It’s time for a brand new factor in international Christian missions

The Great Commission is what motivates Kingdom believers. We’re referred to as to enter the world and share Jesus’ life, giving folks the chance to have their very own lives modified and each day function clarified.

When Jesus gave His command to His disciples to “…go and make disciples of all nations…”, (Matthew 28 16-20 NIV), the one means then to achieve folks was to bodily go into new areas and discover locations they congregated. This digital period through which we reside presents completely different alternatives to achieve folks globally, and plenty of would argue quicker than ever earlier than.

Last month, The Lausanne Movement launched their international ‘The State of the Great Commission’ 2024 report. As I sat and listened to a presentation from Matthew Neirmann in regards to the static historic and projected international dimension of Christianity over 150 years, the underwhelming actuality of the flat line on the graph inspired me to suppose, ‘It is time for a brand new factor.’ What catalysts can we use, and through which methods can we use them to pursue the mission of God’s kingdom so all can know Jesus?

But what does it seem like to inform Jesus’ story within the trendy world?

According to latest Statista information, the estimated variety of web customers worldwide was 5.4 billion, this represents 67 per cent of the worldwide inhabitants. According to the Global Web Index, the typical time spent on-line each day is 6.5 hours.

The web has made the world really feel smaller in some ways. Digital or on-line evangelism is coming into public areas and sharing in regards to the life, love and instance of Jesus in an entire new means. There remains to be a major have to bodily go and share the message of Jesus with those that have not heard, however in some instances the place entry is troublesome, we should harness our technological panorama.

We have to awaken a bigger pool of the worldwide physique of Christ and equip them to embrace progressive approaches to evangelism whereas remaining devoted to the timeless message of Jesus. Here are some methods we disciples can successfully share Jesus’ story in a digital age.

1. Utilize social media: By creating partaking content material, sharing private testimonies, and collaborating in on-line discussions, disciples of Jesus can attain those that could not in any other case encounter His message.
2. Create multimedia content material: Consider leveraging multimedia codecs corresponding to video, podcasts, and infographics to share the love of Jesus in dynamic methods. Visual content material can present alternatives for higher engagement and probably a deeper understanding of bible teachings.
3. Engage with on-line communities: Joining on-line communities, boards, and dialogue teams associated to religion supplies distinctive alternatives to attach with people. Sharing sources, providing help, and fascinating in dialog is highly effective.
4. Develop a personalised method: Recognize that completely different folks have distinctive backgrounds, experiences, and questions on religion. Your method ought to be tailor-made to deal with their particular issues and desires.
5. Provide genuine testimonies: Authenticity is vital to efficient digital evangelism. In a world of faux information, guarantee what you’re sharing is reliable. Share private testimonies or genuine tales that resonate with audiences and may also help them discover a religion journey.
6. Offer sources and help: Provide digital sources corresponding to Bible research guides, devotional materials, and on-line prayer teams. Offering sensible help and steering may also help folks deepen, be launched to, or navigate their relationship with God.
7. Embrace rising applied sciences: Stay abreast of rising applied sciences corresponding to digital actuality, augmented actuality, and synthetic intelligence, and discover how these instruments can be utilized as autos to inform tales and captivate audiences within the Gospel message.

Sharing the life and love of Jesus in a digital world requires a spirit of creativity, authenticity, and adaptableness. If we do that, we are able to lengthen the attain of our collective voices as we share the love of Jesus with the world.

In the phrases of John Piper, “Don’t look ahead to a sense or love to be able to share Christ with a stranger. You already love your heavenly Father, and you understand that this stranger is created by Him… so take these first steps in evangelism since you love God. It isn’t primarily out of compassion for humanity that we share our religion or pray for the misplaced; it’s initially, love for God. In different phrases, it is not a query of ‘if’ we’re referred to as. We’ve already stated sure. The solely query is ‘how‘ to do it within the context of in the present day.”

If we feature the Great Commission out with faithfulness to our God, we pray that it’ll lead others to come back to know the transformative energy of Christ in an more and more interconnected world.

Jesus Film Project has a number of sources obtainable that can assist you share the life-changing story of Jesus with the world round you. Go to www.jesusfilm.org for extra data

Geoff Peters is Global Marketing Director of the movie JESUS.