With people across the world sheltering at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, use of an online version of the evangelistic course Christianity Explored has spiked. Through a partnership with BibleMesh, the course’s developers hope to increase its reach even further in the days ahead.
How they plan to do that was the focus of a May 13 webinar featuring Craig Dyer and Louanne Enns of Christianity Explored Ministries (CEM) and Jacob Shatzer of BibleMesh.
“The Christianity Explored materials are available through BibleMesh for people that might not otherwise have access to them,” said Enns, CEM’s operations manager. “We are just really grateful” to “make that resource available for free.”
Christianity Explored was developed in the 1990s at London’s All Souls Church under the ministry of the late John Stott. Through a seven-session study of Mark’s Gospel, the course introduces seekers to the person and work of Jesus. It has been used across multiple continents to help people find salvation in Christ.
CEM launched its partnership with BibleMesh in 2015 with an online version of the Discipleship Explored course, which explains the basics of a joyful Christian life. As the partnership expanded, CEM decided to offer its signature evangelistic course through BibleMesh as well, broken into Bible content, questions to help apply the material, and professionally produced videos featuring evangelist Rico Tice.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Christianity Explored—like other digital evangelism resources—has experienced an uptick of online users, according to the webinar. But its usefulness need not be short-lived, Shatzer said. When social distancing subsides, the online course can complement face-to-face evangelism by guiding seekers through their initial exploration of Christianity in private before they’re ready to broadcast their interest.
BibleMesh isn’t “an online ministry that wants to take your people from you,” Shatzer told ministry leaders. “We see ourselves as producing trusted theological education content” to spur discussion when you regather.
The full 17-minute webinar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tMZZiMwIQo&feature=youtu.be.