Digital Evangelism Issues

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

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The ‘print communication culture’ that lasted since the invention of the printing press is being rapidly superceded by the new ‘digital communication culture’.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.

Nancy Duarte’s [bio] communication insights in this TED lecture seem vital. Follow her analysis of both Steve Jobs’ iPhone launch and Dr King’s I Have a Dream speech.

These are surely principles that work for advocacy, preaching or evangelism? Please add your thoughts using the Comment link below.

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

Downton Abbey – what will happen next? How ever can we wait so long to find out? Why do we care?

Because we are wired for storytelling. Because we actually feel we ‘know’ these characters, indeed we love them. (Likewise, Dad’s Army is so enduringly popular because, essentially, we love Captain Mainwaring and his platoon.)

More on using popular culture – and win free books

Photo credit: KCTS 9 / Flickr / Creative Commons. Pictured: Michelle Dockery (Mary) and Dan Stevens (Matthew) in Seattle, August 2011.

This charming animated short illustrates some of the strengths of the genre to communicate well, especially without using dialogue. Animator Wesley Lewis has previously worked on Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist.

Drawing Inspiration from Wesley Louis on Vimeo.

Animated snapshot stories like this allow the audience to create their own mental narrative and backstory, identify with one or other character, and formulate some lesson or thought to take away. As conversation starters in a youth group, one-to-one discussion, or online, they are unique.

Blessings also to Aalma Productions, who are just launching bible-based children’s animations.

Of course, animated shorts are ideal to load onto a mobile phone. Check also the potential to create comics as apps for mobiles.

We have other blog posts about cartoons and animation.

Book competition

To celebrate the 200th issue of Web Evangelism Bulletin this month, we are giving away a number of Christian books and other resources. All you will need to do is blog/tweet/Facebook about them. Watch out for more news next time.

The flags are surely at half-mast in Walmington-on-Sea, the quintessentially-English south-coast town of Dad’s Army. Farewell to its co-creator David Croft, who has just died.

Dad’s Army remains one of UK TV’s all-time comedy greats. Croft and writing partner Jimmy Perry created a number of other comedy series, mainly very successfully. Yet none has matched the ongoing popularity of this bunch of mainly-aging would-be amateur soldiers. It’s still a series that anyone from 4 to 94 can enjoy and appreciate. Why?

Well there’s the acting, of course. Almost all the actors had come up through music hall comedy or traveling theater, where timing was everything.

But a major factor is surely that the characters are believable and lovable, despite their faults. We all know people just like this in our communities. Croft and Perry obviously loved them too. The only exceptions (and least successful characters) are the vicar and his side-kick the warden. It is of course almost a given that vicars and religious people be painted somewhat negatively in the media. Even in serious fiction: think Mr Collins and Rev Casaubon (Pride and Prejudice and Middlemarch).

But the Walmington-on-Sea vicar is a cold, humorless, creepy and bad-tempered individual, and his side-kick little better, with no obvious redeeming features at all. A missed opportunity perhaps for the writers, who could have portrayed them as flawed characters we could still love and laugh with, rather than at.

Loving who?

Writer and poet Philip Larkin listed the criteria by which he judged literature for the Booker Prize. In brief, he asked, “Was it believable, and did I care?”

In other words, did the writer make us love the characters or care what happened to them? And surely, a writer can only do this if she cares for them too. Whether we are writing fiction or recounting a real-life story, our readers will only identify with our characters if we write them with love and communicate that care to our readers.

Don Miller’s secret

But what if we are not writing stories?

Christian writer Don Miller shares what has been a life-changing revelation for him: “the best writing advice I ever received.” And it is simply this: Love your reader.

If we love our style, our vocabulary, our wit, our knowledge, our ability to impress our readers, we are nothing (1 Cor. 13). It’s not about us. I sometimes play a game with my youngest granddaughter when watching TV. “Who does he love most?” I ask in reference to, say, a narcissistic competitor on X Factor; or a story character such as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. And she sees right through them, and replies, “His own self.”

Because animation is not photo-realism, it takes us into a magic parallel world of our imagination where anything is possible. Watch this 9-minute animation short Invention of Love.

Could you use animations like this as conversation starters around areas of Christian truth and the Good News? By posting on Facebook? In a youth group meeting? Downloaded on your mobile phone? Somewhere else?

To get regular news of animation shorts, become a fan of the School of Cartooning and Animation for Mission and ensure that your settings allow you to receive new posts each time.

Read other blog posts with insights about cartoons and animations.

Do you have any animations you really like? Tell us using the ‘leave a comment’ link below.

Chris Seay gave a TED Talk recently in Houston about communication and truth-telling through honest personal story. (17 minutes, free to download too.)

“The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new” – Samuel Johnson

Photo credit: Exper Giovanni Rubaltelli | Creative Commons/Flickr

He saw the book in the shop. Had even heard well of it before.

But it looked strange. Poetic prose. Although he liked the cadences of poetry read aloud by others, he always found it hard to recreate these by reading from the page himself. And so, he put the book down again. His loss.

Over the years, he occasionally saw the book referenced. Then one day, a glowing blog recommendation sent him to Amazon, the great river of books.

And it blew him away. It was, as described, a “classic retelling of cosmic conflict”.

A book that would also communicate to outsiders. To the hurting. To those put off by ‘same old’ formulaic gospel presentations, by churchiness and jargon. To those with a New Age sense for words, stories and the cosmos. To those of other religions and none.

He has few words left to say. Get it. The Singer, by Calvin Miller. Beg, borrow, buy. Now.