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New media evangelism
This document discusses new media evangelism and how Christians can share their faith online. It argues that personal evangelism online should be a natural part of conversations where one's faith is discussed, not something forced. Effective digital evangelism involves being authentic, listening well, sharing one's own faith story, and seeing it as one link in a broader process, not the whole gospel or dependent on one's actions alone. The document provides tips on creating a sense of community and sharing online in a way that reflects biblical values and the fruits of the spirit.
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New media evangelism
- 1. New Media Evangelism DrBex Lewis, Research Fellow in Social Media and Online Learning, CODEC, Durham University This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. http://www.slideshare.net/drbexl /new-media-evangelism For: http://www.dna-uk.org
- 2. Let’s get toknow each other…
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- 7. Carl Medearis Relax,enjoy your friends. Enjoy their company along with the company of Jesus. Point him out, freely, without fear or intimidation. You’re not responsible to sell him to them. You’re simply saying what you’ve seen. You're not the judge. You’re the witness.
- 8. Brennan Manning Thegreatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny him by their life style. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
- 9. What Personal Evangelismis NOT The model of conversational, story-based faith-sharing in the context of relaxed relationship helps us to establish what evangelism isn’t. In this setting it is not: A series of clichés, platitudes or motivational catch-phrases. Real communication, linked to real events and experiences, doesn’t need to fall back on such short-cuts. The whole gospel. Faith-sharing in a relationship is part of a process, not all of it. Who knows what other initiatives and resources God is going to call on? A task whose success or failure is on your shoulders. Your responsibility is to be authentic; truthful; sensitive; compassionate: to tell your story well. The rest, according to Jesus, is the work of the Holy Spirit. - A theology exam. Nobody is waiting to pass or fail you. A combination lock where only one specific sequence works.
- 10. What Personal EvangelismMayWell Be An invitation to journey. If there comes a context in which you are encouraging someone to take the next step in their journey with Jesus, it is always just that - one step. Effective discipleship is not counted in scalps but in growth and fruitfulness. What is the next thing that God might be inviting this person to do? A link in a chain. You will never be the only voice an individual hears. Even if there’s no one else about, the Trinity make three, so you’re at least one of four. More likely one of many, many more. A challenge to know and tell your own story. It’s surprising how difficult it can be to answer the simplest of questions. How has the encounter with Jesus impacted your life? An integration of words and actions. You may well value words above actions, but in the end those who see and hear you will draw from both. An expression of dialogue. The best conversations are mutually edifying. Genuine exchange always, in some measure, goes both ways. Grounded in listening. Listen early, speak late is a good rule. Better still; listen early, listen again, then listen to make sure you’ve heard well, then consider speaking a possible option, unless more listening would be more helpful. A kingdom operation, shaped by the widest possible view of God’s purposes. What makes your words good news? To whom?
- 11. Image Credit: SeedResources
- 12. A sense offun … Image Credit: Facebook Meme
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- 17. Communication & Relationships ImageCredit: iStockphoto
- 18. Darren Hill, SeedResources All these great Bible verses arrive on my feed without any context, background or explanation. As believers we are fine with this, we of course know the context to any text that appears online… don’t we? But what about everyone else? http://bigbible.org.uk/2012/11/posts- promises-and-perennial-issues-darrenrhill- digidisciple/ Image Credit: Darren Hill
- 19. How do yousee this?
- 20. Rev Prof DavidWilkinson Godis a communicating God: “In the beginning was the word, and the word was God…”. God is extravagant in communication – he is not a silent God who has to be tempted into communicating with people. Image Credit: Durham University
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- 28. Human Beings atMachines, not “are machines” …
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- 30. Craig von Buseck,Netcasters, 2010
- 31. Craig von Buseck,Netcasters, 2010
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- 33. @6% 360/6636 Persistence Perpetual Beta Scalability Searchability
- 34. Who might readit? God Parents ‘The kids’ The newspaper Your worst enemy
- 35. Push/Pull Care forothers - genuinely Know that the world doesn’t revolve around you Be ‘remarkable’, be different Earn the right to have others take notice of you Be grateful if ONE person cares what you’re doing Have something to say that matters Do stuff that matters – make an impact Strive to bring value to everyone you connect with Be fantastically generous with our time, money, and kindness Be outrageously committed to making the world better It’s all about relationships – build & nurture them Thanks @ianaspin (http://bigbible.org.uk/2010/10/the-eleven-commandments/)
- 36. Authenticity Image Credits: SeedResources/ @digitalfprint
- 37. Our identity… Itis only out of this redeemed identity, out of who we are in Christ, that we can hope to bear fruit in the world. Image Credit: Seed Resources
- 38. Gary Collins (ChristianLife Coach) If you're a Christian, seeking to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, you'll approach every aspect of your life from this perspective. Your commitment to Christ will impact your marriage, parenting, lifestyle, values, spending, time management, vocation ... Image Credit: Gary Collins website
- 39. The LongTail Image credit:Empower Network
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- 42. A Sense ofCommunity Whilst I cannot conclude my thinking in a wholly positive way, I acknowledge that great use of all of this to my own personal discipleship. I am a broader Christian, a better informed Christian, a more readily supported and sustained Christian and for that I love this digital life. If that makes me a better Christian, then perhaps its purpose is served if a purpose exists and indeed if a purpose is needed. However, I shall continue to pray that someone, somewhere, can say with absolute clarity that because of this digital community, they came to Christ. @FrDavidCloake
- 43. Who is myneighbour? What does it mean to ‘love your neighbour’ in a world in which a ‘friend’ might as easily be the kid from down the street you grew up with as a woman in Botswana whom you’ve never seen in person and only know in the context of Facebook status updates, photos, and notes? What is the nature of community at prayer in a compline service tweeted each evening by the cybermonks of a Virtual Abbey? What is the ecclesiological and liturgical significant of worship in various churches across the theological spectrum on the quasi-3D, virtual reality site ‘Second Life’? How can we negotiate spiritual interaction in these contexts without losing sight of basic elements of Christian faith expressed in traditional embodied and geographically located practices of prayer, worship, and compassion towards others? Tweet if You Heart Jesus, p.xiv
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- 48. 1 Peter 3:15(NIV) But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?se arch=1+Peter+3%3A15&version=NIV
- 49. What Biblical valuesdo we want to see in our (digital) world? Image Credit: iStockPhoto
- 50. What do thefruits of the spirit look like online? Image Credit: Kezi
- 51. What does itmean to share with grace? Image Credit: Seed Resources
- 52. James 2:17 So yousee, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. New Living Translation (©2007)
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- 55. @drbexl @digitalfprint @bigbible ImageCredit: iStockPhoto
- 56. A prayer… Father,Creator God, You sent your Word, Jesus Christ, to reveal your love and compassion to the world; you have called us to be his disciples, true images of your beloved Son, proclaiming his Gospel to all creation. His story is now our story. Keep us faithful to what we have received, and generous in our sharing. Holy Father, we thank you also for the gift of the Holy Spirit whom you sent to sanctify and bless all you have created and be the bond of love that unites all of us with you and your Son. Send forth your Spirit upon us now. Purify our hearts and make us attentive to your promptings that we may be true missionaries in the digital world. Grant us the humility to seek you above and before all other things that all we say and do may be done in your name and for your glory. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen http://www.ibenedictines.org/2012/10/21/a- prayer-for-the-christian-new-media- conference-cnmac12/
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Editor's Notes
- #3 Social Media – all about RELATIONSHIPS, so we are going to start by getting to know each other as if we are on Twitter (the 2 x 30 second exercise) … FEEDBACK RE WHAT KIND OF LINKS THERE ARE …
- #4 … see how much you can see about me from my Twitter profile…
- #5 Something about me … often gets people talking to me – esp if I wear t-shirt as in my bio photo…
- #6 Commonality – finding a starting point & getting to know each other – essential building blocks of any evangelism, etc… with a strong focus on LISTENING! You’re looking to provide information, engage in dialogue, listen to your audience … build a community who will be interested in the other things that you do ..
- #7 Also whilst we’re thinking about social media (sometimes new/digital media…) … we also need to think about what evangelism is.. In a world where it’s OK to be a Mac evangelist, but not a Christian evangelist… DISCUSS (bring in e.g. friendship evangelism, on the street, Bible verses in tweets, etc.)
- #9 Lifestyle = includes online!
- #10 From Spring Harvest notes this year…
- #12 We need to understand “the culture” that we are engaging with…
- #13 … this is what many people think the internet is about … just a big ‘timesuck’, but thankfully the attitude is changing amongst those I’m meeting – question changing from ‘why should we waste our time’, to ‘we know we need to get with it, but we don’t know how…’
- #14 Qualman – 4 mins (business focused, but worth thinking about…)
- #15 You can see the range of activities that are engaged with online – when people talk “Social media” actually talking about an entity that doesn’t exist – it’s a range of tools!
- #16 Ever seen this? Quite old now (last year!), but quite helpful in demonstrating the purpose of different spaces online and which aspects you may emphasise.. E.g. on Twitter looking to build relationships around common interests, whereas Facebook to develop those you already have – will change the kind of things that you can say… can ask more questions about this at the end.
- #17 … want to find the right tool for the right job?.. If you want to know more – download this 6-7 page document I try to keep updated.. , and you’ll see different tools are use for different things!
- #18 Far too many times when people talk about social media, they focus on the word ‘media’ (or technology), rather than the word ‘social’ which is surely what we should be focusing on … we are looking to build relationships, which require good communication (rarely do you want to get “the IT Guy” doing your social media … you need someone who is good at comms)….
- #20 I have a problem with this kind of “if you share this” kind of statement…
- #21 We are created by a God who rejoices in our 2-way communication with him… we are called also to be extravagant communicators…Image taken from Durham University website.
- #22 DISCUSS – what is involved in good/positive “communication” – 2 way, listening, interest, etc.. So - want to highlight a handful of ways that people have engaged ‘differently’ online…
- #23 Chris Juby – reducing every chapter to 140 characters … did this personally, but decided to send out a local press release – got picked up by national & international press – got lots of people engaged with the Bible – even if they were only interested in language/the novelty of what he was done… it’s still a touchpoint (online = lots of touchpoints)…
- #24 Phil, who’s here somewhere … summarised entire Bible in around 9000 characters… makes you think about what it’s really about.
- #25 … and we’re been playing with what each Bible chapter looks like as a wordle – where the bigger the word, the more times it’s mentioned in a chapter…
- #26 .. And this ties into an increasingly ‘visual turn’ online – particularly with the advent of Pinterest which gained popularity at the beginning of 2012 – with people sharing inspiring pictures (and the picture links to the website behind it).
- #28 Important in our thinking on this is the notion that we are talking about ‘online/offline’, not ‘virtual’real’ … relationships online have a different nature, but they are as valid and real as offline relationships, and for many the edges are entirely blurred as conversations online in between face-to-face meets change the nature of offline conversations (sometimes allowing for deeper conversations in either space)…
- #29 … and at all times we want to remember that we are talking about ‘human beings at machines’ nor replaced by ‘human beings as machines’.
- #30 … and this is what we are looking at with The Big Bible Project – seeking to allow a range of voices (from the pew, the pulpit & the academy) – how do we increase both Biblical literacy and digital literacy?
- #31 For the last 200+ years we have grown used to this model of ministry (in preaching, and in much of our other communications) (and I’d question if the arrows are even coming back the other way…)
- #32 … but the digital environment allows much more of this. Some people talk about a flattening of hierarchy, but although the digital allows more people to have their say, I would still say it is the ‘known’ and the ‘celebrity’ that get read more!
- #33 The ‘digital age’ has brought with it a concept that it has increased a number of risks, but often when we look behind the headlines, we’ll see that many risks have been accompanied by new ways to solve it (e.g. with kids, if bullied – it carries on outside the school gates, but e.g. text messages can be recorded as ‘proof’). It’s not all bad, and it’s doesn’t solve every problem!
- #34 The expectations of the younger generation may be different (although much also the same – forget ‘digital natives’) – but the nature of the technology has also changed, and the better we understand that – the more we are capable of using it well – and encouraging all of our community to use it well: 1) Material is persistent by default – difficult to remove2) Material is easy to change, replicate & share – making it difficult to distinguish between originals/replicas3) An isolated prank can go viral … may not be what the original person chose – but what the community chooses to amplify4) Anyone can be found/identified
- #35 Think about who might read it .. And think how that might change what you write… think about your audience … (not about spending all time adapting to other people – but also need to contextualise)… DISCUSS how this might change the kind of posts you make..
- #36 You might decide that you want to think further about what your “10 commandments” of engaging online might be… but a few final thoughts…Here I want to emphasise from Ian Aspin who spoke at CNMAC11 … that it’s a “pull” economy – we have to earn the right for people to take notice of us – most of the public wouldn’t see us as having a ‘God-given right’ – we need content that will be interesting & draw people in…
- #37 Come to know yourself, what gifts and passions God has given you, and look to live those out authentically & with integrity online… what I call a ‘digital fingerprint’ – you were made to be unique, so be unique … and look for others to engage with in that area… Think it’s hard to sustain ‘authenticity’ 24/7 online, are so many TRACES … (still entirely possible, but I think hard) … but also there’s a tendency to work hard on ‘marketing’ ourselves… (e.g. Romania … they go out and have studio photos taken for Facebook)…
- #38 … who are we in God, and therefore how can we make a difference?
- #39 God gave us gifts, passions – how do we use those to be authentic – and then in those spaces to share [LICC?].
- #40 … it’s the world of the ‘long-tail’ – don’t compete online to be known as ‘church’, but to be a particular aspect of church – good to find people to connect with…http://www.empowernetwork.com/rlane/files/2013/04/long-tail-keywords.jpg
- #41 .. And example of how this has helped many people is this website (also on Twitter, etc.) and how they have got these people together… something many people don’t want to talk about… but these people do –it’s healing
- #42 … note also that people tend to find it easier to ask difficult questions in the relative ‘anonymity’ of the online space…
- #43 So much of what we talk about is about collaboration & community … and re Big Bible Fr David Cloake had this to say about participating as a #digidisciple “I am …”
- #44 In all of this we are thinking “who is our neighbour” – within the church community we seem to particularly “value” f2f contact (a lot is down to the incarnation of Jesus), but this notion needs a lot more thought – we now have global neighbours! DISCUSS
- #45 We also have limited time to engage – we can’t be spending all our time online (same as you wouldn’t spend all your time in the pub, or the gym, or Tesco)…. But if you are going to respond to something it’s better to be quick..than to be BBC quality! Quality often comes second to missing the opportunity… Whilst you’re thinking about that, remember also that the time for ‘control’ has largely passed online – especially once something is online… and also that UK laws about privacy, libel, etc. still apply …
- #46 We’re seeking to be salt & light in the digital space – a good example (and many non-Christians are, so what will make us stand out?)
- #47 .. Which I think is summed up nicely here.
- #48 Something else to think about in this mix… a subtle difference… as with social media – it’s not about ‘metrics’ … no one but God knows how he works… DISCUSS
- #50 Something to leave you thinking about … “what Biblical values do we want to see in our (digital) world?” (digital in brackets, as it’s part of our whole world…) …
- #51 … what do the fruits of the spirit look like online – what does it mean to be patient & self-control … do we need to hold back from posting that thought at the moment we think it? EXERCISE
- #52 .. In particular what does it mean to share with ‘grace’ … we want to be invited to share, but we also want to ensure that we respond to things ‘gracefully’ – this doesn’t mean like a doormat but not flinging around some of the insults that I can see from people online at different ends of Biblical interpretation… DISCUSS GRACE-FULL CONVERSATION – being a good ‘witness’ online…
- #53 Think also about the need to ‘share faith’ … for many of us social action/social justice is a way to express/make a difference, etc….
- #54 Don’t forget also want words… though are many essays re balance between e.g. social action/sharing the gospel…
- #55 I think this is the thought that I want to leave you with.. (if time, ask if any other verses spring to mind for similar adaptation.. )
- #56 So – what do you think? What does it make you think about engaging online, how we share our faith, how we make Jesus real to people?