Advent: A Time of Waiting… and Tweeting

By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

UNITED KINGDOM (ANS) -- Every day during Advent, Fresh Expressions -- an evangelistic outreach of the Church of England -- is sharing Twitter reflections on the coming of Christ and the meaning of Christmas.

Fresh Expressions was initiated in 2005 by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York but now involves the Methodist Council, the United Reformed Church and a number of other partners.

The movement has resulted in hundreds of new Christian communities being formed alongside more traditional churches.

Those who have contributed seasonal tweets include The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu; Lorraine Dixon, Anglican priest and DJ; Andy Frost, director of Share International; Ian Bell, co-ordinator of the Methodist Church’s VentureFX Pioneering Ministries scheme; Mark Russell, chief executive officer of Church Army; Russ Bravo, editor of Inspire magazine; and Juliet Kilpin of the Urban Expression mission agency.

One of the tweets describes the incarnation as ‘a package put together to solve the debt crisis.'

To find out who went on to say, ‘He lived among us, loved us, was rejected. The deal never left the table,’ follow the Advent conversations now @freshexpression on Twitter or viawww.freshexpressions.org.uk/advent.  

For more information, contact: Karen Carter, Media Officer, Fresh Expressions +44 (0)7545 928724karen.carter@freshexpressions.org.uk;  www.freshexpressions.org.uk

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** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

HCJB Global, Feba UK Announce 'OneSheep' New Media Consortium

International (HCJB/MNN) ―Since when do sheep and unity work together?

Since HCJB Global and Feba UK have united in a special partnership called "One Sheep."

It's a collaboration that shares strengths and vision. Wayne Pederson, president of HCJB Global, explains, "Feba brings to the table the research and strategy they've created to use new media. What we bring to the table is the hardware and software and the know-how in creating the content for the new media."

Why re-invent the wheel? "Partnership is in our DNA," says Pederson. "Our mission statement is 'Serving with Global partners as the voice and hands of Jesus.'"

The collaboration came about because of some of the vehicles being developed for communication today: i-phones, i-pads, You Tube, Twitter, and Facebook. Pederson says it's a challenge to keep up. "Pray that God will show us how to use the new media to reach the next generation. We're all learning together on this, and in many cases, the commercial world, the secular world, the marketing world are ahead of us on this."

"One Sheep" has engaged a group of 20-somethings to help them visualize a new media strategy for outreach to the next generation. "It's absolutely critical if we're going to reach the next generation with the Gospel," Pederson explains. Traditional methods of sharing Christ may not reach them at all.

  

It could be argued that "the medium is the message." "We've got to be able to use these tools. Millennials are watching television less, they're listening to radio less, (and) they're getting their entertainment, their information, their inspiration and their communication with the new virtual media."

Effecting change and creating a dialogue space through the new media means the strategy must be regional. "Because our communication system has gone from 'few to many,' and now with the new media, it's 'many to many,'" notes Pederson, "each of our regions, each of our countries, each of our cities, each of our people groups is able to create podcasts to stream audio, to stream video in the language of the culture in which they are operating."

Teams won't just jump into the new media stream without help. Pederson says, "We are going to be creating a new media resource Web site that will coach and mentor some of our teams toward using social media in an excellent way. We're going to be presenting seminars and training events to build capability among our partners."

By jointly researching how young people communicate and consume media, HCJB Global and Feba will discover how to reach them with biblical truth. Together, the two organizations will learn how to present the Gospel in a rapidly-changing, increasingly-globalized and connected world. The group also welcomes other Christian organizations to join and participate.

The consortium will place a priority on projects that impact unreached and limited-access people groups. These groups are embracing new media, particularly that which is delivered via mobile devices.

The scope of the OneSheep new media consortium includes:

• sharing ideas, production, creation and delivery of social media content through the launch of OneSheep.org, a new media resource Web site
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• consulting, coaching and mentoring for project teams toward excellence in social media ministry
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• delivery of training to build capacity among partners and clients of both organizations in new media
• creating practical connections between online projects and offline ministry
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• filling skills and resource gaps in new media ministry.
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Lastly, Pederson urges prayer, prayer, and more prayer. "Jesus has called us to unity. That's the idea of the 'One Sheep' concept. We are all one flock. Our effectiveness in evangelism is going to be determined by how we can work together collaboratively and cooperatively to get the message out."

There's more here.

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T.D. Jakes, Pastors Upset After Rating Drop, Dow Jones Plunge

U.S. pastors vented on Twitter their frustration as the nation boiled under news of the first-ever credit rating downgrade in its history Friday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 600-plus point plunge Monday.

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