SYZYGY MISSIONS SUPPORT NETWORK

One of the ongoing challenges for mission workers is the need to ensure spiritual input.  One of the major reasons for burnout is that we continually give out at a faster rate than we take in.  So we need to make sure we have ample access to good quality teaching.

There is an extent to which, due to isolation or security needs, some mission workers can’t meet together easily for Bible study, and the local churches in which we minister are not always geared to meeting our needs.  But the internet makes good resources much more accessible than the days when our churches used to post us cassettes of the sermons.   One such benefit is the podcast, which can vary in length from five minutes to over an hour, and is an easily accessible resource that can be used in a variety of contexts: while setting aside time for study, or travelling, jogging – even on a flight.

Many churches now put their sermons out as podcasts, and even if the quality is not always consistent, it does have the benefit of keeping you in touch with what’s going on in your sending church.  But you can get them from other churches as well.  You might like to try, for example, Holy Trinity Brompton, Mars Hill, Gold Hill Baptist Church, Saddleback Church, St Helen’s Bishopsgate, or Willow Creek.

Some famous speakers podcast regularly, sometimes even daily, though the quality of these can be variable.  Try out Mark Driscoll, Joyce Meyer, N T Wright, Max Lucado, David Pawson or (from beyond the grave!) Derek Prince.  Even classics such as My Utmost for his Highest and The Practice of the Presence of God are available as a podcast.

Other organisations such as the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable  programme and Christianity magazine also have regular and thought-provoking podcasts, and Member Care Media, which we have highlighted before, issues daily podcasts aimed specifically at the mental, physical and emotional wellbeing of overseas mission workers.

Individual podcasts can be downloaded from the website appropriate to your preferred church or speaker (as linked above), but it’s a lot easier to subscribe to them through iTunes, or go to One Place, a Christian resource for bringing lots of Christian teaching resources together online.  You can download podcasts to your computer or phone, and though for some people download speeds at home are often a challenge, you can get round this by going to an internet café or office where they may have a better service.  If you’re in a country where you need to think about security, make sure you regularly alternate between different cafés.

There are of course many more online resources such as Bibles, commentaries and guides, sermon resources, audio books and devotionals, and Oscar has a full list of these.

Is this the future for Middle Eastern churches?

Two years on from the outbreak of the Arab Spring, it’s worth pausing to take stock of what has happened so far, particularly since recent the military conflict in Mali against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the ongoing civil war in Syria have drawn attention to the region once again.

Readers will recall that early in 2011 a democratic uprising in Tunisia, largely facilitated by the use of social media in organising, communicating and publicising, triggered a number of popular uprisings in the Near East/Middle East/North Africa (NEMENA) region.  Since then, not a single county in the region has been unaffected by some form of protest, and the ongoing conflicts continue to destabilise the entire region and threaten to spill over into west and central Africa, the Caucasus and central Asia.  Several countries have experienced major unrest and the results have been mixed – certainly not the democratic success that liberals were hoping for!  Here’s how they stack up:

Successful change of government: Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen

Top down change in response to the uprising: Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia

Civil war: Libya, Mali, Syria

Authoritarian crackdown: Bahrain

The key questions for us at Syzygy are not so much about the politics but about the impact of these disturbances on a) Christian mission and b) the national church.  It should be remembered that most of the countries in the NEMENA region were not particularly hospitable to Christians before the Arab Spring, and many of them had no significant Christian population.  Overt Christian mission was not possible in any of these countries.

The breakdown of law and order in the Arab Spring uprisings caused many mission agencies to withdraw their teams from most countries in the region in 2011.  The risks of becoming inadvertently caught up in the conflict, or of being specifically targeted by extremists were considered too great.  In many of these countries the overseas mission workers have still not returned, or if they have, their actions are hampered by the need to take security seriously.  This has an impact not only on their Christian witness, but on the vital humanitarian and development work they have been doing.

The prospects for the national church have been even worse.  The possibility of Sharia law being introduced (in Egypt for example) is a major threat to their ability to meet together openly and have their minority rights protected.  In the event of civil war the Christians are more vulnerable because often they are not able to rely on support from a wide family network (who may have ostracised them), or because they may be seen as covert allies of western democracies whose influence is opposed by Islamic extremists.  In Syria, where the minority Alawite regime has in the past been reasonably tolerant of Christians because they too were a minority, the rebels can even see the Christians as the enemy, particularly as they have not taken sides in the war.  There is nobody to protect the believers from extremists who want to lynch them and burn down their buildings.

Here are some recent headlines about what is still happening to the suffering church in the region:

• Church burned, Christians stoned by Egyptian villagers (17^th February)
• Christians sentenced for (allegedly) proselytising in Algeria (13^th February)
• Christians in Sudan face victimisation by the Government (12^th February)
• Internally-displaced Christians in Mali face starvation (11^th February)
• Iraqi Patriarch claims Arab Spring resulting in bloodshed (9^th February)
• 200,000 Syrian Christians have been displaced by war (1^st February)

Yet God continues to do amazing things throughout the region.  There are reports of miraculous protection of Christians and church buildings.  Many people are finding Christ through the internet, or satellite tv and radio broadcasts.  We reported last year on ‘The Beautiful One’ who meets people in their dreams.  Nevertheless, as we observed on this website in 2011, these are precarious times for the church throughout the NEMENA region.

• Pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters, that their faith will be strengthened and they will be comforted in their suffering.
• Pray that mission workers will feel assured of God’s protection, have wisdom in avoiding detection, and be able to get on with their ministries unencumbered.
• Pray that revival will break out as people commit their lives to ‘The Beautiful One’.
• Donate to Christian relief agencies providing humanitarian aid in the region.

While many of us are still coming to terms with Generation X, Generation Y sneaks up on us unawares!  Leaders in missions will be starting to encounter this generation, and they’ll be starting to realise that Ys aren’t quite what they expected.  People working in short-term have been dealing with Ys for quite a while now, so will be coming to terms with the fact that they do things differently to previous generations, but these people are now coming through into doing long-term where their differences will be rubbing their leaders up the wrong way.

Generation Y is the unimaginative name given to the generation following on from Generation X, and consists of those born (roughly) from 1980 to 2000.  They’re also called Generation Next or Millennials, but I’ll stick to Y as it’s easier to spell.  These people grew up connected, having mobile phones and computers from their youngest days.  Their families may have been broken, leading to a highly important need to belong, but their parents will have invested heavily in them so they are used to getting feedback and encouragement.  They also grew up after the end of the cold war, so they were promised peace, but now find that their lives overshadowed by the war on terror.  This can lead them to distrust authority and value honesty, authenticity and integrity.

What are these people going to be like as your co-workers? Their workplace expectations are not that different from those of previous generations, but they are far more reluctant to toe the line in the way their parents or grandparents might have done.  Older people might think of them as lazy, uncommitted, overconfident, disrespectful and impatient, but those are the flip side of great strengths:

Lazy?  These people are digital natives.  Because they grew up in a multi-media world they are able to surf Facebook, send text messages, listen to music and get on with their work at the same time.  But they don’t live to work.  They’re flexible and will be more concerned about getting the overall task done than by being at their desk at the right time.  They might be working at home at 10pm, not because they’re workaholics, but just because it works better for them.

Uncommitted?  Well, they’re not committed to things just because you think they ought to be.  Duty is not a word that features frequently in their vocabulary.  But they will be highly committed to things they believe in, even though it may not look like it to older generations.  Their desire for authenticity leads them to reject much that is latently hypocritical, but when they find something genuine, they will embrace it.

Overconfident?  Because they’ve had a lot of positive parenting, Ys believe in themselves, and because they’ve seen through authority structures, they won’t tolerate spending ten years doing the filing before they’re allowed to have an opinion.  They believe they have a contribution and they don’t understand why they can’t make it now.

Disrespectful?  They respect people, not positions, so if you aren’t confident as a leader and hide behind your position, they’ll see through you.  They respect people who show that they care, make wise decisions, and don’t try to give them corporate flannel.  If they speak out of turn, it’s only because they can see a problem and haven’t had a good answer for it.

Impatient?   Ys were born connected.  They get the answers they want off the internet in seconds.  They instant message their friends.  They just want to get on with things without being held up.

So as Ys become your partners in mission, how do you need to treat them?

Teamwork.  Their whole life is made up of connections, so the idea of working alone doesn’t exist.  They’ll share problems, bring in specialists, and network with anyone they need to.  So create a flexible team structure in which they can thrive and don’t tell them they can’t talk to someone in another office just because you have a territory dispute with another manager.

Managing.  Top-down hierarchies don’t work.  These people have had positive parenting.  Create for them an environment in which they can learn and develop skills.  Feedback to them regularly.  Don’t impose rules, explain reasons.  Don’t manage the process, mentor the person.

Communication.  Give them all the facts and explain why you’ve made a decision.  They need to know the reasons before they can believe.  Your answer doesn’t have to be 100% logical; you can bring in emotions as well.  Let them ask challenging questions.  When they see you communicate openly and honestly, and allow them to be part of the solution, they will trust you and become committed.

Fulfilment.  In the secular workplace, Generation Y is more concerned to find a job they can believe in than one that pays well (although they expect to be fairly remunerated!).  This is true in the Christian world as well.  You need to ensure that they believe in what they’re doing in order to get the best out of them, and try to make sure they feel they’ve been treated fairly.

Obviously, these are huge generalisations, and individual personalities differ greatly, but this information may help to explain to you why people under 30 seem to think and act strangely at times.  These generational characteristics may not be so pronounced in Christians, since they have also been subject to the unique influences of Christian discipleship and training in church, community and possibly Bible College.  However, they grew up in the same conditions as non-Christians, were educated together with them, and used the same media, so will demonstrate similar generational characteristics.  Get to know them better, and you’ll all end up working better together.

Back in July we suggested that skype was one essential form of social media you might like to use, and many of you will be familiar with this great way of communicating with family on the other side of the world.  Yet you will also be aware of its shortcomings.  The call quality is often poor and the video can lag behind or freeze if your bandwidth isn’t wide enough.  And if you want to video call with more than three people, you have to pay.

Now Google has introduced its antidote to skype: Google+ and we think you need to be on it.  It only went live last month, so it’s early days, but it already has over 25 million users.  The platform uses the familiar facebook format of friends and status updates, but incorporates a conference facility called ‘hangouts’ which we think you will like.

One innovation is in the area of ‘friends’.  On facebook, there is no distinction between different groups of friends, so your boss, your maiden aunt and your 13 year old daughter all see the same information about you.  G+ is more discriminating, allowing you to create ‘circles’ to put your friends in, for example ‘work’ or ‘family’ so that you can keep discrete groups, and share different info with them.  Friends can be added to more than one circle.

To hold the equivalent of a skype conversation, you start a hangout.  Up to 10 people can take part in this, they can all use video, and there is a large central video picture which automatically moves to the person who is talking.  The one drawback is that anyone else in the your circle can just butt in on your conversation.  So if you need a private conversation, you need to make sure that the people you’re talking to are in a small circle.

Getting started is easy.  If you already have a Google account, just login as normal.  If you don’t, you’ll have to sign up, but that’s not particularly onerous.  Once you’ve done this, in the very top left hand corner of your screen, where you see the tabs for gmail, calendar, and so on, you’ll see a tab called +You.  Click on it, and it will take you through a simple registration process.  The rest is intuitive.  There’s no software to download, though you may need to install a plug-in to get your webcam working.  I was up and running in under five minutes.  After that, from your Google account, just click on the same tab (now personalised for you) and you’re in.  No password to remember.

Expect this to be big, and pretty soon people will be trying to connect with you through it.  Needless to say, access to G+ is blocked by some countries, including China and Iran.  In some ways that’s good, because you know Google isn’t trading your information for permission to operate.  Even so, don’t rely on it to be secure.  I didn’t give it my real date of birth for example.  Just in case.

Also expect skype and facebook to retaliate with product innovations before they lose too much business!

With over 400 million users, you’re obviously not the first person to succumb to peer pressure – or curiosity – and sign up to join the busy Facebook community!  I’ve been plugged in for years, but it’s only in the last year or so that I started to find it interesting and fun.  Prior to that, it was basically the same people who I interact with in other forums and mailing lists, so there wasn’t much news.  Now I keep in touch with dozens of friends who otherwise are far beyond my usual circles.

It’s actually pretty easy to sign up, but if you want to do it right, allocate enough time to fill in at least some of the basics.

To start, go to http://www.facebook.com/ and you’ll see right on the home page:

Fill this in and click on “Sign Up”.  You’ll be asked to verify that you’re not a robot (really!) – it’s a measure to prevent spammers infecting Facebook with bogus accounts):

Enter the two words you see – in this case “view” and “doorways” – and click on “Sign Up” again on this page.  You’re in!  You have an account set up on Facebook.  You’re not done, however.  First up, it’ll suggest some friends you might connect with:

I have no idea who these two people are, so perhaps they’re special potential friends to everyone who joins Facebook, I dunno. .  Since Facebook isn’t much fun without friends being online and connected with you, the system tries all sorts of ways for you to identify your potential friends. Next up is its ability to scan your address book:

If you’d rather not have Facebook scan your mailbox and figure out your correspondences, no worries, just click on “Skip this step”.  Next attempt to match you: enter your high school, place of work, or some other sort of identifying information:

Still want to stay relatively anonymous? Click on “Skip”!  Next step is to set up a profile picture for yourself, something I highly recommend as it will help your friends out there recognise you:

Click “Save & Continue” and you’re set and will be dropped onto your new, relatively austere, Facebook newsfeed page.  Along the top it’ll remind you that the system has sent an email to confirm your email address, entered in step one, and in your email inbox you should get a message that looks like this:

Click on the link and you’ll have confirmed that the email address you entered is legit.  Now you’re good to go on Facebook and it’s time to start sending friend requests and filling in all your personal information so others can find you too.

Adam Brown, Technical Director

Many mission workers (particularly ones of a certain age!) are completely unable to understand the fascination with things like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (other social media tools are also available) yet these applications are considered almost indispensible to a younger generation.  Together they are referred to as social media, and they have become a key feature of how people relate to one another, keep in touch, form community and express themselves to the world.

For a lot of mission workers there is not the perceived need to be involved in this seemingly self-obsessed activity in which many people can spend a significant amount of their time.  Why would you want to, when there’s already so much work to do?  Here’s why: one of a mission worker’s greatest needs is to be able to communicate effectively.  We all need to ensure that our supporters buy into the work God has called us to, know what to pray for, and how they can support us, particularly in an emergency.  Many of us spend up to 10% of our time communicating with our supporters, which may feel like a distraction from the work we’re here to do, but if we communicate effectively, we maintain the support that keeps us doing that work.  Using social media enables us to communicate quickly and effectively to a large number of people, and the added bonus is that it’s free!

Facebook now connects over 400 million people.  You have a ‘status’  which tells people what you’re doing, or more frequently how you’re feeling.  If you’re having a difficult time, just type ‘FRUSTRATED!!!’ into your status and see the rapid and empathetic response you get!  Facebook also gives you an opportunity to post photos of what you’re doing, and if you have family on different continents, grandparents can see how their grandchildren are growing up.

Skype is an internet application which allows you to use your computer or mobile to make free phone calls to another.  The quality is highly dependent on your connection but it’s a great way to talk to people on the other side of the planet!  You can also use a webcam to see the people you’re talking to, although this can damage the audio quality.  If you have a good enough connection, you can also try conference calls, which cuts down the need for international travel.

WordPress is a simple way of building a website using templates already created for you.  You can keep it simple, and just have a blog page, or build something more complicated if you feel adventurous.  You’re reading a WordPress screen right now.  You can use it to tell people what you’re thinking, doing or feeling.  It’s important to many people as a way to express themselves and it’s a great way of communicating with supporters.

YouTube is an easy way of posting videos onto the internet where anyone can watch them.  You can use it to show people where you live, where you work, and what you do.  Using it helps maintain the link with your supporters.  Record a simple greeting to your church once in a while, upload it to YouTube, and the church can show it during a meeting.  If a picture’s worth a thousand words, a video’s worth a million.

Twitter only allows you 140 characters to communicate with ‘followers’, but its brevity is its strength.  It forces you to distill your thoughts when you might be tempted to ramble on.  In urgent need of prayer?  Send a text to Twitter and hundreds of followers can be praying within minutes.  Use it to post links to your blog, other websites, or just tell people what you’re thinking.  Be careful not to overdo it as your followers may get bored with constant tweeting.

Of course, your ability to use all these tools will be highly dependent on the quality of your connection, but even if you’re using 56k dialup it’s still worth having a go.  See Adam’s post from last March for help on making the most of this, or try using your mobile either to surf or to connect your computer to the internet.

Please remember that if you’re in a creative access nation some of these tools can be risky to use, but BlackBerrys are pretty secure devices and so is the IronKey which we reviewed last year.  You can also use a false name known only to your friends, and password protect your video postings so that only your closest confidantes can watch.  But still be careful what you put out on public media.

Next month: Adam will explain how to get started on Facebook

I’ve been pondering the ways in which ministry could use internet technology and social media in the missions context – particularly as it relates to micro-enterprise and missions-based social entrepreneurship.  There is a cornucopia of social media communication tools to help you get your message across, and if you’re not using them, you’re not getting technology to work for you in the postmodern, hyper-connected world.

Pick up a crayon and get creative. Blogging, podcasting, and video blogging offer unique opportunities for spreading the gospel.  If you can use a microphone, a camera, or email you can pretty much do all the above. Cameras are super cheap these days.  You can buy a Kodax Zx1 for around £80 to £100 which is a (super) small hand held camera you can use to record key church events.  And you should be able to grab a tripod on ebay for around £15-25.  Also, most new Macs come equipped with technology and software to be multimedia studios (you can purchase a new mac for £1,200 – £1,600 or a used one for half that price).  You could post lessons and sermons, as well as short 1-3 minute updates about what God is doing in the lives of people in your church.

Get that in writing. If you go the video or audio direction, you may want to pay for transcription.  You can find cheap transcription via one of many outsourcing websites like Get a Freelancer or e-Lance.  Search engines can’t ‘see’ your video or podcasting content, so it helps people find your content.  Also, it can help people spread your content by simple cut and paste.  You may also choose to use Safari’s summarize function to create an executive summary of your lessons.

It’s all about show and tell. The use of Slideshare to post existing powerpoint presentations slideshows online.  It’s a very easy to use tool and you can create groups around issues like ‘missions, ‘theology’, ‘sermons’, ‘evangelism’, or ‘Christian social justice’.  This would allow mission workers to stay in visual contact with churches without having to visit each and every church.

Adapt to your audience(s). Think about the bi-lingual nature of your ventures.  Add a Google translator and even consider having a church member translate your content if you can’t do it yourself.

Start a digital water cooler to connect for free or almost free. You may want to consider a Ning social network, a message board to share information and ideas internally, a wiki, a Change.org website based on your particular issue of concern.  There are tons of options for using social media platforms for Christian communication and kingdom ends.

Create an inviting digital living room. Look into simple, user friendly navigation which can be provided by WordPress (like the one your reading now).  With WordPress you can get inexpensive webdesign for under £300 by purchasing a professional looking premium theme. Ask in your prayer letter if anyone is willing to create you a website for free as part of their support.

Plan for the future. Down the road you may think of creating a group blog that key members of your staff or volunteers can blog.  Or you may want to target one blog for the surrounding community and one blog to churches overseas that have funded your ventures.  This will allow you to target your message to a very specific audience.

Ignore these Droids. They aren’t the ones you’re looking for. Don’t fall for “shiny new object syndrome.”  You don’t need to stay up to date on the technology.  You only need to learn how to use it.  The technology is only an enabling platform.  Creating relationships is clearly the goal and focus.

It’s a Balancing Act: Creating an information diet, time management and workflow are all issues you will want to consider.  The key is to find time you weren’t using before, such as surfing online, playing video games, or watching television.  All in all stay focused on God and relationships and you should be fine.

Principles to Consider:

• Focus on God’s word and God working through you.  In other words, ask how your story and your community’s story tell His story.

• Once you’ve listened a while, it’s important to dive in to explore to get your feet wet.  Its actually a lot of fun.

• It’s easy to be come a stats-o-holic.  Be forewarned.  Connections beat stats everyday.

Next time: why mission workers need to be using Facebook and Twitter!

Adam Brown, Technical Director

technical@syzygy.org.uk