New Media EvangelismDr Bex 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-evangelismFor: http://www.dna-uk.org

Let’s get to know each other…

https://twitter.com/drbexl

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/magazine/05FOB-consumed-t.html?ref=magazine

Image Credit: iStockphoto

http://www.wordnik.com/words/evangelism

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.

Brennan Manning

The greatest 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.

What Personal Evangelism is 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.

What Personal Evangelism May Well 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?

Image Credit: Seed Resources

A sense of fun …

Image Credit: Facebook Meme

http://youtu.be/TXD-Uqx6_Wk

http://www.scoop.it/t/influenced/p/1411490163/social-media-landscape-

2012-infographic

Source: Facebook

http://www.slideshare.net/drbexl/an-overview-of-social-media-january-2013

Communication & Relationships

Image Credit: iStockphoto

Darren Hill, Seed Resources

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

How do you see this?

Rev Prof David Wilkinson

God is 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

http://www.wordnik.com/words/communicate

http://www.biblesummary.info

http://philmgreen.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/66-books-in-66-tweets/

http://bigbible.tumblr.com

http://pinterest.com/bigbible/bible-verses/

http://www.slideshare.net/drbexl/the-fast-bible-links

NOT Virtual/Real

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Human Beings at Machines, not “are machines” …

Finding a Voice: http://bigbible.org.uk

Craig von Buseck, Netcasters, 2010

Craig von Buseck, Netcasters, 2010

Bad things can happen anywhere

@6% 360/6636

Persistence

Perpetual Beta

Scalability

Searchability

Who might read it?

God

Parents

‘The kids’

The newspaper

Your worst enemy

Push/Pull

Care for others - 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/)

Authenticity

Image Credits: Seed Resources/ @digitalfprint

Our identity…

It is 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

Gary Collins (Christian Life 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

The Long Tail

Image credit: Empower Network

http://www.sayinggoodbye.org

http://bigbible.org.uk/2012/02/seeking-god-online-digidisciple-

emmauk74/

A Sense of Community

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

Who is my neighbour?

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

Timing …

https://www.youversion.com/bible/294/mat.5.13.cevuk

May 2012, @ChristianityMag

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/?search=1+Peter+3%3A15&version=NIV

What Biblical values do we want to see in our (digital) world?

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What do the fruits of the spirit look like online?

Image Credit: Kezi

What does it mean to share with grace?

Image Credit: Seed Resources

James 2:17

So you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

New Living Translation (©2007)

http://heymissawesome.tumblr.com/post/6346902900

http://bigbible.org.uk/2012/10/evangelism-through-story/

@drbexl @digitalfprint @bigbible

Image Credit: iStockPhoto

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 Spiritwhom you sent to sanctify and bless all you have createdand 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 promptingsthat we may be true missionaries in the digital world.Grant us the humility to seek you above and before all other thingsthat 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/

Thank You!