digital strategy tools
“…digital media refers to any communications media broadcast to us through a screen and/or a speaker. This includes text, audio, video, and graphics that are transmitted over the internet for viewing or listening.”
Digital strategies are plans for using digital media to work towards your vision. There is no one right digital strategy for all contexts. Digital strategies are crafted by teams for the specific people they are serving.
Digital strategy tools are elements of digital strategies that teams can use in different ways.
The Digital Strategies Group exists to orient you to the digital tools and trainings available and help you choose which ones best fit your audience.
Digital media should be used keeping in mind all that you know about your audience’s learning styles.
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- Does your audience have many people who are primarily oral learners? Be sure to craft your material for their unique needs and include audio in all your products. If in doubt, make it oral. We are all oral learners – some are literate learners too.
- Is your population likely to use non-Roman scripts? Include these in your offerings from the very beginning.
Online tools
Social media, apps, websites, chatbots and more…
Offline tools
Standalone devices, feature phone Bible software…
Case Studies
Brief examples of what others are doing…
Resources
Trainings, data, how-to guides, and other resources to help you go farther in digital…
Contact Us
Contact us for more info or to consult with our team on how to use digital tools to accomplish your vision.
online tools
Using online digital media will not reach everyone. But it does enable wide seed-sowing – reaching more people than we ever could face-to-face. This allows us to more quickly find those in whom the Spirit is already moving among those who are connected. Then those new Christians can reach out into their offline social networks.
Even in places where internet connectivity is low, these methods will become increasingly important as the proliferation of smartphones and expansion of internet access continues.
Social media ministry - open access
Social Media – Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, and others – can be used to spread your message broadly.
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Media to Movements (MTM) is a method allowing a team to ‘strategically use media and technology to identify and engage spiritual seekers who accelerate a movement of reproducing disciples in their community.’
Social media ads that show how the gospel addresses felt needs lead to online conversations that lead to face-to-face offline conversations with people who have requested a Bible. With the face-to-face meeting the strategy pivots to Disciple Making Movements approach with the interested person where they reach out into their communities using Discovery Bible Study.
Sign up for coaching for teams working among least-reached peoples at http://mediatomovements.org.
Self-paced online training is available at http://kingdom.training.
Check out our how-to on getting started with videos here.
Apps for phones
Mobile apps are increasingly important in some parts of the world. We now have tools that are easy to use that can put content in many languages on people’s phones for easy, cheap and discrete access.
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Scripture App Builder
Scripture App Builder is a program for Windows and Mac that makes apps for Android and iOS from your content. This content may be the files from a Bible translator’s computer, a Word document, images, audio, videos, or even linked content from the web. You can use SAB to make Bible apps with local language menus, but also many other kinds of apps!
- Refugee aid info
- Safety app for trafficking prevention
- Songbook apps
- Literacy apps
- Dictionary app with Dictionary App Builder
- Conference or church app with maps, schedules, notes, etc
- Storying/chronological presentation apps
- Special Bible extracts like:
- Torah and Psalms
- A 5-psalms a day app
- A prayers of the Bible app
- A women in the Bible app
- How to study the Bible app
- 99 names of God app
SAB is very versatile, so can accommodate your ideas for what may be useful in your context. SAB also outputs your app to an HTML version for a stripped-down web app you can post online.
See our how-to on making apps for a quick preview of what you can do.
Your team may not be translating the Bible, but you might be able to come alongside the translation team of your ministry language and offer to help them with app creation. We have examples of cross-mission partnership like this that have been fruitful.
If you have copyright for Bible text and don’t want to handle app production, Kalaam can do that for you.
Social media ministry - closed access
Even if you can’t meet face-to-face, you can still communicate.
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M2M has as its goal face-to-face meetings. This is not practical in all security situations. In insecure regions a team can run social media ads with the goal of connecting discretely and safely with interested people.
WhatsApp discipleship groups, Facebook private Scripture sharing groups enable safe follow-up.
websites
In some contexts websites can serve as an important hub for getting information to your audience. It’s now easier than ever to set up a site, with partners who want your online ministry to succeed and provide both training and hosting services for free.
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Kalaam
Kalaam will register your online address, set up a site, and train you in how to use it. There are other ways of hosting websites with different frameworks like WordPress, Drupal, etc. You may find it works for your team to manage your own site or sites using another framework. If your team is not already invested in a framework however, Kalaam will be almost certainly the easiest and least expensive way to set up a website.
For Bible translations, Kalaam produce and manage web applications to read & listen to the Bible online, and Android apps using Scripture App Builder.
Online training is available at https://www.kalaam.org.
Sign up for training and hosting at the contact page on that site.
Watch out for Kalaam user groups and online trainings which recur regularly on EMDC: https://emdc.online/list
Landing pages
Landing pages can work in conjunction with your site for different reasons. If you have a media to movements site you can have landing pages on that site as well, but if you in the initial stages have need just for a place to go to let people know about your apps, a free landing page can help.
Check out our how-to on getting started with websites here.
Make your own
Many teams have ways they like to make sites already – no need to use something else if you have something that works!
Check this map to quickly see your country’s overall internet usage – hover over the map to see the country name and percentage. Get the underlying data here.
Data from World Bank, used by permission
offline tools
standalone devices
Audio devices with solar panels can provide oral learners with needed access to audio scriptures.
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Devices like Megavoice, Proclaimer, and Kulumi are rugged and versatile tools that offer populations without access to other devices or the internet the ability to access media that will touch their hearts.
These devices can be securely loaded with audio and updated as needed with a physical connection.
Feature phone Bible apps
Feature phones are popular in many areas of the world and can display a specially developed format of Bible.
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- GoBible produces a Bible that is readable on simple phones that use Java, and are popular in some contexts where Android phones are beyond many people’s means.
- PhotoBible runs on phones that do not have Java by converting the Bible text into small pictures.
- Easy Reader Video Books are compact videos that are playable on feature phones.
- Learn more about all three of these here
- More info on Go Bible is here (but start with above document):
SD cards for phones and local devices
What you need may be in the closest market.
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Many people have phones that, even if not smart phones, can handle playing audio from SD cards.
Radios with SD card slots have the advantage of being locally available, familiar to users and relatively cheap to buy.
SD card duplicators greatly help in reproduction.
To prevent users from extracting the micro-SD cards and changing the content, SD cards can be locked electronically with a device available from Megavoice or 100fold.org, and optionally physically glued into the radio. Locked SD cards work well with radios and feature phones, but not smart phones as smart phones usually have to be able to write playlist information to the card to start playing.
Contact us for Megavoice pricing if you need an SD card locker.
case studies
Bible publication partnership
In one country, the organization translating the Bible didn’t have the capacity to build an app and website for the translation – another mission came along and took over the publishing for them in a fruitful partnership for both organizations in which both were working in their areas of strength.
From media to movements
In one country, a media to movements work saw over 500,000 people reached and over 1,000 messaging conversations begun in their first year. People can discretely ask their questions about Jesus and when local staff discern a spiritual openness seekers are put in contact with believers.
chat discipleship groups
In one country, a team organized support groups for men and women via WhatsApp and Zoom meetings during stressful COVID lockdowns. God moved many to repentance and renewed commitment to Christ as they grew together in their desire for holiness and purity over all areas of life.
Introducing bite-size bits of Scripture
One team produced a 99 names of God app for a population that greatly values that tradition. The names were carefully translated into the local language and local script, and each name paired with a scripture verse illustrating the character of God. Each view of the app has a “Read More” button leads to a chronological Bible study app.
Songbooks given new life
Much-loved but very old songbooks were given new life through scanning the song text into a computer and formatting for Scripture App Builder. The resulting mobile app, which includes recordings of each song, is now distributed on the app stores.
streaming radio station
One team with a radio work built an app allowing them to continue functioning during the years it took for new radio license to be processed.
Human trafficking defense
In any crisis, human traffickers are often first to the scene, with false offers of safe help. During the opening days of the Ukraine war one team shared simple information through social media channels, websites, and WhatsApp groups helped many displaced people steer clear of traffickers and find safe passage.
Food distribution
During the COVID lockdown, a team in partnership with local churches and volunteer programmers, was able to get food to 3000 refugee families with the help of a mobile logistics app. The app allowed people to register their need for food and place themselves on map and get delivery notifications and instructions.
resources
media libraries
You can make your own content, but you may find free-to-use media here.
trainings
Self-paced and cohort trainings in a variety of methods that contribute to building a digital strategy.
usage data
What percentage of your region’s population are on the internet? What’s the most popular social media site?
how-to's
media libraries
When working on an M2M ministry, your team can make your own content, but depending on the language you may find some videos in your ministry language in existing libraries that are free to use.
Christian Vision Global
CV’s resource library offers videos free to download and use in many languages. You can use the videos you find there and also collaborate on new content.
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Jesus Film
Not just the Jesus Film anymore! Many clips and movies are available here in many langauges perfect for M2M.
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Rock International
Search here for the King of Glory film in your language as well as many other multilingual resources.
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Welcome Africans
A great hub you can offer to friends, it has content in many West African languages you can use in your products.
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Scripture Earth
A database of links to resources in many different languages – apps, videos, recordings, and more.
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IndigiTube
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Lumo Film
A new set of gospel films in many languages.
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5fish
A database of links to videos in many different languages.
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trainings
Media to Movements
MTM offers coaching for teams reaching the unreached using social media.
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EMDC
EMDC offers an ever-changing series of courses and workshops as well as a yearly conference.
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Kavanah Media
Micro-courses, content library, ad resources, podcasts and more for MTM.
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Kingdom Training
Kingdom training offers in-depth self-paced training in M2M – good deep-dive modules here.
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Visual Story Network
VSN is a catalyzing organization that trains and equips others to use media to reach the least-reached.
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Mobile Ministry Forum
The Mobile Ministry Forum offers training in online media ministries.
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Indigitous
Indigitous offers training in online media ministries.
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Zúme Training
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Scripture Engagement
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Connection and Use data
Do you know what percentage of your population is connected to the internet? What’s the male/female split? What kind of devices do they use to connect? What’s the most popular social media platform in your region? Start compiling your country’s internet use profile using these resources!
World Bank stats
Get internet connection stats here – compare info by region and country
StatCounter
Click on Edit Chart Data and select your country to see social media and platform stats
Google Trends
Click on Worldwide and choose your country to see what people are searching for
DataReportal
Search for your country by name to see detailed reports
Internet World Stats
Drill down by region to see internet use and some social media use
NapoleonCat
Good info on social media by gender – search for your country and click ‘yearly stats archive’ at the top of the page
SimilarWeb
Top apps by app store – select your country and each app store in turn and click Go
contact us
If you would like to consult with our team, let us know!