The Salvation Army in the Goldthorpe area of England has launched a new outreach that aims to make God accessible to people who would never dream of entering a church building. They aim to do this through G21mobile, a text messaging, email and web outreach.
Here is the concept: Lots of people want to pray but don’t know how to start, others have big questions but don’t know who to ask, many would like prayer but don’t know who trust and many are interested in ‘spirituality’ but don’t know where to grow. The aim of G21mobile is to help provide unthreatening Christian counseling without judgment via cell phone.
G21mobile staff members text message prayers to people, positive thoughts for the day, help with moral dilemmas and also provide an outlet to discuss the big questions of life on their website and through email. There is no pressure on anyone, people can simply dip in, delve deeper or disconnect at any time. G21mobile will be a virtual church in itself or a “church without walls.”
They are specifically targeting unchurched 23-35 year-olds who distrust “church” and are suffering a quarter-life crisis. These are people who have worked and found some success but are now left asking the question “is this it?” To do this, G21mobile aims to advertise through radio, beer mats (or coasters) placed in pubs and clubs, possibly some billboards and computer advertising. They have already had an incredible response to this outreach and intend on doing more.
The next phase of their plan calls for creating a G21mobile café in a rented space in the center of the Goldthorpe area for six months. The café will offer specialized coffees and muffins and they will also be offering hand massages and a newspaper reading corner. The café will enable them to share the vision and idea with the community and get them using the text messaging and website services.
To learn more about G21mobile, check out their website.
Youth Department