A Picture is Worth More than a Thousand Words
Sometimes, a picture is worth even more than a thousand words.
In the case of FMI’s signature evangelism tool, Snapshot, pictures help people navigate from death to life. Jomo, a youth pastor serving a church in western Kenya, has trained about 20 young people in his church to use this culturally distinctive, image-based packet to share the gospel with classmates and neighbors. Each reusable packet contains about 40 photos that help kickstart spiritual conversations. “Training the youth and mobilizing them for evangelism has been and amazing experience,” Jomo reports. “Snapshot is such a good tool to open conversations for sharing the gospel.”
Unlike a traditional evangelism tract, there is no text whatsoever in a Snapshot packet, so literacy is no barrier in using this tool. Especially in Kenya, where there are more than 40 tribes, each with their own language, it is important for FMI to deliver a tool for gospel presentation which crosses language barriers.
FMI’s leadership team in Kenya recently hosted an evangelism and discipleship conference for pastors, youth pastors like Jomo, and Sunday School teachers. Attendees represented about 35 churches. Jomo and other participants learned how to ask a series of questions to spark conversations and all the respondents to select any of the Snapshot images to illustrate their answers. Follow-up questions focus on why the respondents selected those images. Within a few minutes, respondents identify their own spiritual needs – whether it be a quest for purpose, peace, forgiveness, or an understanding about what happens after death, and the evangelist can then easily present Jesus as the fulfillment to that person’s specific stated need. Following the conference, Jomo exclaimed, “I am now equipped for impact!”
FMI provided each church represented at the conference with about 30 Snapshot packets. These can be used for thousands of gospel presentations over the next few years. Beyond the stunning photography, one of the most beautiful aspects about Snapshot is that it’s designed to be used by the young and old alike, so the whole church can be mobilized for evangelism. “One 10-year-old boy from our church now evangelizes easily,” explains Jomo. Within the first two weeks following the conference, the FMI-Kenya leadership team reported more than 500 people had placed their faith in Jesus Christ!
