Flora’s story.
Just as my co-worker was closing his laptop, Flora's chat message caught his eye. Her message read, "Hey, I would want to know more of Jesus..."

Singapore's churches had rented out the National Stadium, with a capacity of 50,000 people, for a series of events called the Celebration of Hope. Broadcasting the event online was a strategy we helped pitch to event organizers and helped make a reality.

"Pearl, can you take Flora?" my teammate asked a fellow online responder. "Sure," smiled Pearl as she sent a message back to Flora and then quickly headed to catch the last subway train home, continuing to chat with Flora on her mobile device.

The next morning, checking the messages, we were thrilled to learn that Flora and Pearl had chatted online until 2:30 am when Pearl helped Flora commit her life to Christ. Flora had watched the event online. God's Spirit was working and had used Pearl to answer Flora's questions and calm her fears. Praise God!

Click here to start personal relationship with Jesus right now

Cru has approximately 72 million users that come into contact with our websites around the world each year– that’s 200,000 people every day that we have the opportunity to interact with and guide on their spiritual journey!
We are asking this question:  How can we give personalized spiritual growth experiences that are tailored to our online visitor’s needs and interests? 
Because:
Every number has a name
Every name has a story 
Every story matters to God
Therefore, we are working hard to get the right content to the right person at the right time, by using the right channel.
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In October, I helped launch the first in a series of webinars that train and equip our global staff in digital missions. The first webinar was about the best use of analytics in ministry.  We had 82 leaders who participated, representing just about every region of the world. I invited three panelists from Cru’s leading experts in the field of analytics to share their best practices and insight. 

In the Bible, we often see examples of Jesus taking time to know the people he was ministering to.  Paul also speaks in 1 Cor 9:20, how his message was framed strategically based on his audiences, for example, for the Jews, the Greeks and others. 

We identify and group our online users according to four categories that basically boils down to their level (or scale) of belief. Those categories are:
Unaware: People who don’t know Jesus Christ.
Curios: People who are asking questions and are exploring about Jesus 
Follower: People who follow Jesus Christ 
Guide: People who are actively sharing their faith and participating in the Great Commission. 

Pray for wisdom as we try and help each of the people in these categories take their next step in their spiritual journeys.

What's your experience in using analytics for ministry? ​