Scripture Engagement

Most of us think of the Vikings as a pretty scary lot, and the recent BBC TV series 'The Last Kingdom' has done little to disillusion us on that front. One thing brought out by the series is the difference between Alfred, a Christian, and the Vikings, who are called pagans by the Saxon believers. The Vikings didn't become Christians until the mid-11th century, and many of their beliefs and customs remain with us today. For instance Wednesday is from  Woden's day , Thursday is from Thor's day . and so on. Once they had converted to Christianity some relics of their old religion remained: 'The pagan "Yuletide" became Christmas, but Scandinavians still use the word "Jul" for Christmas. The fertility rites used in spring to ensure good harvests were substituted by blessings from the Christian priests, but for hundreds of years many farmers also added some of the old rites just to be sure. Each Viking farm had its own "farm-god" ...

A bunch of us just completed an oral storying workshop. I was involved as both student and teacher, and loved it! Many missions are involved in oral storying, or chronological bible storying, as it is a great way of taking oral groups through the message of the Bible from beginning to end, with lots of stories that communicate tonnes to them, perhaps more than they do to those of us from mainly literate societies. Watch the above video to find out more about why oral communities respond so well to storying approaches. Here are some obvious advantages: People don't need to be able to read and write The stories are crafted orally, without pen and paper, so they tend to be much more natural than a written translation The stories are told in fellowship groups, which often turn into churches The method is designed to be reproducible - easily replicated by others It's hard for the authorities to repress an internal message (no books or media are needed, as people learn t...

http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/news/dr-gooders-6-top-tips-for-reading-the-bible/ is a good place to start if you want to get stuck into the Bible. On top of that a few words of my own: Memorising a Bible verse is a good way of getting it inside you and mulling it over. It will help you slow down. Make sure you read it in context before you start. Listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit as you mull a verse over. Try reading a passage together in a small group, and ask each other, 'What really stood out for you from the passage? What did you find hard to understand?' None of us have all the answers and it can be encouraging to hear that others struggle with parts of it too. Find a song that quotes scripture and learn to sing it. Music adds life! (Not Coke, sorry CC).

It's often thought that syncretism is the result of over contextualising, going too far in enculturalising the good news. This is to misunderstand two things: The gospel is always incarnate, explained in one culture or another Too little contextualisation can also cause syncretism. This is because the gospel won't be understood, or doesn't meet the felt needs of the people it's being shared with. These needs can be spiritual, emotional or physical. For example, folk Muslims start to follow Isa, but keep visiting shrines and fortune tellers, because that's what they used to do in a crisis.

This is a book review of the above good book. Two reasons why you should pack it along with your crocs or flip-flops this summer! 1. ‘Disciple-Makers Embrace Lessons Taught by Failure’ Often, without realising it, mission-workers bring a lot of cultural and denominational baggage with them. We naturally tend to reproduce ourselves and our churches, but what we are aiming for is to produce followers of Jesus. David says, 'God taught me, through many failures, that I had to focus on making disciples of Christ, not followers of my church or denomination. He also taught me that I needed to teach these disciples to obey the commands of Jesus, not my Church/denominational doctrines or traditions.' His focus is on Disciple-Making Movements and Church-Planting Movements instead of working in one small area and carrying out one small church plant. The work may be slow at first but once it takes off there is much fruit, and many indigenous churches are planted. Discipl...

There are some shocking aspects to this story - see below. Zacchaeus was a tax collector and was considered to be a 'notorious sinner' (v7 - see yesterday's blog) because he was betraying his own people, the Jews, by collecting taxes for the occupying state, the Romans. Judea was part of the Roman empire and was ruled by a puppet leader. Not only that, the tax collectors were mostly corrupt, collecting more than necessary and keeping the difference to feather their own nest (3:12-13). This did not go down well with Jewish nationalists who had quite an influence on the ordinary person on the street.  The other slightly shocking statement is by Jesus. He calls Zacchaeus 'a true son of Abraham' in other words a true Israelite or Semite. One who follows God in the way the ancestor Abraham did. Surely a true Israelite would be a nationalist, not a repentant sinner? Not so, says Jesus. It's not those who try and build a political kingdom who get his approval, b...

It used to be 'sin'. Preachers regularly preached against it. You've probably heard the story of the American President known as silent Cal. After church he was once asked to explain the topic of a minister's sermon. 'Sin' he replied, lapsing back into silence. 'What did he say?' asked the enquirer. 'He said he was agin it,' said the President. These days preachers don't preach much against sin. This may partly be to a change in theology. Some churches have gone down the self fulfilment avenue. The Holy Spirit is there to help you realise your wildest dreams. Whatever you have on your top list of things you've always wanted to achieve, He is there to help you. Alternatively (and more encouragingly), some speakers avoid the word because it has dropped out of the ordinary vocabulary of most folk. If you eat a large piece of chocolate cake your best friends might call you a 'sinner'. Otherwise people have little idea what it m...