Many young secular people in Europe have little to no contact with biblical truth and go to online podcasts to find answers to their deepest questions.
Première episode of the podcast! We invited Juan Mejías – pastor of the Hillsong church in Spain, to speak about the importance of spirituality. / [link]Esto es Real Talk[/link], Facebook page.
We are proud to share with you about one of our projects called This is Real Talk/Esto es Real Talk, a podcast series that we have in Spanish. This initiative is a great example of how TWR´s partnership with a local national partner, like Canal de Vida in Spain in this case.
“Does spirituality even matter in the 21st century?” “What happens to me after I pass away?” “Where do my moral values come from?”
Eighty-two percent of European millennials are completely disconnected from churches and religious organizations. To this age group, the questions stated above are confusing, complicated, but very vital. They are yearning for truth.
Many young secular people in Europe have little to no contact with biblical truth and go to online podcasts to find answers to their deepest questions. We are currently in the midst of a global podcast phenomenon. This is a gift from God for a media organization like TWR, and we need to meet these young people where they search for truth!
Ministry uses a variety of platforms to promote the content. Since this project mostly focuses on the young audience we primarily use social media to reach people. Among them are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and others. With the excessive availability of information in our age, many people are searching these (social media) platforms to find answers to the fundamental questions of life. Our partners in Canal de Vida are very good at reaching people online and Esto es Real Talk has the ambition to bring life-giving answers to the modern tech generation.
[photo_footer] Does the supreme power exist? In this episode we talked with Priscilla Romo about God and how He acts in this world. / Esto es Real Talk, YouTube channel [/photo_footer] Thanks to the Facebook/Instagram distribution investment, the podcast reached a great number of viewers—over 680,000 views just in the seven weeks! We expect this to be further boosted when new ads will be published and the second half of the episodes will be uploaded. This large reach in relation to a relatively small cost has been very positive.
In the words of the creators of the program: We don’t just want high viewership numbers but also opportunities for ministry. Many people are engaged in the topics and share the posts with their friends. This was one of the goals: seeing people sharing the content. We had many listener responses and comments. This provides further avenues for ministry.
The program combines interviews with interesting, known guests and the biblical view on difficult issues. The host of the show usually interviews young, prominent Christians, including writers and professional athletes, about fundamental spiritual questions. Podcasts are ideally suited for engaging in personal and profound conversations about important spiritual topics such as “Does spirituality matter anymore?” and “What happens after death?”
Fueled by a God-driven passion to reach fellow millennials, this team of young adults is using their talents – and technology – to convey biblical truth in an age of uncertainty and relativism. Thus contribute to sharing of the good news in Europe.
“We want to reach our audience in this space with biblical truth in an accessible, easily understandable, and open way,” Lucas* said, “and the Lord is blessing this ministry.”
Overall the responses have been very positive. We are very pleased with how these podcast episodes have turned out, both from a technical perspective and from a content perspective. The host and guests have been very dynamic and insightful.
Some of our listeners shared:
“The human truth is relative. Christ is the only truth.”
“My attitude changed for the better when I rephrased the question from ‘Why am I like this (health issue)?’’ to ‘For what purpose am I like this?’”
“Religion was created by men as a profession (job) for economic earnings, but God was the creator of the universe.”
The project also experienced an uneasy year due to the Coronavirus crisis and following restrictions. Production of the various episodes was hindered and interrupted because of the strict regulation. Thanks to God´s mercy and protection the program successfully continues.
We hope to expand to new languages in Europe and beyond in the future. Many secular young Europeans are apathetic to religion. They see it as irrelevant to their lives. However, they are searching for truth and open to honest conversations.
Episodes are uploaded every Thursday on YouTube as video podcasts and on Spotify, SoundCloud, iVoox, and iTunes as audio podcasts. TWR and Radio Encuentro are promoting it primarily on Facebook (Esto Es Real Talk), but also on Instagram (@estoesrealtalk) and Twitter (@EstoEsRealTalk). Donation option.
Find more about TWR.
Daniel Jursa, Communications Coordinator for TWR Europe and CAMENA.
*Lucas da Silva – former director of South Europe ministries at TWR
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