INTRODUCTION

For those seeking to facilitate ministry amongst an extensive diaspora of a particular people group, developing a phoning ministry may be very useful and fruitful, assuming of course contexts where people have access to cell phones and/or land lines.  In my work among a diaspora with people group members now living in 35-40 states or more of two (or perhaps three) countries, my key native colleague and I have developed an exciting phone ministry.  We sometimes call together and sometimes individually, but increasingly I let him do most of the calling to his people, as he does it in the native language.  Though it currently only involves an investment of 2-3 hours a week and about an extra US$40-50 a month in cell phone cards we see it as a strategic part of the overall ministry, and we anticipate that it will continue to grow.  We currently have several dozen contacts in about a dozen states, but with plenty of room for growth as God allows us to make more contacts in more segments of the diaspora.

WHO DO YOU CALL?

• Our main focus is on staying in touch with key Christian contacts: native pastors and other key Christians and non-native Christian missionaries and lay people who also minister to the same people group.
• Some of those we call are social leaders in their respective segment of the diaspora – both Christians and non-Christians.
• Some others are just individuals –Christians and non-Christians– for whom we were able to get a phone number.  Sometimes they are the only contact we have thus far in that particular location.

HOW DO YOU GET PEOPLES’ PHONE NUMBERS?

• We obtained the numbers of many people we call through personal contacts we had with them in their segment of the diaspora, both the segment where we live and others to which we have made trips.
• Phone numbers from others were acquired through referrals from family members, friends or fellow villagers of theirs.
• A few phone numbers were acquired through having received emails from US-based cell phones, where the phone number is part of the email address.
• One phone number was gleaned from the blog of one individual of this people group.

WHAT KINDS OF THINGS DO YOU ACCOMPLISH THROUGH THE PHONE CALLS?

• Encouragement!  Time and time again people express how much it meant to them that they were remembered by us and we took the time to call them.  And it is encouraging for the Christians to learn how they are part of something much bigger that God is doing among their people, even if they may be facing trials and setbacks at a given moment in their specific area and ministry.  Plus, we get encouragement, too, as even non-Christians affirm us in our ministry of producing and broadly distributing vernacular Christian resources in their mother tongue, recognizing that it is something that will benefit their people.
• We learn of prayer needs from people and are able to share ours.
• We make people aware of the available vernacular ministry resources and those under development, as well as new outreach strategies being explored or implemented.
• In communicating with some of the social leaders we honor them and the role they have, while hopefully building positive relationships that could well open more doors for ministry among the people under their leadership.
• My key native colleague is quite bold yet tactful in witnessing to those who are not yet believers.
• Once in a while we use the calling to get linguistic feedback, for example, on some key spiritual terminology in the language for which there are still varying opinions.
• With non-native contacts we often share ministry strategy ideas and cultural insights gleaned.
• We challenge some people about distributing vernacular resources in their segment of the diaspora, and communicate about shipments of such resources made and received.  One exciting example is that of a man who is a strong believer but may not have been particularly active in sharing his faith with his people.  He accepted the challenge to distribute vernacular CDs and has gone out and personally distributed all of the 200 CDs that he has received from us so far, to residents of his segment of the diaspora as well as residents of the nearby native region who visit there on business, for political protests, etc., regardless of the faction they are from, and taking care to place resources with people from as many of the 30+ native communities as possible.  Thus far all have been well received and people are clammoring for more.
• We sometimes inquire about sub-segments of the diaspora in their general area of which we might not already be aware and potential contacts in them.

HOW DO YOU KEEP THE COST MANAGEABLE?

• The key is finding what options are available and using the right option for each type of call.  For in-country calls to landlines from my home I have a plan that has allows unlimited calling.  For calls to the US from my home I use a VOIP service with a flat monthly rate.  For calls to in-country cell phones or landlines I have phones from two different companies that have per-call plans that only charge about US$0.50 for each block of 15 minutes or twice that for remote calls to the US.

A FEW FINAL COMMENTS

• If you are a non-native speaker of the language in question, talking on the phone in that language can be quite a challenge, often with less-than-ideal connections and the total lack of visual clues.  I usually quickly shift to our common second language, while my colleague does almost all of his calling in the mother tongue.
• With regards to cell phone numbers, it is wise to make good use of them sooner than later.  It seems cell phones are often lost, stolen, damaged or re-sold, and if the people migrate again they will generally get another phone in their new area. 

I trust this article may encourage others to take advantage of the proliferation of access to telephone service to add another strategic dimension to their diaspora ministry.