5 years of Evangelical Focus

Evangelical Focus is 5 years old. Our media project was launched on 8 January 2015, after conversations with Christian leaders in several countries which agreed in the idea that such a daily news platform would be useful to help Christians analyse current issues from a Biblical perspective, and be a loudspeaker for the ideas, action and vision of churches in places that are often not well covered.

The Evangelical Focus team based our work on the experience of Areópago Protestante (a media group of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance) and news website Protestante Digital. Our desire from the beginning was to help build bridges between church and society, giving a voice to evangelicals where they are a small minority, and doing a trustworthy journalism that ultimately serves God’s mission.

2019: A YEAR OF GROWTH

This daily website has been growing step by step from the beginning, but with no doubt 2019 has been the year in which more people have read and shared our contents. While in 2018 our website had 309,000 visits, 2019 finished with 603,000 visits – an increase of +93% (+74% in page views).

It is also very encouraging that more than 700 people are getting our daily newsletters and many others follow us on Facebook (3,600), Twitter (1,400) and Youtube (200).

What are some of the factors factors that have helped our non-profit media project double its audience in the last months?

- The increasing interest in Europe. Many around the globe are intrigued by how churches live out the gospel in a post-Christian context. Many have landed on our site through search engines.

- The contents produced by evangelical networks in Europe such as the European Evangelical Alliance, the Lausanne Movement, the European Leadership Forum, and think tanks like the Jubilee Centre, Vista, and others. Their contents analyse complex issues such as artificial intelligence, populism, gender and sexuality, economy, creation care, or additional needs.

- The close collaboration with our sister websites Protestante Digital (Spain) and Evangélico Digital (Latin America), translating some of the most interesting contents. The good relationship with several national media in Europe is something we also value very much – developing a vision of cooperation instead of competition.

- Our emphasis on reporting on all kind of topics, from politics to theology, from film reviews to sports. As the once Dutch Prime Minister Abraham Kuyper said: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” An example of this is that the most read and most shared story by far in these 5 years has been a piece on the remarks of a football manager on Jesus Christ.

- The growing readership from non-European countries such as India, Nigeria, Philippines, and South Africa.

- The fact that Evangelical Focus is often quoted by other media, which helps people discover this platform for the first time.

CHANGES

As the start 2020 begins, we are looking forward to implement the new website design we have been working on.

We thank God for His faithfulness, grace, and guidance. We are aware of his presence especially in a new media context in which everything seems to come and go at a fast pace.

We also want to use this opportunity to acknowledge the work of more than a dozen volunteers in the area of translation, design, technical aspects, advertising, administration. Without them, Evangelical Focus would not exist. Thank you all! ¡Gracias!