The Power of Collaboration to Impact Millions of Lives - Jan-Willem Bosman with Jesus.net

In episode 31 we speak with Jan-Willem Bosman, the Executive Director of Jesus.Net, and international outreach ministry that shares the Gospel with millions of people around the world through a network of websites and other digital media. Jan started out as an electronics engineer for telecom companies and now through the grace of God he gets to see 5,000-6,000 people make a commitment to follow Christ every day through Jesus.net be sure to listen to the full episode to hear the full story of how God has moved through Jan’s life.

Growing Through Collaboration

Jesus.net has seen phenomenal growth when it comes to increasing their reach for spreading the Gospel. However, Jan is quick to point out this has been done by God’s grace and only through collaboration. Jan reminds us of Jesus’ pray in John 17, that all believers through their message will be one, so that the world will believe that Jesus is the son of God. It was reflecting on this passage of scripture that pushed Jan to be more collaborative in his approach to growth. Since then Jesus.net has moved beyond just being a website, into being a network of like minded ministries that bring their own expertise to further move people in their faith journey.

Meeting Real Needs

Since they are an impact focused ministry it is important for them to measure everything they do, and that includes researching new opportunities. One powerful example of this is that they found 4,000 people searching in the Dutch language “I want to die” every day. To help bring hope to these people they partnered with ministries that are equipped to talk with and help people who are contemplating suicide. From there they are able to plug those people into other ministries that can offer continued support and the hope of the Gospel.

Coaching and Training

People are not always interested in our answers, they want to share their story, however, we as believers are generally trained to provide answers. For this reason the team at Jesus.net has dedicated a lot of effort toward training coaches to ask questions. This model allows the coaches to ask questions that encourage building a relationship and encourages people to share more of their story. Through these questions the coaches are able to build a deep enough relationship that they get asked “how they deal with these issues in their own life” this opens the door to share the real impact following Christ has had on the coaches life. We can intellectually like Jesus and his teachings but it’s not until we see the real impact that we believe he is God and make a commitment to follow him.

How Do You Reach New People?

The digital landscape continues to change, and what works is dependent on the location. As the key to continuing to grow is to focus on what works (paid ads, SEO, video and Social) then also test new things, some ministries are testing TikTok and other newer channels. Measuring impact is critical, this allows you to skip over the channels that are not working and invest more into the tests that drive more impact.

Be sure to listen to the full episode and subscribe so you don’t miss out on new content.