Transcript Cybermissions

Cybermissions
The Intentional Front-Line Use of Computers And
The Internet To Facilitate the Great Commission.
The Use of “Means”
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Frontier mission is always an
adventure and a calling, in the
words of William Carey, to “use
means” for the completion of the
Great Commission.
One of these means is the use of
the Internet.
The Internet has many unique
features that make it suited for
missions.
The Internet Advantage
The Internet reaches:
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Many people – about 1 billion!
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In many nations – simultaneously
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And can build community
 Reach a mass audience
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Or communicate just one-to-one securely
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Using text, graphics, ebooks, audio, video,
email, conferencing, VOIP, forums, web
pages, blogs….
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In a wide variety of languages
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And can be regionally or culturally targeted.
More Advantages…
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No airfares needed
No visas required
Less health problems
Greater personal safety
Enters “closed” countries
Reaches community leaders
Works even when you are asleep
Very cost effective
Ideal for retired missionaries
The BIGGEST Advantage
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People arrive at websites because of
purposeful behaviour - they clicked on a link
or used a search engine.
Thus web visitors are there with a purpose
and already have some interest.
Thus you are not dealing with cold, apathetic
people.
You are ministering straight to the people you
want to be ministering to.
To be able to minister to people who are
already interested in what you have to say is
the BIGGEST advantage of Cybermissions.
Seekers Use The Internet
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People use the Internet to do private searching
for information.
Whether it be conspiracy theories or health
information people go online to find what they
are afraid to ask out aloud publicly.
People considering adopting the Christian faith
also use the Internet to find out information and
to talk with Christians.
“Religion seekers” are a major Internet
phenomenon with 40% of Internet users
regularly searching for religious information
online.
That is 400 million people seeking religious
information. These are the people you want to
contact!
The Religion Seekers
Religion seekers:
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Are not just “hits” or “visitors’ or “statistics”
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Have names like Bob and Jane and Mohammed
and Beng!
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Live in a real country and do real work.
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Are just as real as the people in the street!
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Come to a website seeking answers about their
deepest questions.
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Are often very curious about Christianity.
Are We Seeker-Sensitive?
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Surprisingly most mission websites are not
targeted towards “religion seekers”
And do NOT answer key questions about
Christianity asked by non-Christians.
Often they are just tools for the corporate
image!
Some people think: “the harvest field is out
there in Zimbabwe and this website is just
where we put the pictures, and raise the funds
for the real work.”
However the Harvest Field is also ONLINE!
Getting The Point!
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Christian mission agencies need to get the
point - of 400 million people with spiritual
questions who are just a mouse click away
from salvation.
Websites need to be Harvest Fields! Places
of sowing and reaping for the gospel!
The website is one of your most strategic
tools for evangelism!
Religion surfers can hear the gospel online
just as they can hear it from a book, a tract
or a pulpit and give their lives to Christ.
The Right Reason
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The right reason for a missions website
is to get spiritual results for Jesus.
You can explain the gospel, answer
questions, exhort, reprove, instruct and
disciple young people, train and counsel
your workers and so much more!
Ask: “What would Jesus do with this
website to build His Church and expand
His Kingdom?”
The Possibilities
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Web evangelism
Bible teaching
Online seminaries
Discipleship in discussion forums.
Online counselling and mentoring.
City-wide Christian web portals.
Target a specific people group.
Target a particular interest group
Offer practical help – such as how to purify
water.
Coordinate and connect Christians and nonChristians, teachers and students, problems
and solutions…
More Possibilities
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Safely witness to Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists.
Language and culture exposure.
Build friendships before going to the field.
Use websites to follow-up after crusades.
Tightly coordinate the website with your other
outreach efforts - build relationships offline and put the
information online.
Network widely scattered missions specialists.
Raise up informed intercessors by using websites and
email lists.
EXAMPLE: Cybermissions And
The Tsunami
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Online databases coordinated massive relief efforts.
Millions of dollars were donated via websites.
Theological questions about justice, tragedy and suffering
were answered in blogs, web pages and emails.
Short-term mission teams were pulled together using
websites, emails and online recruitment tools.
People and locations were prayed for on Internet prayer
boards.
The Internet made the Christian response to the tsunami far
more timely and possible!
Those who knew how to use the Internet best, responded
best, when the crisis came.
Strategy Section
How to be effective
Good missiology
Appropriate technology
The Word In Cyberspace
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It is the gospel that is the power of God
unto salvation – and not technology,
methodology or personality!
The gospel can be encountered on a
web page or in a chat room and a person
can give their life to Jesus.
This can happen even when you are
asleep!
The important thing is to connect religion
seekers with the word of the gospel in a
way that they can clearly understand.
Missiology Still Applies Online
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You still need to think
missiologically when doing online
ministry.
You still need to learn the language
and the culture and understand the
worldview of the people.
The idea is to assist the
implementation of a good
missionary strategy by using
powerful technology.
Thinking Strategically
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Who are you aiming to reach?
What are they interested in?
What do they feel they need?
What sort of people do they want to
meet online?
What are their questions about God?
What language do they use?
What is their communication style?
How can all these factors above be
reflected in a well-designed and easy to
use website?
More Questions..
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What security issues are there?
What is their bandwidth?
What is their level of technological
understanding?
How patient are they with
technology?
Are they group learners or
individual learners?
Are they oral learners requiring
lots of audio and video online?
How much time can you put in?
Meet A Pressing Need
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Start with the need then build the
website.
It is OK to have lots of different
websites.
E.G. Do your grass-roots national
pastors need free theological
training? Can they get to an icafe
once a week and download what
they need?
Build a website to meet their basic
training needs then follow up with
occasional visits by trainers.
Use A Bridge Strategy
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Build a website around a
secular interest.
Then connect to testimonies
and gospel presentations.
E.G. To reach Iraqis “History of Babylon”
To reach Indians – “What
Ghandi Learned From Jesus”
Tips On Strategy
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Language group / interest group is far more
important than nationality.
2/3 of the Internet is non-English speaking.
Learning style is “almost everything” !
Aim for the 2% who are most responsive to the Holy
Spirit.
No one first visits a website because of the
graphics.
Word of mouth and viral marketing drive the Internet
- so connect with those who can connect with
others.
The more specific the website is, the more visitors it
often attracts. (For low to medium budget websites)
Command a niche market for maximum impact.
Specialized Websites Get The Most Hits
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Specialized websites do much better in the
search engines and so get many more hits.
For instance a general website on “God” will
be lost on page 43 of Google and get almost no
hits.
But a specific web page say on “A Christian
Response To Human Cloning” will get many hits
because it is a specialized website on a hot
topic and will have few competitors.
Generic websites generally fail unless they have
very big advertising budgets.
Specialized websites – rare books, vintage cars,
specific medical problems are doing very well.
Websites targeted at Third World cities or less
known UPGs may be among the only ones on
that topic and will rate highly in the search
engines.
Designing With The Average End
User In Mind
Basic Web Design
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The Internet is driven by seekers
searching for information or for
relationship (or both).
They start either at a link or at a search
engine.
So you need to have:
a) information that people are looking for
b) relationships they can connect to
c) many links pointing to your website
d) be well-ranked in the search engines
e) be clear, easy-to-use and to navigate
Be Clear!
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Many people are easily confused by
computers and the Internet.
You may need to train people in how to use
your website.
Provide plenty of cues and lots of help.
Make it fast-loading, and not cluttered or
unreadable.
Use high-contrast – e.g black text on white
background.
Make links underlined, and avoid “junk”
like rotating crosses that clutter the visual
landscape.
Think Interaction Not Just
Information
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Interaction builds loyalty.
Interaction grows the relationship so you
can ask the tough questions.
Interaction must be carefully nurtured.
Make numerous opportunities for people to
respond, to contact you, to ask questions,
to meet others, and to post their opinions.
Use web forms, bulletin boards, email links
When replying be POP: Prompt, On-Topic,
and Personal
Do not commercialize the interaction
unless given permission to do so.
Make It Easy To Spread The Word
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Make web pages and articles easy to print out and
take home.
Let them copy and distribute your materials for free.
Make them easy to download in an icafe - have online
resources able to fit on a single floppy disk.
Use ebooks – they are compressed, download very
quickly and can be emailed to others.
Provide “tell a friend” forms where they can tell others
about you.
Have a web address that is easy to write down or
remember.
Use “bring-em-back” technology such as Inspired
Text browser plug-ins that they can download.
Give them an attractive screensaver with your website
address on it.
Common Objections
But They Aren’t Online!
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But their community leaders are, and often at
least one extended family member is!
If you can reach one key person you can reach a
whole community.
This is known as the “tunnel and blast” strategy.
Use the Internet to “tunnel in” and find one
“man of peace”, then build a relationship, equip
this person to win the community - and “blast”
the gospel.
Internet cafes also provide access for many
people in developing nations.
You are not just contacting a person, you are
contacting that person’s network.
Use the Internet to connect with people who can
connect you to still more people.
But It Won’t Work Everywhere!
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The fact that you can't do
something everywhere is no
reason to stop trying it
somewhere.
Cybermissions works in the most
surprising places e.g., Bhutan
Cybermissions can work via both online
strategies and through establishing
Internet cafes and student centers.
There is an enormous hunger for
technology and free information in
developing nations.
Doing Cybermissions
Set Up A Cybermissions Department
An ideal cybermissions department
has four kinds of people:
 Technical staff, web designers,
graphic artists
 Content editors, writers, video
producers
 Field missionaries with language
and cultural experience.
 Evangelists, bible teachers and
intercessors
Missions Should Be The Focus
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Focus the team around the
missiological objectives.
Keep the technology appropriate to
the average end user you are trying to
reach - who may have limited
bandwidth.
Coordinate the goals of the
Cybermissions team with the other
objectives of the missions agency to
create synergies.
Have a Field Director - Cyberspace
Select A Major People Group
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Focus your efforts for maximum
effectiveness.
China, Japan and the Middle East
have hundreds of millions of
people that can be reached by
Cybermissions and in each`case
have just one main language you
need to use.
China has 90 million Internet users
and is highly responsive to the
gospel.
India has many English speakers
and is increasingly tech savvy.
Places Where Cybermissions Might
Be The Main Strategy
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If the nation is difficult to reach by conventional
missionary strategies.
But they have enough Internet connectivity to see
people saved and to start a church-planting movement.
There are 43 nations where cybermissions could be
used as the main outreach strategy:
Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan,
Brunei, Burma, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Georgia,
India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Malaysia, Mali,
Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan,
Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan,Vietnam,Yemen
Dollars And Sense
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You can set up low-cost icafes in unreached
people groups using donated recycled
computers.
Open source software can save you big
bucks.
Major foundations are starting to look at
funding Cybermissions.
Cybermissions is ideal for volunteers can
work home.
It is often possible to get free web hosting.
On average Cybermissions costs less than
$100 per new convert.
Final Comments
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Cybermissionaries can work
alongside conventional
missionaries to generate
synergies that spread the
gospel.
The Internet is where many
seekers doing their seeking
and Christian missions needs
to prioritize the 400 million
relatively easy to reach
religion surfers online.