The practices
The BLESS practices, done digitally
Evangelism is the last letter, not the first.
Begin with prayer. Listen. Eat. Serve. Share your story. Five ordinary practices that turn an ordinary believer into a missionary where they already are — and four of the five work exactly the same on a screen.
The practices are Dave and Jon Ferguson's. The digital translation is from Sharing Jesus Online, which Dave Ferguson wrote the foreword for.
Why it is ordered this way
The evangelism is at the end on purpose
Most evangelism training starts with the message and works backwards to the relationship. BLESS does the opposite: four practices that build real relational trust, and only then the story. That ordering is the whole design — it is why people who would never call themselves evangelists can do it.
“so I don’t have to open
with a gospel presentation?”
No. You open by praying for someone and noticing what they said.
01 · To B.L.E.S.S., Always Begin in Prayer
Begin with prayer
Before you post anything, pray for the people you are about to be among.
Prayer is the one practice that does not change between a street and a server. It works the same in physical space, on social media, in a game lobby and in virtual reality, because it is not a technique — it invites the Holy Spirit to lead the conversation, and it takes you out of the driver's seat.
It removes ego. The job of a digital missionary is not to construct a convincing presentation; it is to assist the Spirit in connecting with people. If the success of evangelism does not rest on your ability, there is no reason to start anywhere but humbly.
Doing it digitally
- Pray by name for the people in the room you are already in
- Pray for the DMs, the comment threads and the chats — not just the sermon
- Keep praying through the other four practices; B is not a step you leave behind
02 · To B.L.E.S.S., Move from Social to Active Listening
Listen
Move from social listening to active listening — from monitoring to caring.
When people know you care about them, it builds trust, and online the way you show care is by actually listening to what people say about their own lives. Social listening notices what is being said; active listening notices a person and stays with them.
This is where most church social media fails. Monitoring mentions is a marketing activity. Noticing that someone posted something heavy at 1am, and replying like a human being, is a ministry one.
Doing it digitally
- Keep a spiritual antenna up in the spaces you already inhabit
- Watch for the anonymous post — people say the true thing when they feel unseen
- Move the conversation where they are comfortable: comment, then DM, then text
04 · To B.L.E.S.S., Serve as Christ Served Us
Serve
Stop asking what you cannot do from here and start asking what you can.
When someone expresses a need online, the reflex is “there is not much I can do, I am not there.” That reflex is the thing to kill. It is a failure of imagination rather than a limitation of the medium, and it stops the practice before it starts.
Meals get delivered. Bills get paid. Rides get arranged. Jobs get found. A person on the other side of a screen has real needs that other people, including people near them, can meet — and you are the one who knows.
Doing it digitally
- Send the thing that meets the actual need — food, a gift card, a connection
- Use what you can see: local hashtags, community groups, who is nearby
- Keep praying and listening while you serve; the practices run together, not in sequence
The source
Where this comes from
B.L.E.S.S. is Dave Ferguson and Jon Ferguson's framework, from their book of the same name — 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World, written for physical space.
Sharing Jesus Online, by Dr. John Harris and Jeff Reed, takes those practices into digital space chapter by chapter. Dave Ferguson wrote its foreword, and the practices are the spine of the book rather than a borrowed illustration. The five section headings above are its chapter titles.
“Sharing Jesus Online is a brilliantly written handbook for digital missionaries, filled with helpful digital tools shared by two courageous digital apostolic pioneers.”
“Their message is clear: becoming a digital missionary is achievable for every Christian, and the key is to build authentic and trusting relationships.”
This page summarises the practices; it does not reproduce the book. If you want the full treatment — the stories, the biblical work, and the “where do you go from here” — read it.
Train ten people to do this.
BLESS is what the evangelism edge looks like at the level of one person. The guide turns it into a four-week plan for a church — ten people, one room each, no budget.