Mobile Ministry Magazine

Imagine for a second longer that Paul used his blog (epistle) as a means to foster the budding Christian communities he either founded or ministered in. What would that kind of encouragement look like? And more so than that, how would it have helped those communities grow?

Let's look at a community like Galatia. A community that had a number of Jewish Chritians as well as a growing number of Gentile Christians. Connecting to these groups while being on the move could have been a lesson in PR delegation. But instead with a blog, we see a Paul, not only bolding correcting and exhorting, but people using their mobile phones to respond to his posting. I know, tis a weird idea to say that people would respond with their phones, but for Paul to have a blog, we have to assume that the rest of technology stands as well.

Back to Paul; this blog is not just a matter of Paul writing for people to listen. Its an interactive exchcange of faith and fellowship. Its a merging of Paul's conversion experiences, along with the many who can associate with him and the others who walk with Paul. It is an extension of the ability to communicate the goodness of God, just in electronic form.

How does a church today take this idea of a Pauline blog in order to foster, minister, correct, and instruct? Well, analyizing the needs of your community is a start. Its a given that many people have mobile phones and some even have PDAs. How many of those would appreciate a message from their pastor once a week just encouraging you on how things are going? Better yet, what if that text your pastor sent you can be responded to from your phone and then a whole discussion/blog conversation can take place? Kinda neat. Its just making use of a need to commune.

What about discipling? Well, personally speaking, that is something that I am learning to do better with. But basically its using phone, email, text, and instant messaging to foster friendships and accountability in such a way that a great community can be developed.

I know its not a new idea, but if we want to make the most of this mobile opportunity, then we need to make the efforts to learn this technology to best serve teh body. Look forward to some how-to documents as well as other training materials that would help you and your church minister away from the sitting position :-)