\u201cThe number of online participants reflects the strong global interest in this growing and strategically important area of mission,\u201d says ChanMin Chung, director of the Global Mission Centers, which featured in the conference. The event shared strategic frameworks and practical case studies. Central to the discussion was the role of the Global Mission Centers in contextualising hybrid mission approaches across diverse cultural and religious settings.<\/p>\n
Presentations explored how digital pathways can lead to meaningful ministry within the church\u2019s major mission contexts\u2014secular and post-Christian societies, urban centres, and the 10\/40 window\u2014highlighting the importance of integrating online engagement with relational, community-based ministry.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mission Refocus Conference was a powerful gathering that reminded us why technology and digital media exist in the church today,\u201d says Richard Stephenson, associate treasurer for digital strategy. \u201cThey\u2019re never-ending in themselves, but powerful tools in accelerating the advance of the good news.\u201d<\/p>\n The conference featured a series of concise presentations followed by a panel discussion. Each Global Mission Center director offered practical insights into contextualisation, including approaches to engaging secular urban audiences, Jewish communities, Muslim communities, and East and South Asian religious contexts.<\/p>\n Umesh Nag, director of the Center of South Asian Religions, shared that themes related to spiritual life, social issues, and strong support systems resonate deeply within South Asian communities. He emphasised the importance of building trust by creating safe and reliable communication spaces, providing clear and respectful communication tools, and offering opportunities for direct human connection, such as chat support, call centres, and personal meeting spaces.<\/p>\n Trust and authenticity are also foundational when building relationships with those of the Jewish faith, said Reinaldo Siqueira, director of the Center for Adventist-Jewish Relations.<\/p>\n \u201cJewish people,\u201d he stated, \u201care very sensitive to whether someone is hiding something. If we are presenting ourselves, we need to clearly say that we are Seventh-day Adventists.\u201d \u201cAuthenticity is essential,\u201d he emphasised. \u201cDo not hide who you are.\u201d Siqueira also cautioned against polemics. \u201cPolemics do not build trust; they do not build relationships. We are here to build friendship, trust, and meaningful connections.\u201d<\/p>\n Meaningful connections were likewise emphasised by Petras Bahadur, director of the Center for Adventist-Muslim Relations. The centre is actively reaching out to communities and developing resources that foster meaningful, respectful conversations within supportive environments.<\/p>\n When engaging Buddhist communities, relational trust and credibility are essential, according to Saeng Saengthip, director of the Center for Adventist-Buddhist Relations. Respect plays a central role.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Buddhist culture,\u201d he said, \u201cpeople look up to their religious leaders; they revere them deeply. So the person presenting the message is almost as important as the message itself.\u201d Saengthip noted that nonaggressive, invitational approaches are important.<\/p>\n Addressing ministry in major cities, Bledi Leno, director of the Center for Urban Mission, observed that \u201cthe neighbourhoods of the cities have moved from the actual neighbourhood to the digital space.\u201d Urban residents, he explained, are often time-poor yet spiritually curious. \u201cSo they will be scrolling online at 11:30 at night,\u201d he said, \u201cchecking out Instagram, or YouTube channels, or Facebook.\u201d<\/p>\n Leno stressed the importance of consistency between digital presence and lived community experience. \u201cOur focus in reaching out to urbanites shouldn\u2019t just be \u2018views\u2019 or \u2018followers,\u2019 \u201d he said, \u201cbut it should be tables\u201d\u2014underscoring that the ultimate goal is face-to-face relationships. Leno further encouraged the formation of small groups and service opportunities as effective pathways to lasting community.<\/p>\n Jonathan Contero, associate director of the Center for Secular and Post-Christian Mission, echoed this emphasis. \u201cOnline environments are where faith is explored through shared human questions, such as meaning, anxiety, justice, rest, and hope,\u201d he said. Yet digital engagement must lead to embodied community. Rather than inviting people simply to \u201ccome hear us,\u201d he suggested offering the invitation to \u201ccome be with us\u201d in informal settings\u2014such as parks, book clubs, or community activities.<\/p>\n As reflected in the conference title, \u201cClick \u2192 Community \u2192 Change,\u201d its message was consistent: Digital engagement is a starting point, but transformation happens through personal, face-to-face relationships rooted in trust, authenticity, and shared life.<\/p>\n Organisers expressed deep appreciation for the overwhelmingly positive response to the event. As a follow-up, the conference content is now being developed into a structured course format and will soon be available, along with supporting resources, at MissionRefocus.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [Photos: Courtesy\u00a0of Adventist Mission]<\/em><\/p>\n The original version<\/a> of this article was posted on the Adventist Review<\/a>\u00a0website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Global Mission leaders emphasise digital-to-discipleship pathway<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":25541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1569,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication-media-technology","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25540"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25560,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25540\/revisions\/25560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Attendees](\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2_From-Click-to-Community.jpg\")
Contextualising Mission Across Religious and Cultural Settings<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/3_From-Click-to-Community.jpg\")
Reaching the Urban and Secular World<\/h2>\n
![\"From](\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4_From-Click-to-Community.jpg\")
From Engagement to Transformation<\/h2>\n
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