In Central Mexico, hundreds connect on social media to share about Jesus

More than 1,000 young people gathered at the Central Adventist Church in Mexico City, Mexico, Feb. 11, 2017, and vowed to take part in the youth initiative to invite five of their non-Adventist friends to learn about Jesus on social media. Image by Smirna López

February 17, 2017 | Mexico City, Mexico | Banni Fuentes/IAD Staff

Hundreds of Adventist young people in Central Mexico took to their mobile devices to share about Jesus during a live event held at the Adventist Central Church in Mexico City, on Feb. 11, 2017. More than 1,000 youth met with church leaders during a special program on Facebook Live which was viewed across the seven states comprising the Central Mexican Union, or region.

Pastor Francisco Brígido, youth ministries director for Central Mexico speaks to some 5,000 young people across seven states during the live program. The initiative seeks to involve young people in the mission of sharing the gospel through social media. Image by Smirna López

Themed “Conectados en Fe,” or Connected in Faith, the program consisted of young people sharing faith-based videos, images, and audio messages to five of their non-Adventist friends related to the “Fe de Jesus 2.0” or the Faith of Jesus 2.0 online Bible study course. The “Fe de Jesús 2.0” is an online Bible study course by Adventist Evangelist Alejandro Bullón and produced by Nuevo Tiempo in the South American Division.

The youth of this century—the millennials and generation Xers–on average have direct contact with more than 100 persons, said Pastor Francisco Brigido, youth ministries director for the church in Central Mexico. “We want to involve our young people in the mission of sharing the love of God with their friends.”

Brígido said the goal it’s 5,000 Adventist young people across its 376 congregations in the territory reach at least five friends and encourage them to enroll in the online Bible course starting March 1. That could add to an expected 25,000 Facebook users studying the “Fe de Jesús 2.0” course.

Young people only need to invest four minutes daily sharing content–two minutes in the morning and two minutes in the afternoon, organizers said. That time will be used by young people to also connect with their friends and answer any questions they might have on the course, as well as inviting them to youth activities at their local church.

So far, 1,645 persons have enrolled in the Bible course and leaders expect that by Feb. 28 the rest of the projected people enroll.

“It is very important that the personal follow-up of each friend enrolled and prayer must be constant during the execution of this evangelistic plan,” said Enoc Ramírez, youth ministries director in the Metropolitan Conference as he spoke during the live transmission.

Pastor Francisco Brígido (right) stands with young people who took part of the live program last Saturday. Image by Smirna López

Each young person is expected to lead at least one of their five friends to accept Jesus through baptism.

Uriel Jurado is one of the young people who invited five of his friends to take part in the initiative. “This is my life, here in my hands, here on my cellphone,” said Jurado. “When I learned about the plan I knew that it was time to share Jesus with friends I care about and talking about faith had been complicated,” said Jurado, who is the president of a Supporting ministry for Adventist professionals and university students in Mexico City. “Using a tool like Facebook makes our intention of sharing the love of God be less traditional,” Jurado added.

Church leaders are happy with the live launch of the program which showed 15,000 shares and has reached more than 140,000 people just hours after the live event.

For more than a year the youth ministries department has increased contact through their four accounts on Facebook Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and will continue to cone t with the young people across the region, said Brígido. The program was part of the Inter-American Division’s youth ministries department NOW initiative of —fostering a network of online witnesses among the young people in the church to reach others with the love of Jesus.

Pastor Brígido said a second similar live program will open for July 22-31, where they will seek to enroll more to study the online course and review the results and follow-up of last week’s event.

To learn more about the “Conectados en Fe” program, visit ConectadosEnFe

To learn more about youth initiatives and activities at the Central Mexican Union territory, visit jovenesumc