After completing a six-week cohort of online classes, homework and training, International Mission Board missionaries from across the Asia-Pacific Rim signed up for an in-person four-day digital engagement (DE) lab.
During their time, teams learned how they could apply digital engagement (the use of social media and online content to engage a specific audience) to the Core Missionary Task.
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Rocky Brewer, an IMB missionary in Southeast Asia, signed up for the training because he believed DE could benefit his team’s ministry. Brewer shared that in his province alone, there are 22 unreached people groups. What’s more, because of inadequate road systems, it is extremely difficult to reach any surrounding provinces.
“I just had this urge to be able to reach them through the device that’s sitting in their pocket,” Brewer said, “And it’s like, hey, we might not be able to get to a village eight hours away from here, but we can reach them literally in an instant through social media.”
Practical principles
The training provided Brewer and his ministry partners with practical principles on marketing, technology, website-building and more. He appreciated being taught by experts who “not only talk the talk, [but have] walked the walk,” and felt blessed to be able to learn from their experience and apply it to his specific ministry context.
DE did not just aid in entry and evangelism, however.
Madeline Cavanaugh, an IMB missionary in Japan who also attended the training, brought back the same principles to build up and encourage local Japanese believers through DE.
“The nail that sticks out gets hammered down,” is a popular Japanese saying that demonstrates their current issue. According to Cavanaugh, less than 1% of Japanese are Christian. Sadly, many of that 1% find it culturally strange and isolating to share the gospel with their families or closest friends.
Empower and equip
Cavanaugh and her team want to empower and equip Japanese believers through DE to discover the joy of sharing Christ, despite societal stigma. They hope to connect with local Christians online and share stories of how God is working through other Japanese believers’ obedience to the Great Commission.
“We are really excited to just continue to help change the tone around evangelism, that it doesn’t have to be something scary or something you need a seminary degree to do or something that only foreigners can do,” Cavanaugh said, “I think DE will give us a really good way to find people that we can encourage and continue to disciple more in our area that don’t really know where to plug in or aren’t able to find resources like that.”
Overall, the cohort taught DE’s flexibility to teams from across the globe, proving that, regardless of context, DE helps missionaries sow gospel seeds, distribute discipleship tools to local believers, create local church partnerships and cultivate leadership development.
Ways to pray
Pray for missionaries across the Asia-Pacific Rim as they begin to incorporate DE into their ministries. Pray that the advertisements would reach all who are seeking truth in their life—from the lost who struggle with fulfillment to the saved who need to be encouraged.
Some names have been changed for security.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Mikah Young and originally published by the International Mission Board.
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