Posts Tagged ‘mobile in discipleship’

A Mobile Strategy for Life, not Just A Season

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Earlier this month, I was reading over at the Wapple Blog and a title from one of their posts from the end of last year caught my attention: Mobile Strategy is for Life, not just Christmas. As I pondered how that title rocked me (the content of the article fills in the blanks), its struck me at how with many mobile (Internet, radio, TV) ministry efforts, the tool’s use starts and ends with evangelism. Once the person recieves Christ, essentially both the tech and the people associated with the tech go away.

In conversations about similar observations with some others, I’ve heard things like “yea, those are just tools to get them in the door, the local church needs to take over,” or, “we don’t see [mobile/web/media] technology able to facilitate the things we’d like to do in ministry relationally.” Don’t get me wrong, I get it. But, I wonder if such viewpoints constrain our ability to not just innovate with evangelistic efforts, but we end up missing the other demonstrations of life after the Gospel is preached. And not just after, we actually end up missing the places and opportunities for evangelism in what should be the most obvious of circumstances.

In what ways can mobile minsitry stick around for the lifetime of an evangelistic endeavor? I’ve heard of educational engagements where the Bible was used to teach people how to read/write/trade with other economic groups. Couldn’t the use of mobile in minsitry track along the same lines (instead of a book, we are using a mobile, and taking different steps towards language learning and interaction due to the unique characteristics of mobile)? Some groups talk about going into areas and starting their approach to evangelism with health and wellness. So why wouldn’t you take advantage of the access that some might have to a mobile device to provoke behavioral changes which keep them healthy long after the funding of your endeavors have you leave their presence?

I’m not saying that you have to skip preaching the Gospel, or even propose that you water-down the message. No. What I’m saying is that if you are bold enough to say that the tech is good enough for the season of getting someone aware of the nearness of the Kingdom of God, that you also need to be bold enough to stick around longer than the season – with that tech channel as part of your teaching/discipleship efforts. I like how the Wapple piece put it:

Those who didn’t implement a mobile strategy in time for the festive season not only missed their share of these sales but may also miss out on future sales as consumers offer their loyalty to brands who delivered them a merry mobile Christmas.

Its not just about mkaing best use of the evangelizing season. Its about preparing and being presented as ready for the implications of evangelism.

 

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2012 Resolution #1: An App is Not A Strategy

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

Welcome to 2012 and Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM). Since 2004, we’ve talked a lot about this intersection of faith and mobile technology and how this has often looked like applications. We’ve talked about the good and bad about these applications, what has improved, and what still isn’t being touched. And yet there’s there is a pervasive resolution that I think you should endear to any mobile ministry efforts for 2012: an application is not a strategy.

We’ll summarize how we come to such a conclusion in this article. Some of these concepts have been covered before, other parts not yet in enough depth to give you a means to continue. But don’t worry, as we encourage you to step into 2012 with your mobile ministry efforts, the goal of this article is that you address mobile ministry as a spoke in a larger wheel of your efforts, no matter where you are in the chain.

This article focuses specifically on these points:

  • What is Mobile Ministry?
  • What are the specific areas in which mobile has addressed a ministry context?
  • Is there anything consistently applicable across those areas of mobile ministry?
  • If applications are part of the solution, what else is there?
  • What are some resources for applying these points?

What is Mobile Ministry

Mobile ministry is the application of mobile devices, services, and/or experiences for the purposes of forwarding ideals and characteristics of a faith movement.

Mobile computing has a market-led definition (portable, cellular and/or WiFi-enabled computing devices which have screen sizes between 2.2 and 5in, and have some form of primary input that is not mediated by accessory-attached mice/keyboards). We take the stance that mobile computing devices can include any portable computer that is not designed specifically as a clothing accessory.

Mobile services include, but are not limited singular applications of cellular (voice, data, SMS, multimedia), Internet (browsing, email, IM, VoIP, Wi-Fi, GPS), and applications (including the tools to create and distribute, API structures/protocols, development standards/practices, etc.). 

Ministry is defined as any activity which forwards the ideals and characteristics of a faith movement, that may be personally motivated, community organized, and/or governmentally implemented.

This definiton is intentionally not grounded on any one religion/faith, and has been [slightly] refined from its more academic-correct beginnings. Discussions towards refining this further should be a part of any conversations brokering mobile as useful in ministry contexts.

Specific Areas of Ministry Applied in Mobile
Over the course of seven years, MMM has observed six specific applications of mobile technology within ministry contexts. This doesn’t mean that there are not, or could not be others. Within these six areas, we have identified unique approaches combining devices, services, and/or experiences which create avenues for personal, media, and cultural transformation through faith-binding activities.

These six areas are as follows:

We will further define and illustrate these areas throughout 2012. Please refer to former articles and presentations on this subject in order to see some of the progression of these ideas. We will endeavor to link to articles tagged with these topics in order to best consolidate the discussion on this site towards these points.

Layers of Mobile
We are careful not to simply define mobile in the context of devices or development. There are three components which encompass the mobile environment which all need to be considered and included within the context that is mobile computing:

  • Devices
  • Services
  • Experiences

We will further define these areas beyond our initial exploration of these throughout 2012. Please refer this article/document for a direct linking to that discussion.

Applications and Beyond
It should be clear within what we’ve explained so far that defining mobile ministry strictly or specifically in the context of downloadable applications is incomplete. Applications are only a part of the usable toolkit for mobile within ministry endeavors. Streams in which mobile can be developed/sold/applied within ministry contexts include:

  • Software Applications
  • Hardware Applications
  • Voice Services
  • Video/Audio (Streaming, Downloads, Sharing, etc.)
  • Text (SMS, language transcription, etc.)
  • Downloadable/Streaming Media (APIs, content libraries, etc.)
  • Mixed Media (creation, distribution, specifications, etc.)
  • Security
  • Reporting
  • Personalization

We will further define these areas throughout 2012. 

Resources for Moving Forward

Conclusions: An App is not a Strategy, But…
We will not debate the point that for many endeavors, the first door that mobile will open is that through an application store. However, the first door seen is not the only door available. Depending on what it is you are developing, offering, or enabling, an application might not be the best point of entry. 

For 2012, consider your opportunities and challenges within ministry, and whether mobile is the best route. If it is, then you will want to start looking at where you sit in terms of those areas of mobile, and then whether you are targeting devices, building a service, or managing an experience. After that point, it becomes clear how you should approach mobile. It may very well be that you do need an application – but now it will have a specific target, you can begin planning and setting up your team and content appropriately. If it means you need to outsource the development of your mobile solution, you do so with knowledge of more than simply “make it work on this device.” 

At the intersection of faith and mobile technology, what are you pointing towards? In 2010, don’t let your strategy (or lack of one) turn mobile into a dead-end for your effort.

 

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Addressing Mobile-Accessible Discipleship Resources with Door43

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Door43 logoSo, 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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