GodTools is one of the best evangelism tools out there, an app that helps Christians around the world have conversations about God. The app has a number of digital Gospel presentations in more than 80 languages that people can use to walk someone through what it means to be separated from God and how we can be saved and have a relationship with Him.
For those who are new to sharing their faith, GodTools even has the Teach Me To Share tool, which helps walk you through the process and gives tips, best practices, and encouragement. Recently, the GodTools team added an extra feature that makes it easier to share with someone from a distance.
GodTools was originally designed for face-to-face conversations. If you were talking with someone and felt an opportunity to share your faith, you could get out your phone, hold it so both of you can see the screen, and go through one of the Gospel presentations with the person as they follow along.
Back in 2015, a #HACK team saw a need for sharing remotely and hacked out a prototype for distance sharing via GodTools.
It seemed to be a forgotten idea for a while. Then the pandemic happened.
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically reduced the average person’s face-to-face interactions. Some of us are still (or again) in lockdown, unable to leave the house except for essential activities. For others, we’re able to do many of things we did before, but with restrictions. In a time of social distancing, it’s just not as practical to have an over-the-shoulder presentation with your phone. That’s why the GodTools team added the Share Your Screen option.
Within one of the tools, you can now share your screen with someone else, allowing them to go through the presentation with you as if you were face to face. To explain how it works, let’s just say I want to share the Gospel with my friend Bob. Here are the steps I would take.
1. Choose a tool
I need to choose a tool based on the worldview and personality of the person with whom I’m be sharing. From what I know about Bob, the Knowing God Personally tool would be the best one.
2. Skim the presentation before sharing
I don’t want to be surprised by anything when sharing, so I make sure to familiarize myself with the presentation ahead of time.
3. Tap the share icon
Once in the KGP tool, I select “share your screen.” The first time I do this, it walks me through a preview that explains the process.
4. Use the “Share Link” button to share with someone you know.
Bob likes to text a lot, so I send it via SMS. Since Bob doesn’t have GodTools installed on his phone, he’ll have to install it before following along with me. I make sure to tell Bob about this so he’s not surprised by a download prompt.
5. Go through the presentation as if face to face
Once Bob has GodTools on his phone and goes to the link I sent, he will be watching a mirrored presentation of my GodTools screen. That means whenever I turn the page or tap on an object to expand it, the same happens with him. He’s not a big fan of Zoom meetings, so we have the conversation over speaker phone while I go through the presentation.
We would all like to get back to using GodTools over a cup of coffee with a friend, and some of us can do that, but for those who can’t, and for the people you’re just not seeing in person right now, it’s good that there’s another way to share.
Have you used the screen-sharing feature in GodTools? If so, we’d love to hear your experience. We also recently did a webinar on how to use GodTools to have a conversation about Jesus. You can find that video below.