How much time do you need to organize a # event?
To be honest, we didn’t really know the answer to that question, but we did know that we had a desire that these events would be fast-reproducing, nimble events that could take advantage of timely opportunities.
While attending a conference in mid-April, I met a few people from the UK who had previously come across Indigitous and wanted to get involved. So as I struggled with Jetlag in the early hours of the morning, I started to think through the people I was planning to making contact with in an upcoming visit to the UK to encourage to get involved with Indigitous. I found there were more than 20 people I wanted to meet with and the idea came to me, “Why not just run Indigitous # London and see how many can come?” So I ran the idea by a few of the key people and penciled in a midweek date in late May to target for the event.
We then set about securing a suitable venue and speakers for the event, and began to send out invitations and promote Indigitous # London in our networks. Registrations were coming in steadily when we heard that there was the threat of a rail strike on the day of the event. And then a few days later, it was confirmed that the rail strike would indeed take place. We took a poll of those who had already registered to see if we should cancel the event, and came to the conclusion that the best solution was to move the start time back an hour to allow people more time for travel. We also sent out messages asking people to pray that the rail strike would be cancelled, and within 48 hours, it was cancelled.
After the rail strike was cancelled, several people who had been holding out on registering because they were unsure of their travel plans registered, and we ended up with 24 people attending, several of whom had not heard about Indigitous before.
Those who attended were excited about the possibility of being able to collaborate and network on different projects and campaigns, and there was a real sense of added momentum for co-operation among different groups in using digital strategies to help reach the UK with the gospel. And as a result of this meeting, there have been several other connections made for possible partnerships around the world.
As you can see, it was by no means a smooth journey, but as we trusted God, he was able to use our faith and make a way for this to happen. Could God work in a similar way in your life or ministry to see an Indigitous # event happen in your city?