Evangelical Group Enlists New Technology to Communicate Good News
"If we are to present Christ as good news, we need to take advantage of every tool at our disposal," says Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance UK.
The Evangelical Alliance recently enlisted the help of Bluetooth technology, the "Gabriel Communicator," to send the Good News directly to the mobile phones of those taking part in Edwards' "Agenda for Change" book tour.
Using the "Gabriel Communicator," a service by mobile innovators txttouch, people at the book launch were able to download a "good news" message onto their mobile phones at no cost and without having to connect to the internet. The message could then be passed on to other mobile phones.
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Edwards is encouraging other churches to use new technology to communicate the Gospel as effectively as possibly.
"The early church used the 'superhighways' of their day to communicate over land and sea. We need to maximise the use of communication tools available to us today to our advantage," he said. "It's not enough to have a relevant message; we need to be using a relevant medium too."
Miles Giljam, head of Communications at the Evangelical Alliance, commented: "Using this technology has helped us to further understand the market and stay ahead of the latest trends, which in turn will help churches to be relevant and credible with the good news of the Gospel."
Nicholas Maguire is director of txttouch – a market leader in SMS texting and a major supplier of Bluetooth to churches in the UK – and has more than ten years of church leadership experience. He said churches needed to get to grips with modern technology in order to reach those outside the church.
"Six billion text messages are sent every week, and 75 percent of people prefer to communicate by text message rather than face to face or by a telephone call. The church needs to apply modern technology to communicate with those within and outside of the church walls," he said.
"We've been helping churches to adapt Bluetooth and SMS texting technology for evangelism, parish notices, social events and outreach. The response has been overwhelmingly positive."
