So, we do a lot of talking about mobile ministry (#mobmin) with various people, ministries, and organizations, and much of this conversation is great. Yet, there’s always this point in the conversation about resources comes up. The questions range from “how to create mobile-formatted resources” to “what are some of the best mobile resources for [insert your topic area].”
The initial answer for this is that most documents and media is already mobile-friendly – just make it available. On-board email applications and office productivity suites (QuickOffice, Documents-To-Go,etc.) have the ability to read items created in Word and Excel – some can even do PDF and PowerPoint documents (with layout being the chief issue on the smaller mobile screen). Office suites have both read and editing abilities, and so that at least makes the “how to create” question easily addressed.
Beyond that, we get into a harder to address question, “what are the best resources?”. Unfortunately, when asked “what are some of the best,” we get into what doesn’t exist or simply hasn’t been made available in the mobile context such that it could offer some sense of comparison (though things are improving all the time). Thankfully, there’s some good work happening in this area. One group is addressing discipleship resources using a open and collaborative approach. That organization is called Door43.
From their website:
Door43 is a self-selected, online community that believes in the vision of working together to equip the global church with unrestricted discipleship resources, using the technology God has given us… The Door43 project is open and free for anyone or any ministry to use. The project is managed by Distant Shores Media
With Door43, you have a resource creation, engagement, and sharing space where items specifically related to discipleship is being developed and implemented. The primary project being undertaken right now is the Open Bible Stories project. Open Bible Stories is a collection of 30 stories of the Bible in text and mobile-ready audio and video formats. The project is released from copyright restrictions under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license (seeDoor43:Copyrights), so that the stories can be legally adapted, translated and used by anyone, in any language and culture. To see the progress of this project, check out Open Bible Stories project page at Door43.
Other pending projects at Door43 include:
- Open Bible Translation – Help draft and/or check the Open Bible Translation, a version of the Bible in modern English, based on the same texts as most other versions, for unrestricted use anywhere, by anyone.
- Open Study Notes – Help research the Open Study Notes, a project to create free and open study notes that clarify the historical, cultural and linguistic context of every passage in the Bible.
- Open Bible School – Write a teaching unit for the Open Bible School, a modular Bible training course in three tracks: Book Studies, History, Doctrine.
- Open Bible Handbook – Create entries in the Open Bible Handbook, an up-to-date handbook of key Bible terms, topics and maps to help anyone better understand the Word of God.
- Open Christian Library – Do you have a discipleship resource (like a Bible study, book, training course, etc.) that you want to give to the global church? Put it in the Open Christian Library where it can be translated and distributed to mobile phones anywhere in the world.
- Open Worship Project – Write a song and give it to the global church in the Open Worship Project.
Of the initiatives that I’ve seen which are pulling together some specific aspect of mobile ministry and addressing it, Door43 is one of the more open efforts. If you are looking for discipleship resources, or can lend your hand to Open Bible Stories or any other project, get in contact with Door43 (@door43) and add to the wealth of necessary resources.
Because, like I said earlier, making resources is easy. But, making relevant resources takes a community effort.
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