Digital Evangelism Issues

When people are seeking spiritual answers, why would we not try to listen to them and start engaging in the terms and language they are using, rather than defaulting to some standardizedformulaic gospel presentation?

Listening to the society around us is not optional. John Stott called it ‘double listening’. Tony Watkins has written on double listening in relation to popular culture.

Below, Sheridan Voysey explains some vital issues in understanding a country’s soul. This is one of a series of key video clips; please take time to follow the others on his blog.

Cardboard testimonies are a highly visual, often moving, way of briefly sharing the story of God’s hand in people’s life stories. They are relatively easy to plan and film.

It’s another way of creating video shorts that can be shared in Facebook, Twitter, on a church web site, etc. Of course, just as in writing out a longer testimony for outsiders, avoid jargon and exaggeration or overclaim: read more.

• Watch more YouTube cardboard testimonies
• Sharing faith on Facebook
• How churches can use social media
• See our other recent posts about social networking

All colors are not the same! Use colors that match your message. This is second nature to graphic designers, but not necessarily for the rest of us. And in some cultures, colors may have a special meaning that we are unaware of.

The Psychology of Color by Tech King

Read more about color theory and design.

If you are a blogger, writer, speaker or storyteller, you may sometimes get stuck for ideas and inspiration. Copyblogger’s infographic could help you:

Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.

Other writing resources

Check

• our recommendations for writing books

• grammar mistakes that rob writing of credibility (great infographic) plus two free ebooks about writing

Free books

Our book competition and free ebook giveaway is still on here. If you tried to download Netcasters on Internet Evangelism Day, the link is now fixed – sorry about this.

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.

John Cleese, creative writer, actor and comedian, has produced much memorable comedy. The classic TV series Fawlty Towers (1975-9) is widely regarded as one of the best television comedies of all time. It has dated little in nearly 40 years, and is available as a remastered DVD set.

So you might think Cleese could teach us something about creativity – and you’d be right.

Below is his 36-minute talk on how to bring out your creative side. Set aside some time to watch it!

Eric Dye, of the excellent ChurchMag, writes,

“A few nights ago, my wife and I watched this video of John Cleese speaking about creativity.

It. Was. Amazing!

There were so many different things I got from this video. From how business are run, to education, to my own creative process.”

Creatives have not always been given freedom to use their gifts in evangelism and discipleship. Or even humor.

Does this talk resonate with you? Please add your comments.

Check our free books about humor and other related blog posts.

Photo credit: FlandersDC/Flickr | Creative Commons

Australia is probably similar in religious attitudes to most European countries, and Canada. Check the detailed infographic below of Australian views.

There are similar figures available for Europe from the Eurobarometer and Gallup Polls – unfortunately these do not measure animosity/hostility as such, though this may overlap considerably with the percent of non-theists in their research results.

USA is numerically very different, but George Barna Research recently reported that over the last decade, as a percentage of the population, there was zero gain in the number of Christians in America, despite the fact that $500 billion was spent on domestic ministry during that same period!

Some of our failures may be attributed to failing to understand the current context. This explanation and chart of ‘withreach’ versus ‘outreach’ is hugely helpful.

Note that around 20% of people in Australia claim a mild to strong animosity to Christianity. Understanding people’s attitude is a key to effective evangelism, and the Gray Matrix concept (a modification of the Engel Scale) is hugely helpful in visualizing this:

The church has historically fished in a very small pool – that of ‘churched’ people, ie. those with some degree of Christian background. We have often barely connected the other far larger segments of the popular, as this short story Emlyn and the Far Pools suggests. (Read in text form – available to freely reproduce.)

Catch up with digital ministry news. The recent issues of Web Evangelism Bulletin are online here. You can subscribe to the summary Feedburner version here.

Below is the latest version of Digital Evangelism Resources, our Paper.li syndicated publication. Paper.li automatically syndicates news from Twitter into a daily newspaper-style online publication. You can subscribe to Paper.li newspapers by email, or embed them in your own blog or website. Some other Paper.li newspapers I follow: Storytelling for Nonprofits | ChurchTechToday | Media Monitor | eDOT Geek Daily.

They are a great way of skimming current news and resources in one place.

I also recommend Internet Toolbox for Churches newsletter and podcast.

And hey, this weekend, treat yourself to the excellent BBC Radio 4 audiobook Ship of Dreams about Titanic. Listen here. Only available for a few days.

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.

The second largest nation in the world is a rich and wonderful mixture of contrasts. Skim through this very clear slide presentation to see just how far digital penetration is transforming Indian society (based on April 2011 stats).

Similar patterns of digital usage are at varying stages of maturity across the Majority World. These things being so, it is surely a priority of the highest order that agencies and national churches begin to understand and use these immense opportunities.

The range of options is wide – mobile phone sharing, video shorts, social networking, longer films. (See films for Asia produced by Create International.) I have long hoped for believers to build bridge strategy pages about Bollywood films.

Moses Abraham is active in mobile phone evangelism – for example sharing videos with a taxi driver.

Photo credit: Vasant Dave / sxc.hu