If you are reading this, it is because you are online, connected, reading, and immersed in the digital world. You may expect to be able to access any institution online: governments, companies, and professionals now have a digital presence.
This transformation makes it worth asking some questions about the online presence of your Adventist institution. Is your institution reachable on the web? Does it have active social profiles? Is there enough information easily accessible online for people who want to visit your school or register their child? Do your social media profiles and your profile on Google maps include links to your website and to all of your social media accounts? Does your school have or use an official hashtag?
For some years, I have served as a digital counselor in my daughter’s school. I connected college students in a computer class to the elementary school to update the website. Now it is clean and smooth, with logical sections and easy access to the school’s location, photos, links, and more. Every school needs a person or a team who can help with keeping the school’s online presence active and up to date.
Many teachers became proficient during the Covid-19 pandemic in using digital tools for education. Now every teacher has the opportunity to actively share their knowledge and experiences in the classroom with colleagues in other places. We could even work together so that SDA teachers could share their classes with students in other schools. For example, it would be wonderful for a teacher in England to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) for students in Mexico! Even regularly uploading our lessons on YouTube can help toward this goal.
If we want to reach more people, we must be reachable for others. If someone is looking for you online and you do not have social media accounts, hashtags, and an updated, easy to use website, you are making it harder for them to connect with you.
For example, at a recent week of prayer at my daughter’s school, I took some pictures and shared them on Instagram. I wanted to connect them with the pastor who gave the sermons, but he did not have an active Instagram account, so an opportunity to connect and reach more people was lost. We must use the free resources we have to collaborate and spread our message on social media. The resources that we need in order to share are just a few clicks away.
I am thankful to God for the many digital contributors who are preaching the gospel in the digital world by filling social media feeds with Bible verses, calligraphy, photos, and other inspirational content. The Twitter accounts for Erton Kohler, Alejandro Bullon, Adventist Church, Ellen White Estate, and Adventist News are excellent examples of this type of sharing. I am hopeful that more SDA educators will join this trend to connect people with our schools and to spread the good news to an ever-growing audience.
