Technology and the Future of Evangelism in Africa
February 8, 2010 – 10:01 amKato Mivule, blogger at Yesu Mulungi, posted a fascinating article on the rapid rise of technology in Africa and its effect on gospel ministry. The article specifically highlights the pay-as-you-go mobile phone phenomenon: Africa currently has 300 million mobile phone subscribers; it is expected to jump to 790 million in four years.
Coupled with the surge in mobile phone usage is the recent placement of fiber optic internet cables around the perimeter of the continent, enabling high-speed internet connections to inland cities.
The final factor that Mivule highlights is the growing African middle class. Though not wealthy according to Western standards, more and more middle-class workers are able to buy DVDs, laptops, and other gadgets.
He then asks the $10,000 question: “Is it a good thing then that we are having such developments in Africa?”
His answer involves several factors: accountability to prosperity gospel preachers; the need for African churches to utilize new technologies for the spread of the gospel; and the need Western missionaries and African pastors to seriously consider how these technological advances change the minds of their current and future audience.
Read the entire post.
HT: Brigada
Other resources on use of mobile phone for evangelism:
- Mobile Phone: The Potential for Evangelism (detailed post by Internet Evangelism Day on aspects of using mobile devices to share the gospel)
- Hello Africa (fascinating documentary [by a non-Christian organization] on the use of mobile phones in Zanzibar)
- Mobile Missions International (documentary on using mobile devices to share the gospel)
