International (HCJB/MNN) — Since when do
sheep and unity work together?
Since HCJB Global and Feba UK have united
in a special partnership called "One Sheep."
It's a collaboration that shares strengths and vision. Wayne
Pederson, president of HCJB Global, explains, "Feba
brings to the table the research and strategy they've created to use new media.
What we bring to the table is the hardware and software and the know-how in
creating the content for the new media."
Why re-invent the wheel? "Partnership is in our
DNA," says Pederson. "Our
mission statement is 'Serving with Global partners as the voice and hands
of Jesus.'"
The collaboration came about because of some of the vehicles being
developed for communication today: i-phones, i-pads, You Tube, Twitter, and
Facebook. Pederson says it's a challenge
to keep up. "Pray that God will show us how to use the new
media to reach the next generation. We're all learning together on this, and in
many cases, the commercial world, the secular world, the marketing world are
ahead of us on this."
"One Sheep" has engaged a group of 20-somethings to help
them visualize a new media strategy for outreach to the next generation. "It's absolutely critical if we're
going to reach the next generation with the Gospel," Pederson
explains. Traditional methods of
sharing Christ may not reach them at all.
It could be argued that "the medium is the message." "We've got
to be able to use these tools. Millennials are watching television less,
they're listening to radio less, (and) they're getting their entertainment,
their information, their inspiration and their communication with the new
virtual media."
Effecting change and creating a dialogue space through the new
media means the strategy must be regional. "Because our communication system has gone from 'few to many,' and
now with the new media, it's 'many to many,'" notes Pederson, "each
of our regions, each of our countries, each of our cities, each of our people
groups is able to create podcasts to stream audio, to stream video in the
language of the culture in which they are operating."
Teams won't just jump into the new media stream without help. Pederson says, "We are going to be
creating a new media resource Web site that will coach and mentor some of our
teams toward using social media in an excellent way. We're going to be
presenting seminars and training events to build capability among our
partners."
By jointly researching how young people
communicate and consume media, HCJB Global and Feba will discover how to reach
them with biblical truth. Together, the two organizations will learn how to
present the Gospel in a rapidly-changing, increasingly-globalized and connected
world. The group also welcomes other Christian organizations to join and
participate.
The consortium will place a priority on
projects that impact unreached and limited-access people groups. These groups
are embracing new media, particularly that which is delivered via mobile
devices.
The scope of the OneSheep new media
consortium includes:
-
sharing
ideas, production, creation and delivery of social media content through the
launch of OneSheep.org, a new media resource Web site -
consulting,
coaching and mentoring for project teams toward excellence in social media
ministry -
delivery
of training to build capacity among partners and clients of both organizations
in new media -
creating
practical connections between online projects and offline ministry -
filling
skills and resource gaps in new media ministry
Lastly, Pederson urges prayer, prayer, and more prayer. "Jesus
has called us to unity. That's the idea of the 'One Sheep' concept. We are all
one flock. Our effectiveness in evangelism is going to be determined by how we
can work together collaboratively and cooperatively to get the message
out."
