Lausanne World Pulse – Tea for China: Write Short Stories for God with ABC111.net
By John Doe
ABC111.net and Trans World Radio-Asia Seeks to Help Thousands of Visitors
Many visitors to the ABC111.net website need help with their English. Below are only a few examples of the needs TWR-Asia is facing:
“Today I was scolded by my private English tutor. She said I did not pay serious attention to her. I often get the wrong answers. I either can’t remember or can’t get it right. I see so many people asking you questions in English. I admire them so much and wish I could do it. And my basic oral English is such a mess. I don’t know where to start.”
“I like your website very much, not only you can provide some good English stories, you also give us the chance to listen English stories. And your stories are not very hard to understand; I think I can improve my English listening across your website. I support you forever; I pray you will make the website very well in the future. If I make some mistakes, please forgive me and teach me how to use them correctly.”
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“Knowing English is absolutely critical in a company, communicating with foreign colleges, sending emails, making reports……we have to use English every day. But my poor English spelling always make me embarrassed.”
I really looked forward to meeting her. After all, I had heard so much about her. However, my first encounter with the young lady did not live up to my expectations. She was tentative at first, gazing at me with big, round eyes under long eyelashes that looked like Chinese fans. Soon, the corners of her mouth dropped and a torrent of tears followed. I thought she needed some room to grow and mature and I did not press the issue. A year later we met again and she was so upset at seeing me that she greeted me with a hostile stare and a bloodcurdling cry. I had no idea what I had done.
I talked with someone she trusted and was told she had a dislike for a certain part of my face. “I can fix that!” I thought, and proceeded directly into the bathroom. A few minutes later I emerged with a new look and walked cautiously toward her. She studied my face and decided that this version was more agreeable. A few minutes later I was holding her in my arms. My two-year-old niece no longer had to look at my offending moustache!
To reach your target audience, you have to look at things from their perspective. Just as you probably enjoyed the story above, most audiences love stories. Trans World Radio (TWR)-Asia did an online poll which showed that more than ninety percent of the respondents said they liked stories. Movies, television dramas and books are attracting large audiences because people love a good story.
And it is not just modern media that uses narrative to hold its audience’s interest. A large portion of the Old Testament comprises accounts of God’s dealings with his people. And these accounts are often filled with story. For instance, the prophet Nathan used a story to awaken David’s own sense of justice, which screamed out to him about his own sin (2 Samuel 12). Jesus told stories to teach and illustrate his points as well, often letting the stories sink in without giving explanations.
Even the five-year-olds in my Sunday School class, known for their short attention spans, become totally enthralled in a well-told story. A compelling story draws great interest and is an effective tool to reach a target audience. Like those five-year-olds, Internet users have short attention spans–so short that they are measured not in minutes, but in seconds. A BBC news report states that most online viewers spend less than sixty seconds at an average website.1
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Teacher John Doe (pseudonym) leads a small team at Trans World Radio-Asia to minister to Chinese youth through the Internet. He is a trained engineer who also enjoys creative arts. He lives in Hong Kong. |