HOMEINON... 35
DIGITAL MISSIONS:
Yes, We Can!
Introduction key feature of missions across geographical borders in the ‘new norm’ is capitalising on the digital platform more than ever before! Both digital natives like millennials and students as well as the older digital novices need to creatively explore the digital platform to be on the frontiers of cross-cultural missions!
A Juliette Arulrajah Chairperson of the MMS Training Committee. She is also the MMS Area Director for Cambodia and Laos.
We can tangibly empower local Christian leadership in other nations with contextualised and creative new ideas, strategies, and possibilities! Yes, indeed we can bring significant transformation through God’s love and hope to nations around us despite not being able to travel there due to the COVID-19 pandemic! MMS seeks to be on the cutting edge and aspires to facilitate Singaporean Methodists to explore the potential of the digital platform for missions. A two-session series on crossing cultures digitally was jointly organised in February 2021 with the three Annual Conferences’ Boards of Missions.
I. X-Culture-Digi 79 participants from 30 different Methodist churches (6 ETAC, 9 CAC and 15 TRAC) in addition to 6 non-Methodist Churches were actively engaged in this two-hour zoom session on 20 February to explore and enhance missions ministries over the digital platform. Nearly 90% of the participants were key leaders of local churches (LCEC, Missions, Pastors & staff) and Annual Conferences. This session highlighted the practical digital measures employed by MMS and others from the Singapore Methodist community after the onset of the pandemic in 2020, involving and engaging children, youths, millennials, professionals, church leaders and seniors!
The MMS Training Chairman shared on the implications of COVID-19 for cross-cultural missions in the fields, on the missionaries, and how Singapore churches need to adapt to the ‘new norm’. She also underscored five simple digital measures to cross cultures through being E-Care Pals, E-Creative Innovators, E-Content Empowerers,
