The Digital Discipleship and Evangelism Model

Jamie Jean Schneider Domm

Digital Strategist for the North American Division

​A model for everyday ministry to real people and how to use social influence for kingdom building as it was demonstrated through the life of Jesus Christ. 

During His three-and-a-half-year ministry, He:

• shared stories
• shared Godly (and scripture-based) wisdom
• attended to people’s needs, physically and spiritually
• answered people’s questions regarding spiritual matters and everyday challenges
• gave them hope
• created community
• developed an engaged/active church body
• lead people to wholeness
• equipped people to be disciples and to replicate the model He developed.
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This model, when used for digital discipleship and evangelism, is a way we can follow Jesus’ example, while utilizing modern tools and technologies. This approach is integrated, weaving traditional (analog) methods together with digital tools to magnify the scale of our efforts for wider impact in the physical world. For now, we’re going to break down the digital components of the model. Later in this guidebook, we’ll explore how digital can work together with traditional methods in the modern world. 

​Credit: Digital Discipleship in the Seventh-day Adventist Church
modified by Jamie Domm, Digital Strategist for the North American Division

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In this model: 

• Content creators are those who package the gospel message and teachings of Jesus into various digital friendly formats such as: video, blogs, images, podcasts, etc.
• Distributors are organizations or individuals who use digital tools and technologies to share content within their sphere of digital influence.
• Engagers are empathic individuals within an organization, or operating independently, who engage in online conversations for the purpose of building meaningful relationships, better understanding needs, and determining meaningful ways to serve others in the community.
  
  

The two-way arrow in the chart indicates the overlap of skills and duties found within any ministry or church, as well as the necessity to curate digital content contributed by members (individuals or organizations) engaged in outreach and fellowship (distribution and engagement). Every organization should develop a strategic plan for digital outreach that covers these basic three elements. Individuals fall into at least one of the three categories but may serve in multiple capacities. Later in this guide we will unpack each of these categories in-depth and provide practical steps for implementation.
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Individuals who are seeking to serve as digital missionaries can fulfill all these roles on their own or work within a network of digital missionaries to optimize reach, build community, and share content. By creating an ecosystem of digital missionaries, they can capitalize on each other’s areas of specialty through mutual collaboration and shared social influence. A group of digital missionaries can learn as a group and adapt to changing technologies, increasing their ability to address relevant topics in a timely manner. 

Organizations can provide structure for content creation that reflects the official mission and branding of a ministry. An organization should also develop a system for distribution internally and externally, as well as determine ways to tap into the reach potential of its members. Ministries can also set up teams of engagers who work within the brand structure to strengthen the relationships within the church community and/or who are trained to act independently as disciples, developing relationships outside of the Church for the purpose of evangelism. These organizations can also interact within the larger organizational structure of the Church to create a multilayered ecosystem of content creators, distributors, and engagers.
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Each organizational level both creates and distributes content through their digital channels: up the chain, down the chain, and to the external audience. Each formal organization should also have a team of engagers to interact with the online community. In terms of the local conference and churches, the role of the engager will need to go beyond the digital space for in-person experiences.

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The function of each layer of the Church can be summarized as follows:

• The Division serves in a creative role that specializes in developing sharable content, helping people solve problems, and addressing felt needs of those within the Adventist Church, as well as seekers. The goal is to share the gospel in relevant and culturally meaningful ways. The Division distributes this content down to the various levels of the Church’s structure and to targeted individuals. A team of engagers actively responds to messages and builds community online to cultivate meaningful relationships with those it serves, bridging the gap between the individual and the perceived corporate brand.
  
  
• Each union and mission creates and curates relevant content (from the Division, ministries, and other resources) for its territory, with a distribution mechanism up to the Division and down to its conferences with a people-care team (engagers) dedicated to building relationships with members and the community it serves.
  
  

• Each conference is responsible for creating and curating content (from the Division, union, local churches, ministries, etc.) relevant to the needs of the churches, members, and communities it serves, distributing content and resources up to its union and out to its churches and communities. At the same time, it develops a care team (engagers) dedicated to building relationships with members and the community it serves. In the case of digital evangelism efforts, each role also endeavors to bring people to a real-world, in-person experiences through connections with relevant programs, bible studies, services, and more.
  
  
• The local church can repurpose and create spiritual content to help move people through their spiritual journey, as well as address local and member needs, help solve problems, and seek to directly improve the well-being of the community. A church’s distribution focus will be highly targeted to a geographical location and should leverage the social influence of its members. A committed team of engagers can build a 24/7 church experience for members and local community alike that answers questions and addresses felt needs in a timely and meaningful way.
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• Individual members of a church can serve in one or more roles as content creators (creatives), distributors, and engagers. As creatives, individuals can help package and develop church content in ways that are directly relevant to the community it serves. As distributors, the church body can function as a reach vehicle to their extended contacts by sharing and engaging with content. Empathic persons well suited to engagement can serve to strengthen the community within and outside the church. Individuals may also have their own personal ministry separate from their participation in the local church. Digital disciples can use their digital influence to share their thoughts, perspectives, testimonies, and faith experiences with their connections, while also proactively building relationships and improving the wellbeing of those they engage with through digital tools.  

The Adventist Church should be on the cutting edge of preaching and teaching present truth. We have around 1.2 million members in the North American Division. What if every church (approximately 5,500) became a digital missions hub with those 1.2 million members also serving as creatives, distributors, and engagers? We, as the Church body, could work together as content creators, engagers, and distributors to generate a mighty voice for sharing the gospel message. There is a significant amount of untapped potential when you consider the social influence of every individual, church, ministry, school, conference, union, etc. We could overwhelm our corner of the digital space with truth, hope, and wholeness.
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In order to catch up and realize this dream, we must prioritize technology at all levels of the Church’s structure. We must become as effective as secular organizations in getting our message out and reaching our target audiences. 

Previous articles in the Digital Discipleship & Evangelism Guidebook:

• Definition of Terms: What is Digital Discipleship and Evangelism?
• Why Is Digital Discipleship and Evangelism Needed?

​Learn more about Digital Discipleship and Evangelism.