By Emily Wiebe
Above, Albina Nikitina and Stu Hunnable prepare to ask visitors to the Square One booth how they would share the Gospel. Below, Shoaib Ebadi (seated, far right) participates in a panel at a break-out session, Rein Cabalquinto at the booth, and Ingrid Koss shares about Square One's mission with a Missionfest attendee. Not shown, but also representing Square One: Eric Boorman and Emily Wiebe.
At Missionfest Manitoba (February 3-5), Square One staff enjoyed a successful weekend of greeting visitors and raising awareness of our mission in Manitoba’s Christian community. Meanwhile, Executive Director Shoaib Ebadi was part of a panel discussing “Church for Newcomers to Canada” during one of the weekend’s breakout sessions.
Visitors to the Square One booth were asked the question “How would YOU tell the story of Jesus?”. We aimed to direct visitors to the heart of our mission – equipping Christian storytellers to tell people about Christ through media – and to invite them to think about the passions God has given them.
If you were to tell people about Jesus, who would your audience be? What would you say? How would you do it – through radio? Television? A podcast?
It’s safe to say that many visitors did not have a ready answer to those questions. Others, however, knew exactly who their audience would be and how they would speak to them about Christ.
· A woman from Nigeria who has a passion for African immigrants to Canada.
· A young man who wants to help youth through the struggles of high school.
· An Anishinaabe woman who dreams of her people hearing the Gospel in their own language.
Fostering conversations like these is what makes us so excited to be at Missionfest.
Then, for the first time, we were also able to invite booth visitors to an Open House we hosted at our studios the following weekend. We were thrilled to be able to open our doors on Saturday, February 11, to those who wanted to learn exactly how our programs come to life. Several faces from Missionfest showed up at the Open House and were able to see the Square One studios and learn from our staff first-hand.
At Square One, we are always looking for new, creative and inspiring ways to tell people the Good News. Missionfest and the Open House are great opportunities to develop new ideas. We can’t wait to see how the seeds we have planted grow and flourish in the minds of those who visited us, and what partnerships might one day evolve.
