro and (for younger children) Panda Go Panda are also fun. A further pre-Ghibli gem directed by Hayao Miyazaki is the 1978 26-episode made-for-TV Future Boy Conan. It’s not distributed in the West, but can be easily found on eBay or Asian anime suppliers. Similar films in the Ghibli style include The Girl Who Jumped Through Time, and Mai Mai Miracle. Most Ghibli films relate to any age group, through perhaps Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Grave of the Fireflies are too esoteric/scary (and Grave is sad) for younger ones. For teens and adults, check animations by the late great Satoshi Kon, such as Millennium Actress. You can find trailers for all these films on YouTube.

Christian parallels

Popular culture frequently gives us spiritual parallels and starting points for conversation. What can we see in Arrietty?

The main theme is the need to escape from an untenable situation with a journey to an unknown freedom. This resonates clearly with the Exodus story (itself reflected so tragically right through Jewish history), which the Bible clearly positions as both a historical physical escape and a figurative parallel of spiritual journey into new life.

The restricted enclosed world in which the Borrower family has lived in reasonable safety (due to wise precautions) is finally compromised. Likewise we may live for years within a limited or non-existent understanding of ourselves in relation to God’s purpose and plan for us. Sometimes it needs a crisis to jump-start us into a spiritual journey, to search for who God really is and how Jesus fits into this picture.

You may see other parallels too? Please add them using the ‘Comment’ link below.

7 reasons to like Studio Ghibli films

1. They are tender and gentle, not in-your-face, all constant action, noise and smart-guy banter. They don’t try to doll up a thin story with a thrill a minute.
2. They appeal to people of any age. Before she was five, our youngest granddaughter could easily understand Nausicaä – Valley of the Wind, and proclaimed it her best movie. Yet they are not ‘children’s stories’. In Japan, these are mainstream adult viewing as befits their deeper levels of complexity.
3. They reflect the many attractive facets of Japanese culture, where politeness, harmony and understated gentleness are key. (Japanese cuisine is like this too – cooking is a delight of subtle harmonious flavors.)
4. Many Ghibli films tell their story through the eyes of a child or young person, who is learning to face challenges in the wider world. Frequently, this is a girl, in contrast to Western animations where, with the exception of princess stories, it’s normally a male lead (as The Guardian discusses in an excellent article).

   Using Christopher Booker’s Seven Basic Plots definitions, Ghibli stories frequently include the ‘Voyage and Return’ theme. ‘The Quest’ and ‘Overcoming the Monster’ themes are common too. (Review of Seven Basic Plots book)

5. Ghibli films demonstrate a far-reaching contrast to Western ‘me-centered’ individualistic culture. Consider, for instance, most of our favorite Disney princess-themed stories. It’s all about the heroine and a her journey to get her life-goal – usually a prince and freedom. She may receive and give help to others along the way. But the big prize is exclusively hers. (See hard-hitting cartoon and discussion on Disney princesses, which happily does not criticise the saintly Belle!)

   Eastern culture is different – the community is more important than the individual. Ghibli heroes and heroines are not about getting, but giving. They usually bring redemptive help to others around them, rather as Vianne channels healing to her repressed village in Chocolat. Indeed, their main prize is the satisfaction of having helped others, while gaining maturity and wisdom from the life lessons in this journey.

   I wonder which is the more biblical?

6. Villains are not usually portrayed as utterly evil, but honestly nuanced with at least some good motives or traits, and they frequently find a measure of redemptive resolution through the leading character. (Again, compare with Chocolat.)
7. The central character is also honestly depicted, often with flaws or other issues. They are not cutesy, stereotyped or cloyingly sweet.

You can read more about Ghibli films in Studio Ghibli: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata(also available in UK).

Coming soon

Now Ghibliphiles must wait in happy expectation for the next film: From up on Poppy Hill (Kokuriko-Zaka Kara).

This is an updated version of a post first published in August 2011

Just published – a new book by mediastrategist Dan Henrich: Evangelism in the Digital Age: Media Case Studies (Volume 1).

The book is a series of case study reports on various film, radio, web and mobile phone initiatives in Africa, S America and Asia in the last few years. And read a sample chapter in PDF format.

Digital media are hugely strategic for evangelism and discipleship in the Majority World, as well as the West. Our new ‘Digital Communication Culture’ is strongly audio-visual rather than print-based, and therefore resonates with oral cultures and those who are not necessarily functionally literate (or lack access to printed books). Furthermore, digital is a seamless robe, whereby video shorts, full-length film, radio, MP3s, ebooks and ebibles, comics, social networking and webpages, mobile phones, computers and media players all integrate with each other, to empower believers and engage with outsiders in amazing ways that have never before been possible.

Henrich’s experience on the ground – developing or enabling film and web initiatives for Asia – makes him an ideal compiler for this series of case studies. Such studies are vitally important, as they honestly analyze past effectiveness or problems, illustrate the potential of digital media, and implicitly envision future projects.

Who should read it?

Who should read this book? Any mission executive. Any missionary hoping to enhance outreach on the ground by leveraging these God-given tools. Anyone involved in film, radio, or animation, or considering training in these areas, who hopes to impact the
two-thirds world. National church pastors and leaders. Web and mobile phone strategists. Bible college students. Trainers. Funding agencies and donors. And more!

May this book catalyze many new media initiatives. Learn more.

It is available from Amazon US as a paperback, Amazon UK and all other Amazon national stores, plus Kindle version.

Dan’s project consultancy advice

Veteran media consultant Dan Henrich would like to offer a free consultation to any person or organization interested in using media more effectively. Using his 35 years of experience in Christian media, he can help you in both the beginning stages through analysis after you have done your project. Henrich has experience is in all areas of media from radio to social media.

“In my experience, media projects fall into one of the following stages,” says Henrich, and here is how I can help you think through your project and make it better.

“THE IDEA STAGE: In this formative stage, I can help you develop a more focused full-fledged media concept, helping you identify the target audience and how to reach the target audience.

THE SCRIPT STAGE: I can look at your existing script and give you some verbal ideas on how to make it better.

THE PRODUCTION STAGE: Helping you think through getting the ideas on videotape or in a website.

And, at the ANALYSIS STAGE: I can watch your video or look at an existing site and can talk through ways to analysis its effectiveness.”

Here’s how it would work.

You send Henrich an email at info (at) comresources.org explaining the project. He will read it and make an appointment to Skype. After about an about an hour talking this will hopefully help you focus on making a more effective media project that will bring glory to God. In the event if you want more of his time you can talk. However, this is a free consultation and there is no obligation.

You are very welcome to republish this review, or Dan’s consultancy offer, in any print or online missions-related newsletter

What are some impediments to Bible and book distribution in the Majority World, including the Middle East?

• Shortage of supply, possible import or government permission issues, and inadequate distribution channels.
• Price: a Bible or NT, especially in a minority language, may well cost several weeks, even months, wages in poorer countries.
• Even committed believers may well be unable to make the considerable financial sacrifice to source and own a Bible, especially one in their heart language. Not-yet-followers, who may be seekers or merely inquisitive, are highly unlikely to make such a commitment.

• In some regions of the world (for which price may not be a major factor), expect considerable disapproval (or worse) if you are seen to own or read a paper Bible.
• These factors also apply to study books and discipleship materials, as well as evangelistic and apologetic books written for outsiders. And if there is not a workable business plan to recoup development and printing costs, these discipleship materials may not even exist. In sheer economic terms, it may be impractical to publish a low print-run book in a niche area or language without considerable subsidy.

  Indeed, there is a shocking shortage of balanced culturally-appropriate discipleship materials in either accessible easy-English (for second-language speakers) or many other languages.

Let’s place these issues alongside the following facts:

• Mobile phone use is growing exponentially in the Majority World. Even in the poorest African, Asian and S American countries, mobile penetration is high and growing. In the Middle East, China and richer Asian countries, smartphones are becoming the norm.
• Smartphones (ie. those with touch-screens) and feature phones (cheaper button-operated phones with web access) have growing usage (in many countries outnumbering basic ‘dumb’ phones) and both are capable of downloading online Bibles and ebooks to be used on the phone in offline (ie. free zero-bandwidth) mode.
• A feature phone may cost little more than a paper Bible, and smartphone prices will soon drop to approaching that cost. Even tablet prices are getting cheaper. Battery developments using the wonder-carbon graphene promise huge increases in battery life, very important for those who do not have mains electricity.
• Reading a Bible or other Christian ebook on a mobile phone is a largely hidden activity, which can be done with considerable privacy if needed.
• The marginal cost of distributing an electronic Bible or discipleship ebook is near to zero. Daily devotionals can also be distributed by email (or even Facebook group) at no cost.

  There is also the huge potential of audio Bibles and video teaching or evangelism, very helpful for non-literate people. There are already online audio Bibles available in over 600 languages, that can be streamed or downloaded to computers and mobiles.

• There is no distribution chain and minimal ongoing administration.
• In many cases, ebooks and Bibles, as well as audio and video downloads, can be passed ‘virally’ from phone to phone across existing relationships: example in India.

• Mobile phones are already being used by some missions and training teams for distance learning, often integrated with other resources. One example is the mLearning Project in Africa.

• There is a big need for portals to offer appropriate teaching and discipleship materials to pastors and leaders in the Majority World. Theology on the Web is one such library. And indeed a definitive portal for availability of online text and audio Bibles.

• While it may be partially true that something given free is valued less than if it was paid for, price is a huge limitation to Bible and book distribution in the Majority World. You may not realise that even in the West, very few English-language Christian books achieve lifetime sales of more than 3000 copies, and that is right across the English-speaking world, where relatively rich Christians can order a book online in moments using a bank card. That is why I was so glad to be able to offer free ebooks during Digital Evangelism Month, because many were downloaded by people in countries where the books would have been virtually impossible to buy, and would in any case have been 10-30 times more expensive in real terms than for westerners.

The future is here

This is not the future, it is now. We must be ahead of the curve, not behind it. Again. The incredible free YouVersion online Bibles are already available in a growing range of languages. Their striking infographic below gives a sense of remarkable usage.

Please understand that I am not trying to ‘overclaim’ for digital media, or dismiss the role of paper Bibles and books – my own ministry also produces about 6 million copies a year of free evangelistic papers for Africa and Asia. I still love paper books and they will continue to have strategic value in the Majority World, especially in richer urban areas where there is easy availability, or in situations where subsidy is available for free or cheap distribution. But digital can leverage Kingdom distribution across the world in ways that are impossible for paper.

Note: Ebooks on mobile phones are just a small subset of the entire potential of mobiles, and in turn, mobiles are only a subset of the overall potential of digital media and the Web.

An urgent appeal

Missions, Bible agencies and translators, authors, book publishers, disciplers, please ask yourselves these questions:

• Even if your paper-book strategy is more than covering costs, and without subsidy, do unit sales begin to meet the spiritual need in your country?

• Can you consider a twin-track strategy, whereby digital distribution is free, while paper-book distribution continues where it is practical, for those who prefer it?

  Note that it is also technically easy to make free download offers on a website, which are only visible to selected countries. So, for example, theological books for pastors can remain pay-for in the West, but free for Africa and Asia, thereby becoming available to rural pastors who might never in their lifetimes be able to afford them. OK, there may be a bit of ‘leakage’ round the edges, but so what?

• Will you actually lose anything by freeing up copyright so that, for example, YouVersion can distribute your Bible translation?
• And for western readers, mission advocacy books are a very limited niche market segment. Lifetime paperback sales, whether self-published or publisher-distributed, can be in the range of 500-1000. Author royalties at this level are virtually zero. Which is better, continue with annual sales in double, maybe just treble figures, and boxes of unsold stock? Of give them free as PDF or ePub ebooks by the thousand? It is becoming easier to publish ebooks (learn more) and offer them free on your own website, or through a third party such as Lulu.com or even Amazon, perhaps with a print-on-demand option for people who prefer paper.

Do you fear a loss of control, a sense that you will not know how your materials are being used, or whether they are going? Sorry, that’s the digital world. We need to get used to it.

Please, these are urgent issues worthy of much research and group discussion. The world is changing as we speak. We must be like “…men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do…” (1 Chronicles 12:32) And please don’t feel threatened by these changes, but seize the opportunities God has given us.

You may freely share or republish this post in any way you wish.

More

Check these resources:

• other posts on mobile issues and the strategic value of video shorts
• visit Mobile Advance | Mobile Ministry Magazine
• consider taking the distance learning Mobile Ministry Course
• follow the mobile ministry #mobmin hashtag
• If you need a missions consultant to facilitate discussions and research, please write

Please also share your comments using the ‘comment’ link below this post.

Photo credit: Celestial Photography/Flickr | Creative Commons Some Rights Reserved | Pictured: boy reading Bible during Bible study in Sierra Leone

Tim Stevens’ book has a valuable message.

Pop Goes the Church: Should the Church Engage Pop Culture? – valuable challenge on why and how to use popular culture for evangelism and ministry. Stevens presents the biblical mandate for this, and gives examples from his ministry.

“Pop Goes the Church should be read by every pastor, church leader, and layperson who wants to connect people to Jesus but is finding it hard to be heard in our media-saturated culture,” says Bill Hybels. “You have to get your hands on this book.” – Terry Johnson.

Watch Ed Stetzer interview Tim Stevens:

Author: Tim Stevens
Publisher: Power Publishing, ISBN 0979017491
Review

Our November book competition has now ended, but please check our range of free ebooks. Included is the definitive book on ministry collaboration: Well Connected – Releasing Power, Restoring Hope Through Kingdom Partnerships by Phill Butler, Using Film in Christian Communication by Tony Watkins, and a range of other books relating to church sites, social networking, movies, and more.