5 Major Challenges In 21st Century Media Evangelism

As people who are called to be salt and light, we must be aware of the challenges we will face in bringing change to our immediate environments and be adequately prepared otherwise our efforts at influencing the world with our lives will lead to us being contaminated with its influence. I've highlighted some challenges facing us today as preachers of the good news of Christ and solutions to some of these issues raised. Read on (and share with a friend too)

Challenge #1 > Contact without contamination
Many, in their bid to make the gospel acceptable to many have shipwrecked their faith. For most contact has led to contamination. For example, there are quite a number of choir members that have gone into music reality TV shows and returned with new identities: inspirational singers. Obviously, their interactions with the world of entertainment has changed their perspectives and positions about being popular as against serving the will of our Father.

Solution:
An active relationship with God (in worship & the word) is the only antidote to staying untainted in the culture we interface with. (Rom 12:1,2) As long as His word abides in us and we in Him (His word) we can be guaranteed not to be swept away. An active fellowship with a body of believers is also key to overcoming living. Daniel and his friends maintained a fellowship in Babylon. This helped them a lot.

How To Unlock Creative Flows

The Tunes Of Jubile Creatives' Workshop is happening again in June. This is a monthly interactive session where we learn how to engage and influence the culture we live in using media as our tool of influence and impact. At the last edition in May, we considered the challenges christians face in getting involved in the transformation of our immediate society. You can download the pdf here.

This time we'll be looking at how we can access a steady flow of creativity for creating exceptional media content for our comedies, dramas, movies, songs, dance presentations, books and so on.

Date: June 8th and 9th 2013.
Time: 5pm (on both days)
Venue: The Youth Chapel, Methodist Church Nigeria, Agodi, Gate, Ibadan.
Details: 08170686445 | apostledavid@rampageoutreach.org | eyitope.lala@gmail.com
I've included a map for the venue for those unfamiliar with the place.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

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Evangelizing Today's Youth

In continuance with the thoughts I started out with yesterday, I would like to focus on how to effectively evangelize this generation (and probably the next).

It is obvious that the views of each generation on God and what it means to be employed in His service differ, most times with very conflicting views. Each generation has its own revelation of God, different from that of the preceding generation. God is a trans-generational God-the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I believe there is a unique manifestation of God that is tied to every generation for the benefit of the world (Romans 8:19-22).

My point is that God would not reach each generation in the same way, so why should we think we can get results using the same methods that were used for us?

Have you observed that sharing tracts does not have the effect it had in the early 80s? Young people are not keen to listen to 2 hour messages. If a movie is not interesting, they'll dump it in seconds, even if you're teaching them important values. I would like to submit that anyone who doesn't change his style of "ministry" in this 21st Century would find that his impact is greatly diminished. Pastor Poju Oyemade recently said  that any pastor using Bishop Oyedepo's style of leadership in ministry today will not make much progress. Incidentally, Bishop Oyedepo's is pastor Poju's mentor. I would like to submit to you that for any person to effectively evangelize this generation, your style MUST change!

The devil understands this truth so well and he tailors his evangelical efforts to ensure that he catches the youth. For him (the devil), it doesn't matter if you fully understand what you are getting into. Just get in first. He uses what someone (my pastor and friend, Pastor Niyi) calls the mass market approach. Effectiveness in any dispensation is directly proportional to your understanding of the dynamics of that dispensation with emphasis on the technology and the people in that era. 

Evangelism is a lot like marketing and for it to be successful we must understand the terrain and understand the market. We must understand that

• Definitions have changed (gay no longer means happy)
• Indices of wealth have changed (Physical wealth vs Intellectual property Apple quoted as 2nd most expensive company globally).
• Technology has changed
• Perspectives have changed (How business is done, Social interactions powered by Social media networks, fashion trends i.e. lower waist-lines, lower neck-lines, etc)

AS PEOPLE CAUGHT IN THE MIDST OF THESECHANGING LANDSCAPES, 

WE MUST UNDERSTAND AND BE ESTABLISHED IN THE TIMELESS 

FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS OF GOD AND LOCATE INNOVATIVE 

& CREATIVE WAYS TO PRESENT THEM TO THE WORLD.

Some of today's post is an excerpt from a presentation at a monthly programme focused on empowering Christians to actively participate in media. Download the file here.

Generation Shift

The whole of 2011 was riddled with the toppling of despots in Africa. From the fall of Lauren Gbagbo to the death of Gaddafi, Africa was rocked with a shockwave of change as the youth began to cry for relevance and the removal of the old crop that had robbed them of their potential for so long. I believe the events that have happened were a prophetic symbol to us of the shift that is happening. Have you observed that the same seems to be happening in spiritual circles too? Before you crucify me, I'm not talking about the usurping of church leaders but rather the sudden dissatisfaction with the way church is.

I was speaking with a pastor who had gone to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife to speak with a group of about 200 students. He asked how many knew Benny Hinn and was shocked to see only 4 hands raised. It is obvious that this generation of youth is disconnected from the seeming spirituality of their forefathers. A few years ago, the line between gospel and secular music was very clear. You couldn't imagine church choir members singing at shows like Nigerian Idol or MTN Project Fame (not that it is sinful). Today the views of today's young believer about sex, spirituality, service to God, relationships, entertainment, etc are so diverse.

The reasons are not far-fetched.

Increase in knowledge, dwindling moral standards, the advancement in technology and the natural tendency of young people to hate the mundane and uninteresting have all contributed to what we see around us today. Another major factor is the dearth of good role models. Most parents and models are too busy running the rat race and thus have abandoned their wards to the vices, expertly weaved into our social fabric by the devil.

The devil understands that to take the future just influence the youth. He simply provides  them the influence that would serve his ends. So it would just be a matter of time before the seeds he has sown mature into the ripe harvest of godless, rebellious individuals. All the while, these youngsters are attending church and youth fellowships but rotting deep inside, simply looking for the right opportunities (and freedom) to express their fleshly lusts. However these guys were created by God to express His nature and bring His kingdom to the earth.

The reaction of the older generation, unfortunately, is usually one of the following

• Ignore Them: What difference can they make? Young people are only meant to be seen not heard.
• Overindulge them: Give them all the luxuries/freedom/resources they need and leave them to learn by themselves
• Manipulate them: Monitor, supervise and control their every move and action. This eventually backfires as it suppresses the individual and he rebels against it either openly or internally.

What we should be doing is getting involved in their lives and modeling to them the right lifestyle. The glory of young people is their strength! Youth are usually passionate about anything they are involved in and today's youth would make excellent God-chasers but then they need to see, from us, that following God is profitable and exciting and not boring and uninteresting.

N.B. Over the next few days I would be focusing on strategies to effectively evangelizing today's youth. Stay tuned and check the facebook page (http://facebook.com/RAMPAGEOutreach) for updates on special events and trainings.