David, a Sydney Anglican computer whiz, has accidentally turned a new communications tool called Skype into a vehicle that takes the gospel to some of the most anti-Christian countries in the world.
"You know the old saying, "don’t try this at home'?" David says.
"Well, do try this at home! Anyone with a computer and broadband connection can get into skyping."
Skype is a peer-to-peer "voice over internet' telephone network that allows users to speak to other Skype users for free. The chatting can be done by text, audio or video.
David admits that he didn't start out with the intention of using Skype for evangelism.
"Skype gives users the option to make your ID - just your first name and country of origin - known to any other Skype user, so I thought it would be fun to see if anyone contacted me,” he says.
“Within a day of letting my ID be known, I received a message from someone in China and we had a great chat session.”
"Within a week three other people from China had "skyped' me out of the blue, so I thought ‘hey, we Western Christians have been trying to take the gospel to China for centuries, and now they are coming to us - use it or lose it pal!"
A new person contacts David about once every week.
"Last week a skyper contacted me from Agadir in Morocco. Like the Chinese, I know Morocco is a country difficult to get into with the gospel," David says.
"We had a great chat discussion about the Muslim perception of Jesus and the Christian perception, and I look forward to chatting with him again."
David says he has been surprised that these strangers have responded so positively.
"I’ve been surprised about the openness of people to discuss the gospel. I heard [evangelist and author] John Dickson say the other day that we Christians seem to shy away from telling the gospel because we fear people hold a negative perception of Christianity and Christians.
“But this is not usually the case, John Dickson says. People don’t have either a negative or positive perception of Christianity - they have none at all because they don’t know anything about our faith!"
How David tells the gospel
Sydney Anglicans with Chinese links have helped David by directing him to websites that translate the gospel to other languages, such as www.whoisjesus-really.com
"I just cut and paste the gospel in their language and send it to them," he says.
"When strangers ‘Skype’ me I chat a bit about the weather in Sydney - in think this is an attraction to them because most of the world never gets to see Australia. The way I introduce the gospel is usually with the sentence ‘what do you think about Jesus?’ - I keep it this simple because some of the Chinese who have skyped me have never heard of him - so we are really starting at first base with the gospel message.
David adds that one of main attractions of Skype over other tools is that it protects your own privacy.
"What is good about Skype is that you can retain your privacy - you only have to give a user ID - which can be any unique word - and your country location. Then sit back and wait for strangers to skype you," he says.
You can download Skype here
