“As fellow believers, the Lord is calling us to do digital missions,” says Jomer Gallana, a digital strategist with Campus Crusade for Christ Philippines. Whereas in the past, the mission field has been thought of as countries, cities, and people groups, we now have the ability to reach more people at a much larger scale. One of the best ways to make Jesus known through digital missions is with Digital Outreach, an event that Indigitous has been doing since the movement began.
Recently Jomer spoke at an Indigitous Digital Outreach Workshop to share how Digital Outreach events work and how to host one. The webinar series is part of Indigitous’s partnership with GO 2020, where we have a collective goal of mobilizing 100 million believers to reach 1 billion people with the Gospel in the month of May.
A Digital Outreach event includes three simple steps: Connect, Share, and Engage.
Connect
In today’s world, people are more connected than ever before, but also feel more isolated. Many connections are superficial; we share curated versions of our lives on social media but lack meaningful connections with people who truly know and care about us. “As we do Digital Outreach, we want to offer real connections to people online. We want our friends to sense that we really have a genuine concern, a genuine love for them,” Jomer says.
Share
After connecting with someone and establishing that caring relationship, it’s time to share. At this point, you will share a video or article that can be used to start a spiritual conversation. “Make sure that you are sharing from the heart,” Jomer says. Whatever you share should be used to transition to a meaningful conversation, and that’s a lot easier if you start by sharing something that is meaningful to you. One of Jomer’s preferred videos to share is a short film called Falling Plates.
After you share the video, take these steps:
- Ask your friend what he/she thinks about the video.
- Use transition questions such as these examples:
- Life is portrayed as falling plates. What do you think about that?
- Everyone is on a spiritual journey. Where do you think you are on that journey?
- Do you think you are moving toward God, away from God, or staying about the same?
- Would you like to hear how you can know God personally?
Engage
During the Engage step, you will share your personal testimony, talking about your walk with God and how knowing Jesus has impacted your life. “Your personal testimony may have resonance with how God is moving in their lives,” Jomer says. After you have shared your own personal testimony, you transition to a Gospel presentation. Tools such as GodTools can help with that step for those who aren’t experienced in giving Gospel presentations.
After you share the Gospel, take these two steps:
- Congratulate your friend for making the most important decision of his/her life!
- Invite him/her to meet again (further conversation, follow-up Bible study, go to church, etc.)
An example
Looking at the screenshots above, notice how the conversation started with a superficial greeting and then went to a question showing that Jomer cares, asking his friend how he is adjusting to quarantine. After connecting about that issue, with his friend admitting that he is scared, Jomer uses that to talk about how he can be hopeful, which he uses to transition to sharing the Falling Plates video. After sharing, Jomer asks what his friend thought of the video and then asks a follow-up question about his relationship with God. After his friend answers, the conversation would move to the Engage phase, where Jomer would share his personal testimony and then transition to a Gospel presentation.
Where to get videos
If you don’t already have in mind a video that is meaningful to you that you can share during a Digital Outreach, there are many places to get them. In addition to Falling Plates, there are a number of great videos on the Jesus Film app, the VOKE app, and the yesHEis app. Each of those apps include suggested follow-up questions for discussing the videos that you select.
All of that sounds pretty easy, but what if it doesn’t result in the person coming to Christ? Jomer says not to worry about that. “Success in witnessing is simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God,” he says.
If you want to train your church how to do Digital Outreach, or gather any other group to host your own Digital Outreach event, Jomer recommends the following steps:
- Share what you have learned about Digital Outreach so far.
- Select 5-7 people who are willing to be trained and can train others as well.
- Download the Digital Outreach kit.