Christians Worldwide Are Signing Up to Share the Gospel in #Goeverywhere 'Thunderclap'
An international online evangelism organization is aiming to bring together thousands of Christians on Sept. 30 to create an online "Thunderclap," where a Gospel message video, along with further outreach, will collectively be shared at the same time through the participants' social networks, aimed at getting the world's attention.
"The timer is ticking down to the actual Thunderclap. The Thunderclap is what happens when the software that we use will be posting on everyone's behalf. Everyone who signed up around the world, on their behalf there will be a post made on their Facebook timeline, or their Twitter feed, depending on what they choose," Ian Walton, country manager for the African region, told The Christian Post in a phone interview on Wednesday.
The website for the campaign, which features a timer to Sept. 30 and shows how people can sign up and add their voice, describes:
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"Imagine Christians all over the world, standing together in a single moment in time, declaring their faith. Imagine millions receiving the answer of the Gospel, transforming their lives and their worlds. Imagine you're sending that message to a friend, a family member, or to someone you know who is looking for answers."
A short 2-minute video, which will be shared globally on Sept. 30, depicts several people talking about the confusion and questions they face in the world, such as the ongoing rise of terrorism and other hardships that are causing many to lose hope — but declare that the answers lie in the message that Jesus Christ offers.
Walton told CP that #goeverywhere, which started on Sept. 1, is an extension of Christian Vision, a global Christian ministry that is working to reach people around the world and introduce them to Jesus.
Close to 40,000 people have signed up for the online event so far.
He explained that the video on Sept. 30 will feature a button inviting people to learn more about Christ, and if they click 'yes,' regional teams around the world will be ready to reach out and speak with them, and ultimately try to connect them with a local church in their area.
"We'll be assembling a team here in Africa, and also around the world, who will be ready in real time in the 48 hours following the Thunderclap to take people's response," he said.
"That's the exciting part — it's not just a broadcast, we're also hoping for results, and our ultimate aim is to put people back into local church," he added.
Walton said that the message the video and the campaign is putting out is that "no matter what belief or religion or tradition we come from," the truth lies in Jesus.
"We're all in this together. We're all humans, we all understand fear, and we all feel hopeless at times, and we all have basic needs. At the same time, we are all crated in the image of God, and as Christians we believe that He has come in the form of Jesus to show us a little bit of what that image looks like," he continued.
The front page of the #goeverywhere campaign allows people to select their region, and displays the truly global scale of the effort — available regions include North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, CIS (Russia, Ukraine), and the Middle East.
Walton said that the campaign is taking hold in different ways in different countries. He noted that the ambitious goal is to get 100,000 people to sign up, and statistics are showing that more and more people are signing up each day.
As for the most active regions, Walton said that the campaign appears to be taking root quicker in the Southeast Asian area. He noted that particularity surprising has been the participation from Burma, which only has a minority Christian population, yet there were more than 200 people a day signing up last week just from that country alone.
Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others have exploded in popularity over the past several years, though Walton noted that the global Church is only now starting to embrace this medium.
He said that although many ministries do have a Facebook page, or Instagram account, that is mostly just marketing and putting yourself out there, rather than directly answering Jesus' call (Mark 16:15) to "go into all the world" and preach the Gospel.
Walton called on a more active engagement, and said that Jesus' call includes the online space.
He concluded that the aim of #goeverywhere is to create a singe moment for Christians to stand together and declare their faith, even if for some it is the first time they will be doing so.
"We have to believe that at least in the spiritual realm, some kind of shockwave is going to happen. That God will use this as some kind of revelation of the truth," he said.
"A small step of faith by a large number of believers will have a massive impact."
