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Ethiopian Digital Missions Event Mobilizes Missionaries

“…I am awed, Lord, by what you accomplished. In our time repeat those deeds; in our time reveal them again. ” Habakkuk 3:2

Yared and I had the privilege to travel to an ancient city, Gondar, in the northern part of Ethiopia. Gondar is 750 km from the capital city of Addis Ababa. It is also one of the most difficult places to practice Christian movements.

We went to host the Indigitous # event in cooperation with the Gondar University Christian Students fellowship there. We had a number of students come from nearby Bahir Dar University to join us in Gondar for the event. A total of 41 students from Gondar University, Bahir Dar University and a local preparatory school attended the event.

The # event was a #Learn event. We gave a presentation on why we need Indigitous and we discussed the challenges and opportunities of digital media and how the students can use some existing digital tools to do ministry in their campus.

The outcome was amazing,! There was no Digital Strategies (DS) team at the Bahir Dar Campus but after they understood the vision and got a concrete concept about Indigitous, they were excited to take the movement into their campus. So we set up another meeting with Bahir Dar students and talked on how they can start and establish a digital team there.

In addition, after the planning session, the Gondar DS team was able to refine their team structure and do concrete plans for the future.

Finally, the big thing, the Gondar and Bahir Dar teams made a partnership to work together to reach their respective campuses for Jesus. This was very crucial for me to see students from both campuses coming together to learn, collaborate, and share Jesus despite the challenges and difficulties of doing the Great Commission in places like Gonder and Bahir Dar.

One major challenge was the unreliability of our electricity; it went off in the middle of the training. To solve this, we tried to change the venue to the nearby hall and tried to get a generator, but unfortunately we couldn’t find one, so we kept sharing the slides without power. (Digital strategists must be able to pivot and adapt). After few minutes, the power came on and we continued our presentation. So making our selves prepared to present without slides is one of a crucial thing that we learned.

Despite this challenge, God helped us and we had a great time. Praise God for everything accomplished at Indigitous # Gondar.

Find out how to host your own Indigitous # event.