Scripture Engagement

When a new programme starts it's often tempting to set it up as a Bible translation programme. Sometimes that's appropriate. In many cases, for a variety of reasons, it's not. This is because: It's a minority language People tend to be bi- or multi-lingual (at least if they live in towns, or have been educated) They're oral preference They're illiterate or semi-literate, or literate only in the language of wider communication They aren't yet Christian believers etc. If any or all of the above are true, then it's good to start with language development and Scripture engagement rather than full-blown Bible translation, where you translate whole books of the Bible, and aim for a full Bible or New Testament + Psalms or Panoramic Bible. Sometimes the only reason for doing the latter is the kudos of the team, which is not a good reason. We're aiming for transformed communities, not team kudos! The above flowchart shows the various stages. Note that the pro

I recently asked the Scripture Engagement team which of the above (see graphic) we do well and which not so well. Their answer? We do production well, publishing and distribution fairly well, promotion not so well, and engagement hardly at all. The fact is that if we are going to produce digital Scriptures, we need not only to publish and distribute them, but to promote them and see the intended audience engage well with them. Often, even those of us producing a lot of digital Scriptures, find ourselves on a kind of treadmill where we produce a product, then go straight onto the next, without thinking about these other steps. Make sure the products are being promoted on Social media (vk.ru, ok.ru, Instagram, Facebook... ) and that someone is following up on those who take a regular interest in them. If we get likes, re-shares and comments that's great! If people are commenting again and again that's even better! Testing is another good way of getting feedback, so make sure s

I feel a rant coming on, so beware... Is our goal the translation of the Holy Scriptures? Most of us would instinctively say, 'Yes!' But I have a question. If our actual goal is transformation of the lives of people in a community's through their engagement with Scripture a) how is it best to achieve that and b) what do we mean by Scripture? How to Achieve the Goal The best way of achieving the goal is for the community themselves to be in charge of their own transformation. Now, this means they are in charge of what format, what language, the scope of the work, and who carries it out. It might be that they need input from an external (from the same country, or region) consultant (or consultants), but the community can carry out their own work. If they're in an area that isn't predominantly Christian, then there are some additional challenges. How can people best be reached? How are they going to be discipled into salvation? Who can the team work with i.e. who is go

 In this age of temporary structures and temporary relationships it's good to know that our Lord does not ever leave us. The other day I was working on Joshua chapter 1 and was reminder how precious this verse is: No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 1.5 As the Israelites prepared to enter Canaan, with Joshua at the helm, they needed to know that Yahweh, they God they worshipped, was with them, and would never leave them. In the context of this passage it assures them of future victories in battle, as they took on the Canaanites. For us, we can be sure that whatever we have to face, the Lord will be with us.  There's a really good scene in the Netflix series Shtisel , where Ruchami is reassured by her fiance Hanina that he will never leave her. She had been worried that, just as her father left her mother (but later returned, cap in hand), Hanina would one day leav

Many people will be surprised to discover that the Bible contains curses, and that some of these are by God! Why would God do such a thing?  In most cases a curse is the removal of a blessing. God blesses us and says, 'But there are conditions to you keeping this blessing! If you disobey me in these things, and break those conditions, then I will remove the blessing (i.e. you will be cursed).' For example, in Gen 4 God warns Cain not to sin, but he goes ahead and sins anyway, by killing his own brother Abel. After that Cain is cursed 'away from the ground' i.e. he won't be able to farm the soil as an agriculturalist any more. That soil has soaked up Abel's blood. He doesn't deserve to live the life of a farmer. He is condemned to a life of travelling about in the land of 'wandering'. "10 The Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which

Integral mission, which leads to holistic transformation, can be defined as follows: Integral mission or holistic transformation is the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel. It is not simply that evangelism and social involvement are to be done alongside each other. Rather, in integral mission our proclamation has social consequences as we call people to love and repentance in all areas of life. And our social involvement has evangelistic consequences as we bear witness to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. Micah Declaration (2001) Prior to that the Lausanne covenant had said something similar: We affirm that God is both the Creator and the Judge of all men. We therefore should share his concern for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of men and women from every kind of oppression. Because men and women are made in the image of God, every person, regardless of race, religion, colour, culture, class, sex or age, has an intrinsic digni

'The book of Romans wasn't written by Luther. The book of Romans wasn't even written by Calvin. The book of Romans was written by Paul, and Paul was a Jew, and we Jews, don't like Gentiles!' Martin Goldsmith, All Nations Christian College, 1991-92. We are so used to reading Romans through the eyes of Luther and Calvin that we forget that the reason it was written was quite different from the issues those venerable theologians faced. The problem, from a Jewish perspective, is that the Gentiles were considered to be so impure as to be beyond the bounds of God's saving grace. They were the uncircumcised, sexually immoral, idolatrous, unclean people who couldn't possibly by part of God's saving plan. But God's plan did include them (Gen 12:1-3), and Isaiah, amongst others, prophesied that 'all nations' would be included in temple worship (Isa 56:6-8). In this he was correct. Jesus' resurrection and ascension changed everything. No longer was

One thing that sermons about the early believers at the end of Acts 2 frequently miss is that they were mostly Jews! Albeit many of them living outside Judea. The god-fearers among them (if there were any) were essentially converts to Judaism from the nations. Most of them were Jews who had lived outside Judea so long their mother tongue was Parthian or Arabic or Median (Persian) or whatever. One proof of the fact they were Jews is that they met daily in the temple courtyard, or colonnades, as well as in their homes: 'And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts' 2:46 The book of Acts shows the fulfilment of Jesus' own post-resurrection prophecy that the good news would be preached to the nations, starting in Jerusalem, then spreading out to all Judea, Samaria, and then to the non Semitic nations in the 'ends of the earth' (Acts 1.8). So when the Samaritans receive the Holy Sp

So, I had to mention the elephant in the room. Corona virus. It's actually being talked about a lot, so not really the elephant in the room, but anyway. One good thing that might come out of this enforced isolation, house-arrest, and stay-cation madness we're going through (not to mention the lack of loo roll), is that we are being forced how to teach online, work from home, and stay away from planes and airports. When we're over the hump of corona virus and our governments let us travel again, I wonder if we'll have learnt our lesson? We're in a global ecological crisis. It's no good just planting more trees to offset carbon emissions. We need to stop flying, and stop travelling long distances by train/car too. The more we can work out how to do things online, the better, as far as I can see. It's hard. It means extra work, and learning how to use all kinds of new computer programs, but in the end it might just pay off. In Greta Thunberg's language

There are four basic stages to digital engagement: P roduction of materials P ublishing of those materials we've produced P romotion of the published materials P articipation of the audience We are often very good at producing material, and publishing it. But what about the next two Ps - Promotion and Participation? These need a little more work. Promotion It's good to promote our materials. Usually we put them out there on the web, YouTube, and on other types of social media, and hope for the best. How can we promote them? One way is to advertise. This means paying money, but perhaps not as much as you think! Facebook adverts are very effective, can be targeted to a predefined audience, and might even lead to some users re-posting your posts, or commenting on them! Google ads are also very effective, though more costly. Image by Photo Mix from Pixabay It's a good idea not to over-promote, as this can be counter-effective. You want to create posts t

When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” Mrk 11:15-17 (NLT) What made Jesus so angry when he saw people selling pigeons and such like in the court of the Gentile nations? It was because this was the part of the temple set aside for all nations (other than Jews), and they were turning into a Jewish market-place, so making it impossible for those from the nations to pray. 'This notice indicates that Jesus expelled the merchants from the Court of the Gentiles in order to safeguard rights and privileges sanctioned by God. The use of the forecourt as an open market effectually prevented

Are you doing dry January? Or vegan January? Or are you fasting? Perhaps your church or mission is organising a fast or encouraging supporters to fast at this time of year. It seems natural, after so much feasting, to begin fasting. Is this biblical? The only concern I have is that Jesus seems to teach that fasting should be done in secret: "When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Mat 6:16-18 So, although fasting is a good thing, and I thoroughly encourage it, group fasting needs to be organised very carefully. Any encouragement to fast should be seen as optional, and private. It's better not to ask p