Over 5 billion people, or more than 66 percent of the world’s population, use the internet, with almost the same levels using social media. Cam Townsend, founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators, is remembered for his assertion that “The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue.” The reality today is that digital has become a second mother tongue for the world. Effectively utilizing the Bible, biblical content and media, and gospel videos and audio through digital engagement strategies is a powerful missionary. The foundation of a digital engagement strategy is made up of five core areas: defining or assessing your existing strategy, understanding the digital context for your field, implementing micro or interpersonal tactics, implementing macro or broadscale tactics, and curating as well as creating content.
The End in Mind
Whether or not it has been articulated, your ministry or mission has a strategy. You may follow the Six Components of the M Task, Four Fields of Kingdom Growth, or your own unique vision and mission. In my ministry we have utilized a continuum of Crowd> Curious> Committed> Community> Core> Catalyst to give us handles on our key points of focus. Take the time to look at each component or task within your strategy and ask what are the digital tools, digital content, or digital processes that can complement or enhance your strategy at that point.
All Things to All People
Following Paul’s example in 1 Corinthians 9, to become like the people we are trying to reach, we have to understand the context. While there are some globally popular digital platforms, each field will have its own distinctives, local platforms, and cultural preferences that bring variety to the type and style of digital content most in use. The Digital World Atlas from the Mobile Ministry Forum is a great place to start for discovering the digital landscape in international locations, as is We Are Social’s regular reports. But don’t stop with just high-level statistics; ask people on the ground about what digital platforms, tools, and content they like and use. And immerse yourself by creating your own account on platforms and connecting with people to become a part of their community.
The beauty of these online tools is that you can be strategically and directly involved with international missions without leaving home.
Salt and Light
We need to help the members of our churches or those we are discipling to “keep their conduct among the Gentiles honorable” (1 Peter 2:12) and use discernment in the testimony they present through their online presence or social media profiles. But we also want to train them to use digital tools and platforms to actively minister, evangelize, and disciple. Use messaging apps or groups to build community in your discipleship small group or with spiritual seekers. Use Bible apps to encourage Scripture reading and accountability. Train your short-term mission teams to use the Jesus Film App or to disciple others using Zume or the Pattern Platform. There is an excellent 75-minute training course from the Mobile Ministry Forum on Introducing People to Jesus Using Your Mobile Phone.
All of these are great tools for ministry at home and invaluable in preparing sent ones before launch or short-term teams preparing to minister cross-culturally. The beauty of these online tools is that you can be strategically and directly involved with international missions without leaving home. You likely have people in your church who want to be engaged but can’t move overseas for a variety of reasons or who can go on occasional short-term trips but would like to do more. Perhaps they could become an online conversational English helper to a non-believer in Asia and share Christ through that relationship. Or they could try “social media fishing” to friend and connect with someone in a focus country and share the gospel with them. Your skills and gifting can be a path for you to team with ministries engaging internationally as a prayer advocate, help with administrative tasks, be technical support, or work as a creative in developing content.
With the touch of our screen or click of a button, the world is accessible to us. What will we do with these tools God has given to us?
Feeding the 5,000
Many of us have had the experience of meeting someone who was going through a crisis or major life transition and seeing how their circumstances made them much more open to the gospel. Digital engagement at a macro level builds on this opportunity by enabling us to filter through extremely large audiences to find those who are spiritually seeking. Jon Ralls of Kavanah Media likes to speak of having “the right message, on the right device, at the right time.” Using paid advertising on social media and search engines allows us to get that right message to such a large audience that there are always some who are at a point of openness. As they connect with us, digital responders help to answer their questions, point them to the Scripture and other gospel resources, and continue an online relationship until they are ready to meet with someone and talk more about Jesus. The Discover Jesus Initiative builds coalitions of national believers and mission teams with a vision to reach the top fifty unreached nations of the world with this strategy of broad seed-sowing using targeted online marketing, filtering for spiritual seekers, and dispatching those contacts to believers who will continue to share the gospel and disciple them. Contact Kavanah Media to see if the people group or country your church is partnering with or has sent field workers to already has a digital engagement strategy in place or if one could be started with your help.
A Farmer Went Out to Sow His Seed
The gospel is the “power of salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16), and it is the Bible and other gospel content, text, video, audio, and images that fuel digital engagement strategies. For some, the idea of creating content can be overwhelming, but, thankfully, many organizations maintain a “Kingdom economy” mindset and freely share their content for you to use. Want to put God’s Word directly on your own website? The Bible Plugin is a free-to-use, open-source Bible reader with access to over 2,000 translations that can be added to WordPress websites. Kavanah Media has advertising campaigns in their ad resource collection that you can use or adapt for your field of focus. Video resources that can be used in digital engagement are likewise available from the Jesus Film library, GNPI, TWR, and CV Global. Locally created or consumer-level content is also extremely powerful in sharing the gospel or leading people in discipleship, and there are many ways to create your own content and supplement what is available from these organizations. A great place to start is the Mobile Ministry Forum self-paced training on DIY Content Production.
What’s in Your Hand?
Moses had his shepherd staff in his hand; we have smartphones or a computer keyboard in ours. With the touch of our screen or click of a button, the world is accessible to us. What will we do with these tools God has given to us? Take a critical look at your strategy and determine where digital can enhance it. Assess your field of service to understand the digital landscape. Train other believers to use digital tools in sharing the gospel and discipling. Impact entire people groups or countries with gospel advertisements. Reach the world by speaking their second heart language with digital content and media.
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