Connecting to Christ - Sharing the Gospel Around the World

Julia Majerus-Wagenknecht (El Paso, Texas, USA)

Archived discussion

About the presenter

Julia Wagenknecht has served WELS world missions for almost 20 years in various roles and locations. Japan - English Language Teacher (1998-99). Malawi - Coordinator of The Christian Reading and Learning Center (2000-01). BWM - Project Manager for WELS World Missions’ Promotions Center (2003-07). Dominican Republic - English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teacher (2007-08). Latin America Missions/LATTE - Missionary Wife (2009 – 2015). Multi-Language Publications - Missionary Wife (2015 - Present). She is married to Missionary Nathan Wagenknecht.

There are many ways to share the Gospel. Digital media has opened the door to make connections to Christ around the world with social media, websites & other communication tools. In this multi-media presentation, we look at a few examples how I connect others to Christ, as a world missionary wife, through media.

Presentation Notes

This multi-media presentation will take less than 30 minutes. A few tips to maximize viewing experience:

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Discussion

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Elyse Kipfer, Quan Hang, Alex Schumacher (Wisconsin Lutheran College) 2017-11-01 2:15:46pm
I think that using Facebook as a tool for sharing the Gospel is a great idea. I also the secret or closed groups for individuals who are living in an environment that is dangerous for believers. I was not able to listen to the audio files. I did appreciate the two videos and the written messages. I have never heard of Trello and that is something I am able to look into or recommend to friends. I also appreciated the last line in the video and written on the slides, which was "Wherever you do, Whatever you do, do everything to the glory of God! Amen!" I think that it is incredible that anyone is able to share the Gospel with international friends through technology.
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Tom Kuster (Christ in Media Institute) 2017-11-02 12:12:27pm
With some browsers it might be necessary to click on the audio files more than once. Does that help?
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Elyse Kipfer (Wisconsin Lutheran College) 2017-11-06 2:47:38pm
Thank you. Yes, it helped. I am able to listen to the audio files now.
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Julia 2017-11-02 8:09:53pm
Thank you for your feedback. As for the audio, try viewing the presentation on the website (https://sway.com/hS3oHoWho6ZI4dYo?ref=Link). The audio is key to truly appreciating the message of the presentation.

That is awesome that you use Facebook to share the Gospel, especially with those living in Christian-senstive environments.

I included a link to a sample Trello board (https://trello.com/b/aJ7neWs9/trello-training-gowm-resource) full of tips and how-to's. If you are interested in using it, please join Trello and make a copy of the sample board so you can customize it and make it your own! It is an amazing project management tool! If you have any questions, please contact me Blessings on your efforts to share Christ!
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David Young (Holy Trinity Okauchee, Wisconsin) 2017-11-01 11:36:25pm
Julia,
Let me just start by saying-The apostle Paul would have been very jealous if he saw the MANY ways that people today are able to stay in contact with far-reaching missions. I completely was able to relate with your analogy of the toolbox: Every time I look at my father's workshop I am surrounded by the plethora of tools that he has at his disposal. Jumping over to world missions; fellow Christians have been given many tools for outreach. The question is-what tools work for outreach? How do I use the right tools, especially in a foreign setting?
These are things I must think about as I plan my next year down in South America. I have the opportunity to outreach in Ecuador, where there are plans to build a new mission church. After establishing connections down there, I would love nothing more than to stay in contact with them. You have given me some ideas to think about.
One of your 'Big Three' mediums you mentioned was TRELLO, an online project management program. You mentioned that it can be used for simple planning events, such as a potluck meal. I could however, see this being a complicated process. Let's say you are organizing ideas for building a new church. You need to know costs, proximities, building codes, the community, etc. As you work with other cultures and with other languages in doing these types of jobs, does this program take a long time to learn and apply, especially for those who don't have much experience with online management programs? Does it serve well by having people from outside of the country monitor and collaborate online in regards to the project itself? I would love to see a video of how this program was used to bring ideas together in a more complex way. I have never heard of this program before!
Wonderful job. There surely is no shortage of opportunities for outreaching in the data world. I am glad you are using resources such as Skype and Dropbox to collaborate ideas in a personalized way to people thousands of miles away! May God bless your mission groups and theological educators as you continue from here on. Thank you for your contribution to the conference.
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Julia 2017-11-02 8:49:31pm
Hello David!
Thank you for your insight! Yes, it is amazing to have all these amazing resources available to share the Gospel to many around the world!

Make sure you have www.academiacristo.com in your toolbox as you head to Ecuador. :) Here is a little video about it: https://vimeo.com/215065567. It is an awesome tool for Spanish speakers to share and study God's Word - some are online Bible studies while others are live classes. Some other Spanish resources: online worship at https://iglesialuteranacristo.com and devotions & other materials at https://cristopalabradevida.com. My husband Nathan is the coordinator of Spanish publications at our synod's Multi-Language Publications (https://wels.net/serving-others/multilanguagepublications/) that offers additional resources.

I find Trello as an intuitive program. I have used it with team members, including nationals, from areas around the world. The neat thing, is that Trello truly can be as simple or as complex as you'd like. You can start basic and build onto to it as you go along if you'd like. Trello has amazing demo videos (http://help.trello.com/article/899-getting-started-video-demo), guide (https://trello.com/guide) and help (http://help.trello.com) resources for users. It is also available in 24 different languages, including Spanish. I included these links in the Trello Board template I shared in the presentation. There are many more Trello board demo videos and boards available online through an online search. I suggest opening a Trello account and saving a copy of my template to your account to have short cuts to start and get comfortable with Trello! I use it to track everything, shopping lists, household projects, ministry ideas, etc... I think I have 15 boards now. :) Please contact me with questions.

May the Lord bless the preparation and efforts of your outreach opportunity! May God be praised!
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Travis Barcalow (Wisconsin Lutheran College) 2017-11-13 12:52:13am
It is very important to spread the word and continue to stay in the word, in anyway even through the internet. Facebook I knew about and have see many people use to spread the word. I didn't know anything about whatsapp and trello both sound very useful. Spreading the word is what we need to do everyday to those who have never heard the word and even those who already know it. not everyone can travel to help spread the message we can all do our part and use media to spread the word. God put us on this earth to help spread the good message, and this won't get done unless we all start somewhere. Why not online?
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Riley (Wisconsin Lutheran College) 2017-11-13 12:36:26pm
I feel that everyone needs to focus on sharing the Word of God! This is our job while we are here in earth and that needs to be kept in mind. I think that people need to be more creative on how the word is being shared. We now have church on TV and that is changing things lets take things even further and do more online things. The bible is already on line and we need to expand that and make sure we are doing everything possible to share with everyone!