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Using electronic media in outreach
An update for February from the Network
These regular updates are continuing to unpack the refreshed Mahabba vision and how it’s being worked out in practice across the Network. Last time, in January, we reflected on the Mahabba ethos of prayer https://mahabbanetwork.com/blog/encouraging-prayer.
Here is news of a great initiative making use of electronic media. We’ll keep the network informed as things develop with this, and other similar projects.
Muslims in the UK: most unreached, hardest to reach?
The majority of Pakistanis who have been coming to the UK over the past half a century are from one particular region – Azad Kashmir. They’re often known as Mirpuris and, although they have migrated to a ‘Christian’ country, few of them have encountered the Jesus of the Bible. Instead they have often experienced misunderstanding and racism. Whilst Iranians are coming to Christ in droves and seeking out churches, Mirpuris in contrast are quite isolated from the gospel because of strong community ties and many preconceptions about the Bible and Christians.
How can we find genuine seekers amongst the settled Muslim community?
These are people for whom Jesus died - and the largest Muslim ethnic group in the UK. But how can we reach them? Traditional means of engaging have struggled to reach a wide audience. Many who are happy to talk about spiritual things often just want to debate and are not serious seekers of the truth. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to find the few seekers amongst the many?
Finding seekers online
Over the past few years churches and mission agencies have begun to use internet advertising to find seekers amongst people in countries where Jesus is little known. A project in the Arab world resulted in over 150 new followers of Jesus in the third quarter of 2019 alone. So, following these successes, Mirpuri Media (a collaboration of a number of different organisations) is launching a new ‘media to disciple making’ project.
How does it work?
Almost everything has a website or facebook page these days, but this project is much more than posting a Bible verse and hoping someone might see it. Jesus Film clips or a story are crafted into a short video using the most appropriate language. We then use facebook to advertise these videos, which we specifically focus towards Mirpuris in a particular area. Our ads come with a ‘call to action’ - if viewers are interested they can subscribe on facebook to see more Bible videos. As they engage with the Bible, we encourage them to discuss what they are learning with a Christian via online chat. For those who are clearly seeking, we invite them to meet a local believer in person who can disciple them.
How can Mahabba-connected people be involved?
Please pray for the pilot project, starting in a northern city, to see real fruit. Please also pray for two similar projects, one reaching Sylhetis and another reaching Millennial Muslims. We hope that if the pilot is successful we can expand to other parts of the country – we would love to be able to send seekers we find online to people in Mahabba groups who are ready to share the gospel!
If you’d like to find out more please join the mailing list:
From Phil Goodchild for the National Team