Online Missionary Training Manual

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Online Missionary Training Manual
Global Media OutreachMinistry Response Center
Equipping the saints for the work of the
ministry
Ephesians 412
Rev 5-18-07
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Table of Contents

• Introduction and philosophy of GMO . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . . . 3-6
• Your Role as an Online Missionary, Code of Ethics
  . . . . . 7-10
• Getting Started with ARC . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-14
• Reply and Send e-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-21
• Response Principles and Closing Thoughts . . . .
  . . . . . . . 22-24
• Appendix 1 Creating Personal Templates . . . . .
  . . . . . . . 25-31
• Appendix 2 GMO Security Policy . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . . . . 32-34

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Vision
Global Media Outreach envisionsA world where
every man, woman and child has multiple
opportunities to hear or see the gospel in their
native language.
Your role? Connect with spiritually seeking
people and lead them in the next step of growth
in their new faith. Your personal touch upon
their lives helps to fulfill the Great Commission
by making disciples of all nations.
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Our Mission

• Share Christ with spiritually hungry people
  everywhere
• Provide
• Care
• Connection
• Community
• How?
• Through trained Online Missionaries
• Using leading-edge technology
• Highlighting quality Christian resources online
• Our goal To win, connect, build and send

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Results in Kingdom Terms
Presenting the Gospel to someone God loves,
somewhere in the world
every 2-3 seconds !

• Internet Usage
• 1 billion users of the Internet
• 9 million spiritual searches daily
• 1 million new users every day
• 191 countries

• GMO annual Results
• Over 10 million visitors
• 100,000 e-mails submitted to our Online
  Missionaries
• 1,000,000 indicated decisions for Christ

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Indicated first-time decisions or recommitments
to Christ

• 3,000 every day
• 125 every hour
• 1 person every 30 seconds

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Your Role as a Online Missionary

• Pray . . .
• Pray for the effectiveness of the Gospel
  presentations.
• Pray for the people viewing them.
• Pray for their decisions and response back to
  you.
• Pray for Gods wisdom and discernment as you
  respond.
• Promptly respond to Visitors. Our goal is to
  respond to each person within 24-48 hours.
• Focus on encouraging each Visitor.
• Address each Visitors question or comment to the
  best of your ability.

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Your Role (contd.)

• Establish relationships through personal
  correspondence.
• Encourage the Visitor to take the next spiritual
  step salvation decision, recommitment, church
  or discipleship commitment.
• Ask open-ended questions that encourage the
  visitor to write back.
• Answer their questions.
• Help Connect them to the local church.
• Lead them through the progressive steps of
  discipleship.
• Equip and Motivate them towards sharing their
  faith.

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GMO Code of Ethics

• As a servant of Christ ministering on the
  Internet, I agree to uphold the following
  standards of conduct
• I respect the privacy of the people I correspond
  with.
• I do not visit web sites that would compromise my
  walk with the Lord and my testimony.
• I take care that my communication always reflects
  Christ in my life.
• As a steward of my time, I commit to balancing my
  hours online with the rest of life's priorities.
  I recognize that my role as an Online Missionary
  is an unpaid volunteer position.

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As an Online Missionary

• You are a chosen tool and instrument of God, and
  have a vital role in the Great Commission.
• As an ambassador of Christ, make the most of
  every contact with a Visitor.
• Remember that each Visitor is a real person,
  highly valued by God, with a real need or
  question.
• Check your heart attitude before you read or
  reply to a Visitor. Seek the Holy Spirits
  guidance.

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Lets Get Started!
Go to www.gmovolunteers.com to see the login
page. Enter your username (penname) and
password, then hit Submit.
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Missionary Center (www.gmovolunteeers.com)
This is the front door for GMO Online
Missionaries, and the gateway to resources that
will make you as effective as possible.
Click here to sign in to ARC. The pen name and
password you entered at the Login screen are
remembered, and you wont have to re-enter them.
Please take some time to explore this site and
find the many great tools and resources. Also, if
you know of something you think we should add,
please make us aware of it.
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ARC-Mail Alert
The ARC-Mail Alert window is your personal
mailbox. Bulletin lt1 of 11gt shows how many
e-mails are in your in-box, and which number this
message is. Click on right or left arrows to
cycle through the messages. The first few lines
of the Visitors question or comment appears
here. If there is no comment, header information
appears instead.
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ARC-Mail Alert (contd.)
The ARC-Mail Alert screen contains these other
important items
List View button clicking on this will
show a preview of all the messages in your box.
New envelope icon Indicates a message youve
not yet responded to. Opened envelope icon
shows that this is a return message from a
visitor who has already been corresponded with by
you or another Online Missionary.
To see the full content of this e-mail and get
ready to reply, click anywhere on the blue
underlined text. This brings up the Preview
screen.
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ARC-Mail Preview

This screen shows the entire message from the
Visitor, including personal information and what
spiritual decision was indicated. From here you
can Reply, look at History (past
correspondences), Reassign (pg. 21), or go
Back. Most important is the Comment/ Question
section at bottom. Make sure to address the
comment or question when you reply. When youve
looked at all that info and are ready to respond,
hit the Reply button.

You can create up to 12 of your own personalized
responses (see Appendix 1 on pages 25-31).
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ARC-Mail Reply

• Once you hit the Reply button, the two-part
  ARC-Mail Reply screen appears. The top part, your
  reply, will pre-populate with a standard letter
  (template), based on the visitors spiritual
  decision (Received Christ, Re-committed, Still
  have questions). The bottom part shows the
  original message for your reference only.

You can edit the subject line. You might put
From 4stepstoGod.com for example. Standard
windows-based editing tools are available,
including cut, copy and paste, and spell
check. Each window has its own scroll bars so you
can see the entire message. Now its time for you
to make it personal.
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ARC-Mail Reply (contd.)
Note that the pre-populated template does not
address the Visitors comment or question. That
is up to you. Be careful not to hit the Back
button midway through your response (you will
lose it). Use the Save button instead to save
your reply in progress, along with Visitors
history, in a text file.
When youve personalized your reply, answered the
Visitors questions, checked your reply for
completeness and prayed for the Visitor, hit Send.
The buttons at bottom bring up online resources
you may find useful in answering the Visitor
(yours may look different). Please click on these
buttons to get familiar with these resources.
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Another Contact

• When you have answered all your e-mails, the
  ARC-Mail Alert screen will now look like this.
• If you have the time and want to respond to some
  more Visitors, click the Another Contact button,
  which brings one additional new e-mail to your
  mail box.
• The Available Contacts number shows how many
  Additional Contacts are available to you today.
  If the number of Visitors who are waiting for
  responses increases, your Community Leader may
  increase this number for you.
• My Results gives a running total of how many
  Visitors you have written to, and how many have
  written back to you.

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Prior Contacts
Again, in the ARC-Mail Alert window To look up
previous messages youve sent, click
Prior Contacts. This button allows you to search
or scan through previous e-mails, maybe to
re-connect with a Visitor who hasnt written back
to you.
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Prior Contacts (contd.)
Clicking on a number will list all the e-mails
youve sent and received in that number of
days. You can also search by key words or phrases
by typing in this box. Click on any underlined
message to re-open and respond if needed.
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Reassign
Clicking the Reassign button will open the window
below. This feature allows you to forward
difficult emails to other volunteers who are
equipped to handle them.

• Type the reason you are forwarding the e-mail in
  the blue area
• 2) Choose the appropriate radio button below
  (yours may be different)

3) Finally, click the Reassign button to send.
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Response Principles

• Remember, the template is only a guide and not a
  complete response. Your personalized comments are
  vital to connecting with the Visitor.
• Please take note of the Visitors
  Comment/Question, and respond appropriately by
  editing and/or inserting your answers into the
  template.
• When finished, re-read your message to make sure
  you have shared all you wanted, and have used a
  personal tone that shows real concern for the
  needs of the Visitor.
• Before sending, pray for Gods sovereign hand to
  be upon the Visitor, and that they will
  understand their identity in Christ. Pray as well
  that they will connect with a local church and
  grow in their faith.
• Some Online Missionaries have asked to receive
  only e-mails from someone of their same gender.
  Our system does not currently allow for this.
  Please respond to any Visitor who writes in. If
  the Visitor brings up a sensitive or
  inappropriate topic, please Reassign, and your
  Community Leader will send to an Online
  Missionary of the appropriate gender.

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Closing Thoughts

• Thank you for partnering with us and for your
  faithfulness!
• Please check out our evangelistic web sites at
  www.GlobalMediaOutreach.com.
• Each dollar contributed to GMO shares the Gospel
  with three people around the world. Should the
  Lord lead you to help support this ministry on a
  monthly basis, your gifts are greatly appreciated
  and can be made via the Giving Opportunity tab on
  our website http//www.globalmediaoutreach.com/get
  _involved/donate.html.
• We are here to support you. If you need help,
  contact us at https//www.gmovolunteers.com/eng/su
  pport/feedback.html.
• We need a growing staff of Online Missionaries!
  Share the vision, and send them to our website at
  www.GlobalMediaOutreach.com.

May God richly bless you in the days ahead as
you continue serving the Savior.
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Contact
Contact us at https//www.gmovolunteers.com/eng/su
pport/feedback.html
16330 Los Gatos Blvd Los Gatos, CA
95032 408.358.3470
http//www.GlobalMediaOutreach.com
Rev 5-18-2007
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Appendix 1Creating Personal Templates
You can create personal templates (or letters to)
replace the standard ones, or to address specific
situations or needs (marital problems, eating
disorders etc.), or to share your own story.
First, make sure the documents you want to use
are saved as text files. You can do this in
Microsoft Word by opening a document, selecting
Save As from the File menu and changing the
Save as type to Text Only. Note -- The
name of the document is the name that will appear
on the reply button you create. There is a text
limit, so keep the document name short.
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Creating Personal Templates (contd.)
Here is the step-by-step process to set up your
own reply buttons
Step 1 Select a radio button between 1 and 12.
Well discuss the 0 button later.
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Creating Personal Templates (contd.)
Step 2a Click the Browse button. Step 2b
-- Locate the document you want to load as your
response letter. Lets select Trinity for our
example. Double-click on the Trinity document, or
single-click and hit the Open button.
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Creating Personal Templates (contd.)
Step 3 Click the Load button. The document
will now appear in the ARC-Mail Reply
screen. Note -- To verify that the button was
created correctly, simply click the red X box in
the upper right corner of the screen and then
re-open the email.
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Creating Personal Templates (contd.)
The Trinity reply button should now appear in
your ARC-Mail Preview screen.
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Creating Personal Templates (contd.)

• To change or delete a reply button
• Select the radio button that corresponds with the
  reply button (Trinity is radio button 1).
• Click Load (this will overwrite the Trinity
  message with blank content)
• Close the screen by clicking the red X box in the
  upper right corner of the screen.
• Re-open the e-mail, and the button should be
  gone.
• Repeat steps 1 thru 3 (previous screens) to
  create a new button.

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Creating Personal Templates (contd.)

• Using the 0 button
• The zero button allows you to access documents on
  your computer which are not included in the 12
  preset buttons.
• Select the 0 radio button.
• Click the Browse button.
• Locate the text document you want to use, and
  click the Open button.
• Click Load, and your text will appear in the
  ARC-Mail Reply screen.

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Appendix 2GMO Security Policy
The Internet reaches people in every part of the
globe. Many people write to us from sensitive
places, ranging from well-known Muslim areas in
the Middle East and North Africa, to places that
we might not recognize as sensitive (China,
Pakistan and Bangladesh to name just a few). See
the list of sensitive countries on page 34. To
keep from endangering our Campus Crusade staff or
local believers in these areas, it is of utmost
importance that we observe the following security
precautions when corresponding with anyone, but
especially those in predominantly Muslim or Hindu
countries Never tell anyone in a sensitive
country that we have Campus Crusade workers in
their country. Never give your full name or
personal contact info, nor contact information
for local CCC staff, or even non-CCC Christians,
to someone who sends us an e-mail.
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GMO Security Policy (contd.)

• Never promise any kind of physical or material
  aid. Tell them that we are solely an online
  ministry sharing information on how to know God
  better.
• Since the term Missionary is often viewed in
  negative light in many Muslim communities, Do Not
  use the term or describe yourself as an Online
  Missionary.
• If you hear from someone who says they are in
  danger of any kind, and especially religious
  persecution, DO NOT RESPOND. Reassign the message
  to your Community Leader. The majority of these
  danger messages have been found to be false.
• If you hear from someone who says that they
  want to get in contact with someone locally,
  again, Reassign this response to your Community
  Leader, who will pass this contact to the
  appropriate people. Any legitimate needs will be
  taken care of at that level.
• See list of Sensitive Countries on following
  page. Note Inclusion of a country on this list
  does NOT indicate presence of a Campus Crusade
  ministry there.

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Sensitive Countries
North Africa Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocc
o Sudan Tunisia Europe Albania Bulgaria Macedonia
Russia Serbia
Central Asia Afghanistan Azerbaijan Kazakhstan Kyr
gyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan
Asia Bangladesh Cambodia China Indonesia Laos Mal
aysia Myanmar Nepal North Korea Pakistan Vietnam

Middle East Armenia Bahrain Iran Iraq Jordan Kuwai
t Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi
Arabia Syria Turkey United Arab Emirates
(UAE) Yemen