We’re Growing!
2018 was a year of expansion towards our vision of 5000 mentors leading one million people to Jesus by the end of 2020!
Over the past year we have increased our reach online; we now have mentoring partnerships with 14 ministries, serving in 7 languages!
All of us at Digital Strategies are thrilled to witness so many stories of God transforming lives each day!
A Safe Place to ask Questions
The Internet is bringing the hope of Jesus to people who are denied freedom of belief by their governments or face persecution for not following cultural norms. It offers safety and anonymity for citizens in these countries to ask questions about life and faith, and grow spiritually online with other believers if they decide to follow Jesus.
Born Again at Ramadan
An Egyptian woman, Aisha* and her daughter Saadiya* decided to look into the faith of Aisha’s childhood Christian friend. They went online to Facebook and there, they met up with many Arab Christians including some of our ministry partners in Egypt. They introduced Aisha and Saadiya to our Online Arabic Church; it was through regular contact with this fellowship that they became Christians.
Quietly and secretly, Aisha and Saadiya were both baptized by an Egyptian pastor at his church. Read their story
I’m not young anymore, but I sense I am born again! – Aisha
Receiving God’s Peace
Three months after getting an abortion, Monica* received God’s forgiveness thanks to her online conversation with one of our French mentors.
Monica’s first message was brief:
Never get an abortion.
The mentor felt that God wanted her to respond right away and share the love and forgiveness that Christ offers.
Within hours, Monica wrote back.
Thank you so much for praying. I feel a peace I have not felt for a while. May God bless you for the love and joy you offer people. Your prayer and your support are so helpful. I will also go read the article. Thank you so much, and Amen! – Monica
Since then, Monica has read the Gospel presentation, has decided to follow Jesus and has begun follow-up. The dialogue continues. Monica’s story.
Dating the Wrong Guy
Alice*, from Kenya, had been wondering whether or not she should break up with her boyfriend. When she read our Issues I Face story, Dating the Wrong Guy, she sent us a first message:
He doesn’t create any time for me…all he thinks of is sex.
After an online conversation with Joy, one of our online missionaries in Kenya, Alice’s response was brief, but exciting:
Yes. I would like to make a commitment. I really need God in my life. Read Alice’s Story
Decisions for Christ
During our 2018 fiscal year, 410,530 people were exposed to the Gospel via our sites, chats and mentoring conversations in various languages. That’s more than double the year before! Overall, 3039 individuals worldwide decided to follow Christ! We are so thankful for all of our online missionaries!
New Initiatives and Partnerships
We were very excited to launch mystruggles.in, a contextualized version of Issues I Face, in partnership with a church in India. A French version, mesdefisjenparle.com was designed to help Francophones throughout the world discover faith in Christ.
Spanish and Portuguese versions of Issues I Face were also launched in collaboration with our CRU international partner in Latin America, and we are developing partnerships with Cru ministries in Indonesia, the Philippines, and several other Southeast Asian countries.
Reaching out to Francophones
Our new French Team Director, Carole Amico, is spearheading the development of church partnerships in Québec. Carole grew up in Africa, studied in Europe, and now lives in Quebec, so she is very familiar with the different facets and mentalities of the French-speaking world.
Digital Partners
Dorrie Manu joined our team this year to help develop strategic partnerships with numerous ministries and churches here in Canada and around the world. As the Director of Digital Partnerships, she is committed to helping new believers journey from initial online engagement to local community involvement.
Facebook Ad Strategy
Kim Koteles, responsible for mentor training, is now also responsible for marketing our online content. A key strategy is advertising on Facebook in both French and English, which has already greatly extended our reach in targeted geographic regions! Through Facebook, more than 97,000 people read our online content in English, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, and French; over 9300 people connected with an online mentor after seeing our ads. That’s almost 1 in 10!
For the past several months since I’ve begun to market Digital Strategies websites on Facebook, I’ve seen how God has blessed this specific strategy by bringing thousands of people into mentoring. – Kim Koteles
More Mentors Needed!
We anticipate thousands more requests for mentors this year in response to these new initiatives, as well as our many articles, devotionals, and stories on TheLife.com and IssuesIFace.com so we need more mentors! Our small mentor training team has been operating at full capacity, but God is providing new workers for the harvest.
New Mentor Support Assistant
In God’s perfect timing, Ann joined our staff last summer to offer much-needed mentor support to our growing team of volunteers. Ann spent about 25 years in ministry in Nigeria. She got to know people from several African nations before returning to Canada several years ago to live in a neighbourhood with a high immigrant population. Ann is very passionate about seeing people from many nations come to know Jesus through strategic online mentoring.
Updated Mentor Training
It is our hope and prayer that hundreds of new mentors will be inspired to join Digital Strategies! To help prepare for new growth, we are redesigning our mentor training and resources to better answer our mentors’ needs.
We are very pleased with the revamped landing pages for The Mentor Ministry, which facilitate the registration process for Christians interested in joining people on their spiritual journey by becoming online mentors.
Crossroads Partnership
We have also begun to provide Crossroads (100 Huntley Street) with digital follow-up for people who contact their prayer call-in centre. It was thrilling to see how God connected us!
Prayer Requests
Please pray for:
Wisdom and endurance for our mentoring and technical teams as they improve mentor training and make software changes that will facilitate expansion of our ministry in different languages.
A doubling of our mentoring team this year and every year.
More coaches able to support new mentors in the initial stages of their involvement.
Open doors to partner with even more ministries and connect more hurting people with compassionate, Jesus-following online mentors!
