More than 100 digital missionaries arrive in Costa Rica to transform networks into spaces of encounter and faith

From August 18 to 22, Costa Rica will host more than 100 digital missionaries from 20 countries in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, brought together by Acts 29 to reflect on new paths for evangelization in the digital world. This experience aims to renew evangelization on the internet through fellowship, connection, and the centrality of Christ.

The opening of this sixth edition posed the challenge of understanding the internet as a true mission field, where the Church can reach out to people, listen to them, and build community. With this in mind, the invitation from Pope Francis to “be a Good Samaritan” on social media was revisited.

The organizers view this event as an opportunity to strengthen ties among evangelizers and explore new ways of carrying out a creative, accessible, and community-oriented digital mission.

The event began with a prayer and blessing for the participants, presided over by Monsignor Daniel Francisco Blanco, coordinator of the CELAM Center for Communication Council, and led by the ministry “Jesus Christ Playing and Singing.” The moment highlighted joy as an expression of the mission and the ability of networks to foster encounters that can transform people’s lives.

Father José Juan Montalvo, known as Padre Borre, emphasized the communal nature of Acts 29 and noted that its purpose goes beyond simply bringing together digital evangelists. “Acts 29 is about being and doing the Church,” he stated, inviting everyone to put their various talents at the service of a common mission, without rivalries or individual grandstanding.

The priest also highlighted the variety of experiences, charisms, and abilities present at the gathering, which he considered one of its main strengths. “Acts is like a treasure chest full of riches,” he said.

The reflection also addressed the challenge of communicating the faith authentically in the digital environment. For Father Borre, the mission cannot be reduced to creating engaging content, because the message gains strength when it is backed by life. “The most valuable content that can be shared is the witness of a community that knows how to love one another,” he said..

The digital mission also faces the risk of placing too much emphasis on one’s own image, followers, views, or recognition. In the face of these temptations, the proposal is that the gifts we have received should not become a source of competition, but rather tools for serving others and building community.

The gathering concluded its first day at the altar with the Eucharist presided over by Monsignor Daniel Francisco Blanco Méndez, who issued a warning directed especially at those who evangelize in the digital world: the mission loses its purpose when the messenger ends up taking the place of the message.

The auxiliary bishop of San José de Costa Rica also conveyed the message of the readings to the realm of the digital mission and posed a concrete challenge: to prevent what should serve the Gospel from taking its place. The image itself, followers, reactions, recognition, and comparison with other evangelizers can become obstacles when they displace Christ from the center.

The prelate invited digital missionaries to discern between visibility and true evangelizing fruitfulness. Technology can help spread the Gospel, he said, but it must not become the ultimate criterion. “An algorithm is not the Holy Spirit; virality is not apostolic fruitfulness; popularity is not holiness.”

Monsignor Blanco noted that digital evangelization achieves its true purpose when it leads to an encounter with Christ and a concrete experience of the Church. For this reason, he called for fostering processes that lead from social media to prayer, the sacraments, community life, formation, and service.

In closing, he encouraged the participants to build bridges from the digital world to the parish and community life, fostering processes that lead from an initial curiosity on the internet to guidance, formation, and a concrete experience of faith.

With this perspective in mind, Acts 29 is committed to digital evangelization that goes beyond the screen and fosters encounters, connections, and journeys of faith. It is a mission centered on Christ and, in the words of Father Borre, “one that we all carry out and are all a part of.”