Digital Evangelism
  • Home
    • Big Data
    • Social Media
  • BLOG
  • RESOURCES
    • RESOURCE MENU >
      • ADVENTIST IDENTITY GUIDELINES
      • BIG DATA RESOURCES
      • BRANDING, IMAGE & DESIGN RESOURCES
      • CHURCH/MINISTRY SPECIFIC RESOURCES
      • COPYRIGHT & TRADEMARK BASICS
      • COURSES
      • EMAIL RESOURCES
      • GUIDANCE FOR HIRING SOCIAL MEDIA POSITIONS
      • PODCASTS
      • REPORTS & CASE STUDIES
      • SOCIAL MEDIA RESOURCES
      • (SOCIAL) VIDEO RESOURCES >
        • HOW TO START A VIDEO MINISTRY
      • TEXTING 4 CHURCHES
      • TRACKING & ANALTYICS
      • WATCH VIDEOS & TUTORIALS
      • WEBSITE TIPS
    • SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES
  • SEO
    • SEO TERMS
  • Digital Discipleship & Evangelism
  • COVID-19 RESOURCES
  • eNEWSLETTER

Blog

#DigitalEvangelism

Prepping the Soil in the Digital Age: Practical Steps For Embracing Digital Discipleship

5/13/2018

 

Rachel Lemons Aitken

Communications Executive of the Greater Sydney Conference and Founder of the Digital Discipleship Ministry of the Greater Sydney Conference.

Prepping the Soil in a Digital Age Picture

WHAT IS DISCIPLESHIP?


In Adventist Record’s recent interview with Dr. Leigh Rice, leader of Discipleship Ministries at the South Pacific Division, a definition of discipleship was shared.
A disciple is a person who in every way is becoming more like Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:15). So discipleship is the process of making better and more disciples. In the narrow sense we could say that mentoring is making better disciples and evangelism is making more disciples. But Jesus’ model of making disciples was very relational and this is perhaps the defining focus of discipleship. Disciples who make disciples, who make disciples—a disciple-making movement. Or as the parable in Mark 4 says, multiplying “30, 60 and even 100 times.
In Mark 4, Jesus outlines five activities that are involved in making disciples.  The South Pacific Division has given more specific examples of how we can carry out each of the steps in our day-to-day lives, for example when Jesus encourages us to “prepare the soil” we are being encouraged to visit with people to connect. This means listening to their story, visiting them when they’re sick and when they’re in need, like when they’re in prison.

Reviewing this document from the perspective of a digital disciple, we wondered how we could give further examples for how these activities might be applied in the digital space. 

PREPARE THE SOIL: EMBRACING DIGITAL DISCIPLESHIP

(Please not that these steps are not a replacement to the original activities outlined but are being suggested as additions to the list.)
  • Reach out to your online community, especially on special occasions like birthdays, accomplishments, etc.  Let them know you’re fully invested in their lives.  Live out Romans 12:15
  • When you see someone online express sadness about a personal life challenge or excitement about something great that has happened, empathize with them.  Like the post, comment on it or send them a personal message to let them know you’re with them along the way.  Be consistent in your relationship building with them
  • Slowly introduce spiritual content onto your social media account, especially if it’s not something you typically do.  You want to continue to be your authentic self, who is evidently in relationship with Jesus.  If you previously posted cat pictures, don’t stop doing that now that you’ve decided to  be a disciple in the digital space.  If you love sharing pictures of your family, vacations or food, keep being who you are.
  • Share practical content, especially if it’s content that will “prepare the soil” and help you have conversations with people down the road.  Some examples are:
    • Relationship articles
    • Lifestyle content
      • The Table TV show is a good example of material that can be shared to “prepare the soil”
    • Healthy living
      • Videos showing healthy and delicious food being prepared
      • Recipes
      • Workout tips
      • How you’re making health changes in your life
      • Mental and emotional health tips 
  • Create opportunities to pray online
    • Potential ideas for this can include:
      • FB groups for prayer
      • Host a FB Live once per week that takes prayer requests and prays for them online
      • Message someone to say you’re praying for them and follow it up with an online prayer.

If you’d like to read about the discipleship process in its entirety as it relates to the digital space, check out this resource from Digital Discipleship in the Seventh-day Adventist Church: “How Does Digital Discipleship Work?“

Reposted with permission from digitaldisciples.info. 
Alma link
4/5/2023 07:06:56 pm

Never be tormented into quiet. Never permit yourself to be made a casualty. Acknowledge nobody's meaning of your life, yet characterize yourself.

www.newtonwindowcleaners.com link
5/5/2023 12:36:02 am

Great article! We must visit and prepare our soil anytime.


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

    Categories

    All
    A Allan Martin
    Adam Fenner
    Angeline Brauer
    Big Data
    Center For Online Evangelism
    Chris Matts
    Culture
    Data Science
    Data Tracking
    David Mwansa
    Design
    Digital Discipleship
    Digital Pew
    Digital Strategies Intern
    Dustin Comm
    Email Communications
    Erica Jones
    Event Registration
    Faith-hoyt
    Fundraising
    General
    Harvey Alférez
    Heidi Baumgartner
    James Gigante
    Jamie Schneider
    Jason Alexis
    Justin Khoe
    Kaleb Eisele
    Kimberly Luste Maran
    Marketing
    Member Care
    Michelle Diedrich
    Nick Wolfer
    Online Church
    Paul Hopkins
    Philanthropy
    Rachel Lemons Aitken
    Reaching Young Adults
    Rodney Brady
    SEO
    Social Media
    Stewardship
    Text Evangelism
    Video
    Volunteering
    Website
    Working From Home

    RSS Feed

Location

Hiding within those mounds of data is knowledge that could change the life of a patient, or change the world.

Atul Butte, Researcher
University of California, San Francisco

Contact Us

    Subscribe Today!

    We will use this email to send you updates on social media and big data initiatives.
Submit
Legal Notice   l   Privacy Policy
  • Home
    • Big Data
    • Social Media
  • BLOG
  • RESOURCES
    • RESOURCE MENU >
      • ADVENTIST IDENTITY GUIDELINES
      • BIG DATA RESOURCES
      • BRANDING, IMAGE & DESIGN RESOURCES
      • CHURCH/MINISTRY SPECIFIC RESOURCES
      • COPYRIGHT & TRADEMARK BASICS
      • COURSES
      • EMAIL RESOURCES
      • GUIDANCE FOR HIRING SOCIAL MEDIA POSITIONS
      • PODCASTS
      • REPORTS & CASE STUDIES
      • SOCIAL MEDIA RESOURCES
      • (SOCIAL) VIDEO RESOURCES >
        • HOW TO START A VIDEO MINISTRY
      • TEXTING 4 CHURCHES
      • TRACKING & ANALTYICS
      • WATCH VIDEOS & TUTORIALS
      • WEBSITE TIPS
    • SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES
  • SEO
    • SEO TERMS
  • Digital Discipleship & Evangelism
  • COVID-19 RESOURCES
  • eNEWSLETTER