Orality Journal Volume 3, Number 1, 2014 | Page 47

Mobilizing the Story of His Glory

music videos among an oral
group has a high likelihood of
impacting those people.
d. Security/Privacy
Appropriateness
Don’t use tools that unnecessarily
endanger the people you
are seeking to reach! If the
government or majority culture
actively monitors or persecutes
those who consider Christ
or become His followers you
should only consider the mobile
ministry options that carry the
least risk to seekers and converts.
In this regards DO use offline
distribution methods (Bluetooth,
microSD cards, WiFi hotspots)
that are much harder to track
and DON’T use SMS/texting
outreaches as text messages are
stored by phone companies and
easily accessed by authorities.
e. Mobile Context
Appropriateness
Create content that is
appropriate to the context of
the device. While there are
plenty of exceptions to the rule,
mobile usage generally occurs
in the following contexts. An
appropriate mobile ministry
should account for these
contexts:
i. Mobile usage occurs in
brief bursts during breaks

45

of time between when people
carrying on with the rest
of their life and while
doing other things.
ii. Mobile is used in the context
of life interruptions. In
general, mobile ministry
tools and media shouldn’t
require long periods of
uninterrupted attention from
their users.
iii. Mobiles have small screens—
putting small type or busy
video on a mobile screen is
inappropriate and ineffective.

Four Mobile Ministry Options
Mobile ministry unlocks amazing
new opportunities for the Church to
deepen its existing connecti ons with
people. While that is important, I
believe that one of the key benefits
mobile ministry offers is providing a
connection with hundreds of millions
who have never had a connection with
the Church. There are 1.7 billion
people who have a mobile device but
no Internet connection. These are the
people who live at the bottom of the
economic pyramid and will be the last
to own a smartphone. It is to these
“last mile” least reached peoples that
I believe mobile ministry offers an
irreplaceable eternal life-line.
That said, let me present some
mobile ministry options that run
the gamut from low-cost/high