The groups divided into 3 tables, with around 4-5 papers per table. The prompts below were divided amongst the tables. Delegates were asked to return to the newspaper(s) and look for a story which fits the prompt: interpretation of the prompt is up to you; feel free to discuss; decide how you pray about it. After praying stories are posted on the wall for all groups to see.
- “How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number-living things both large and small. (Psalm 104:24-25)
- John 17:15: My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one
- A story to do with “Social Media” (positive or negative)
- A story that relates to Social Activism (positive or negative)
- A positive message to take from a story that is presented negatively
- An “ending”
- A “beginning”
- A ‘global’ story
- Mark 14:38: Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
- A ‘local’ story
- For a story of ‘hope’
- Evidence of God’s blessing
- A situation that looks as though it is ‘beyond hope’
- Matthew 5:44: But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you
- Find an image that really ‘speaks’
- A story that relates to a friend
- Numbers 25:12: Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him.
- A date in history that has modern day resonance
- A story related to “being creative”
- Genesis 4:9: Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
- A story of community
- A story of healing
- A story of inclusion
- A story of exclusion
- A story of “religion”
- An image of “hope”
Dr Bex Lewis is passionate about helping people engage with the digital world in a positive way, where she has more than 20 years’ experience. She is Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University and Visiting Research Fellow at St John’s College, Durham University, with a particular interest in digital culture, persuasion and attitudinal change, especially how this affects the third sector, including faith organisations, and, after her breast cancer diagnosis in 2017, has started to research social media and cancer. Trained as a mass communications historian, she has written the original history of the poster Keep Calm and Carry On: The Truth Behind the Poster (Imperial War Museum, 2017), drawing upon her PhD research. She is Director of social media consultancy Digital Fingerprint, and author of Raising Children in a Digital Age: Enjoying the Best, Avoiding the Worst (Lion Hudson, 2014; second edition in process) as well as a number of book chapters, and regularly judges digital awards. She has a strong media presence, with her expertise featured in a wide range of publications and programmes, including national, international and specialist TV, radio and press, and can be found all over social media, typically as @drbexl.