Meet the Cartographers | Paul Watson of reachingtheonlinegeneration.com

Paul Watson

Paul Watson of ReachingTheOnlineGeneration.com is on the front lines of the digital world as a place for ministry.

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Paul Watson grew up as a missionary kid, planting churches all over Asia with his family and currently leads reachingtheonlinegeneration.com a group that is at the forefront of engaging the online community as a mission field.

Paul's journey began when curriculum he helped develop—the Discovering God Bible Study—was picked up by http://www.connaitredieu.com  (‘Connaitre Dieu’ means ‘Know God’ in French.)  to help disciple the 700,000 people per year who click to accept Christ.  It was Paul’s introduction to the online mission field. 

The Discovering God Bible Study discipleship initiative has been effective in 30 different countries with everyone from multiple people groups in India, to tribes in Africa, to Catholics in Honduras, to migrant workers in San Jose, California.  It is cross-cultural, cross-economic, cross-generational and best of all it creates communities because people begin sharing the story with their friends even before they come to a point that they make a decision for Christ. The place it isn't reaching?  Post-modern, post-Christian Western cultures.  Watson explains, "Most of the people of this generation don't want our religion," Watson says.  "We find they love Jesus, but reject church culture. In fact, we have to work really hard to help lost people understand that there is a difference between the Gospel, Jesus, and the Christian culture they've rejected.  

Watson says that to be effective in ministry online you have to "show" rather than "tell."  "Though the online generation isn't looking for religion, they are looking to see how love is lived out in real life.  "There are people who follow me solely because of the interactions I tell about showing love to my wife and kids,"  Watson says.  "There is a great need for Christians who live spiritually online rather than tell what they believe about this or that.  Non-Christians know what Christians are supposed to be and many are angry and bitter because we've disappointed them."

If as Ray Oldham asserts there really are three places: home, work and a third place, then for some the online community is their "third place."   Just as "third place" concepts are influencing our brick and mortar construction of church communities with the addition of coffee bars, recreation and community centers, for many the online world is their third place.  "We find that when people have crisis in their home or work communities,  they flee to their online community," Watson elaborates. 

Watson uses an approach in his online ministry that was effective offline.  Watson's family began ministry in new cities by "looking for the person of peace."  Essentially finding the Cornelius or the Lydia (to reference the stories in the book of Acts) in whom God has already begun a work.  Watson begins his online work using that offline  principle.  It is the reason he believes broadcast ministry has minimal effectiveness and that decentralized broadcast is how most ministry will be done in the future.  So how does Watson find the "person of peace" online?  Well before Twitter became so popular among churches, Watson would watch for the word "pray."  "When a non-Christian uses the word 'pray' they are typically in crisis.  It is a great opportunity to join with them to pray alongside them."  Now that Twitter has become popular among churches, Watson uses other searches such as "upset" "crying" or "lonely."

"The window for a Twitter conversation is 30 minutes.  If you engage a post older than that, you've missed the opportunity.  The conversation has flowed past it," Watson advises. Watson also recommends  being geographically specific in your search…to stay within your church's community.  "How powerful would it be to search the term 'bored' or 'lonely' on a Friday night when you have a  volleyball game going on that you could invite people to join? "  To search by geographic location, you simply go to search.twitter.com and narrow the feed to a zipcode.

To learn more about Paul's ministry, you can connect with him via reachingtheonlinegeneration.com or follow OnlineDisciples at twitter.com.

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