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.

We are honored to release the 2012 version by Mobile Advance of their 5-minute video explaining the opportunities for mobile ministry in the Majority World.

Please also check our range of FREE ebooks, normally pay-for, that you can download now, on our ebook page.

Download video for use in meetings and seminars: WMV 15.5MB

Check our other news about mobile phones and digital opportunities for cross-cultural missions.

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.)

Smartphone use is increasing dramatically in the Majority World. But for many poorer people who own mobiles or aspire to them, a simple phone is all they may afford for some years ahead.

So the new Worldreader system which turns these phones into smartphones of a sort, with cloud storage of ebooks, all accessed via the phone signal, is quite remarkable. Free ebooks can be placed in the hands of African school students, for instance. Read more, and watch the video:

Other initiatives are also enhancing mobiles in Africa, for instance Message Optimizer. There are growing opportunities for evangelism, discipleship and development. Follow the #mobmin hashtag for Twitter news, and check our recent posts about mobiles.

Kindle ebooks

The free download period for these these two Kindle titles has now expired, though they are still cheap.

If you don’t have a Kindle, then download from Amazon a free Kindle reader for your PC or smartphone, link it with your Amazon account and you are ready to go.

You may need to switch to your local Amazon store for these titles if you are outside US, and the link shows up as ‘pricing information not available’ – if it is available in your country, a link on the right-hand side will appear for you to switch countries and get the download button.

The Final Assault: A Novel about Finishing the Task by Steve Smith, highly recommended on church planting.

Speaking of Jesus: The Art of Not-Evangelism by Carl Medearis. Another highly-recommended title.

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

Although Internet Evangelism Day is now over, of course any church can create a focus spot about the opportunities.

If you are on Facebook, please share with this one-click link.
and here’s a ready-to-use tweet.

Above all, we’d love to see churches devoting a few minutes to share the practical opportunities that are now available. Here are 14 things your church can do on IE Day.

A changed world
The digital world has changed remarkably in the last year or two. Although a part of Internet Evangelism Day’s emphasis has always been to mobilize individual Christians into digital evangelism, until recently the options we could suggest were quite limited. Writers might be drawn to blogging, or create a website if they felt technically competent. Those good at thinking on their feet could share in chat rooms and bulletin boards. But most of these suggestions were time-intensive and intentional initiatives only suitable for a small minority.

What has changed? The emergence of the ‘three-fold cord’ of social networking allied to video shorts and mobile phones. At last it has become remarkably easy for any Jesus-follower to build relationships and discuss truth appropriately, especially within social networking platforms. Our digital communication culture has become highly visual and dialogue-based, and the sharing of conversation-starting video shorts on Facebook and Twitter is as easy as a mouse-click, though only if we know where to find them:
http://ieday.net/video

Phone apps
There are few smartphone apps that are genuinely aimed at outsiders, that can be shared one-to-one, or in a small discussion group. UK team Damaris has just released a strategic iPhone app called Talking About Jesus (Android version coming soon.)

Informal blog-like article about this app for re-use | News release.

A second new evangelism-related web app is called God’s GPS. Its purpose is to equip Christians to share faith appropriately and conversationally. It is not intended for non-yet-followers to download or look at:
http://ieday.net/blog/archives/7677

Curation
Pinterest.com allows anyone to create a very visual set of curated recommendations, within their own chosen areas of interest, with no tech knowledge needed.
http://ieday.net/blog/archives/6977

In 21st Century evangelism, there are four overarching principles that must inform what we do, worldwide:

1. Think digital
   The vast majority of people are wired – to the web or mobile phones. It is part of their lives. Any form of evangelism or discipleship which does not acknowledge, use or integrate digital into ministry is missing out.

2. Think social
   Digital culture is increasingly social, discussion and relationship based. (And post-Christian/postmodern.) Stop thinking ‘one-way proclamational preaching’ and start thinking ‘two-way dialogue’. And their preferred discussion topics are often their felt needs, popular culture or other interests.

3. Think mobile
   The mobile revolution means that people are connected 24/7, not just when they sit in front of a computer. For many in the Majority World, a mobile is the only electronic equipment they will own or aspire to. The mobile is unlocking opportunities for the good news that would have been impossible until recently.

4. Think storytelling
   The digital age is a storytelling age. Evangelism that does not ‘get’ story is not going to connect well in the 21st century, if ever it did.

   Visual Story Network’s 3-minute video highlights this:

You can download this video for seminars and meetings.

Storytelling is everything

Whatever we wish to communicate, we need story rather than abstract truths. Apologists such as Lee Stobel and Josh McDowell say they now need to embed the truths they communicate within story.

Secular documentary film-makers says the same:

A secular storyteller explains why storytelling is vital:

Jay O’Callahan: The Power of Storytelling from 99% on Vimeo.

Picture credit GregAtkinson.com

In this short slideshow, Alvaro González-Alorda suggests that college teaching methods must change, in our new digital communication culture. Does this also apply to the way the church teaches stuff – at local church or college level? Add your thoughts using the Comments link below.

Since its launch in 2005 (history), YouTube has grown to be the definitive place to find and share video shorts. By 2012, 60 minutes of new video content were being posted to YouTube every minute, with over 2 billion videos viewed worldwide each day. It’s the default place to post short clips, with Vimeo as a distant second for longer videos. YouTube is now the world’s second-largest search interface, after Google.

The ‘print communication culture’ that lasted since the invention of the printing press is being rapidly superceded by the new ‘digital communication culture’. The differences are far-reaching and transformative, because not only are digital media a different means to communicate, but they are transforming the way our culture thinks. For a detailed unpacking of this ongoing change, read Viral: How Social Networking Is Poised to Ignite Revival by Len Sweet.

Print culture was, naturally, text-based, but also tended to be ‘left-brain’ and analytical. Digital culture is visual ‘right-brain’ intuitive, and story-based. In many ways, it is nearer to the oral communication cultures of many countries outside the West. Indeed Christians, being generally bookish people, do not realise the extent to which many even in the West read little, especially books, and have always learned orally via TV and film.

Video shorts are therefore a natural expression of digital culture, and hugely significant for ‘unexpected’ social-networking evangelism. (For an intentional audience, longer films up to feature length are also strategic.)

There is huge potential, both in sharing conversation-starting video clips on Facebook and other social networking systems, and in creating new video shorts.

Read more…

Please share your experience of video shorts using Add a comment section below.