So you have found out that spoken information is as important to your community as written information. So what do you do about it? How does it affect your mission, outreach, and your engagement with Scripture?
Clyde Taber and the Mission Media U team are offering new, live Fall MMU courses. We paused MMU for 1 ½ years, but are relaunching next month. We would love for you to join one or both of the groups. In addition, would you send this information to three people (mission practitioners, pastors, leaders) you think would benefit from our upcoming five-week learning groups?
These are the courses we are offering:
SIL’s International Media Services is pleased to announce a 2023 publication written by Andreas Ernst, the IMS Training and Equipping Director.
Read More »2023 Publication: Translating the Bible into Media
For several years, Paulette helped lead a women’s conference, where most of the women didn’t speak French. ‘They were ashamed because they thought they had to speak about the Bible in French,” she says.
“We want to join in, but we don’t know how,” they told her.
Paulette explained that they could study the Bible in Contemporary Wolof, and share it with others in their own language too. Each day she gave them a verse to memorise in the Wolof language.
“That’s why this oral translation will help them,” she says. ‘They will be able to listen and know that they can grow in their faith. There shouldn’t be barriers to knowing God. Each person should be free to wake up each day and know: there is a God who is Lord over everything, and I can talk to him.”
Research can be simple and doable, and even fairly cheap. How come? Consensus group method, invented by Dennis List (READ HERE), is a way to… Read More »Consensus group method
…I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink… Whenever you did one of these things to someone… Read More »Mutuality: Breaking Bread Together
“most churches don’t intentionally exclude people with disabilities. But because the world is, by default, a poor fit for people with disabilities, the church is also a poor fit, unless we intentionally include people of all abilities.” – Ryan Faulk joniandfriends.org/the-largest-unreached-people-group-youve-never-heard-of
We encourage church and mission leaders to think not only of mission among those with a disability, but to recognize, affirm and facilitate the missional calling of believers with disabilities themselves as part of the Body of Christ. The Cape Town Commitment II-B-4
Sadly we can end up excluding many people, unless we are intentional about doing more to include them. Read More »Designing for users with accessibility needs
Translating the Bible into Action has become a key resource for anyone interested in helping people discover the relevance of the Bible in their lives, especially in terms of newer translations in minority languages. This new edition includes new chapters and updates that take into account new opportunities and changes in technology in the last 10-15 years. Written in an accessible way for use with churches, most chapters can be introduced and explored in an hour or two. The book provides recommendations and links to further articles, many of which are available on https://scripture-engagement.org/ and https://www.ijfm.org/
All of effective Eurasian Kingdom initiatives are built on two key elements: 1) Effective Communications 2) Effective Collaboration – How we work together. Long-time EMDC champion, Phill Butler, is an acknowledged expert in these fields. His book, Well Connected, the global “bible” of partnership and network development is now in a dozen languages. Phill has just completed a great new resource website with 140+ articles and 30+ videos on these topics.
(photo credit: esperanzatolentino.wordpress.com)
Which kind of translations make more impact?
This is a good question. It is also a complex issue and more than one set of parameters comes into play. That is, there’s more going on here than “literal vs meaning-based.” Long ago David Landin did research in Bolivia to see which indigenous Bibles were being used there 10 years after completion. Answer: the ones with the hymns in the back. And in those, it was the hymns that were being used, not the translations themselves.
One key factor that has proven true over the years is whether or not the local church leaders (pastors, evangelists, teachers) choose to use a new translation or not. If the local and regional church leaders do not show support for a translation, it will likely fade into obscurity. This is why nowadays many projects begin by contacting local and regional, even national church and denominational leadership in order to hear from them what kind of translation is most desired by them for their people. And continued conversation with these leaders is fostered all along the life of the translation project.
How to leverage the power of Facebook Ads to promote the translated Scriptures and other Scripture media This is a series of eight training videos, showing… Read More »Facebook Ads for Scripture Promotion
In 2012 I took a media team to a country in central Africa to get stories about Bible translation projects in the country. We stayed in a guesthouse at an educational institution, and nearby was a school for the students’ children.
“Put away your cameras!” a man shouted to one of the photographers traveling with me. “We don’t want you showing our children as poor and hungry on the internet.”
We had obtained advanced permission to photograph on the campus, but we took this parent’s concerns seriously. The cameras went away, and the matter was discussed with the parent and the educational institution president. We came to a mutual understanding of our purpose and received permission once more to take photos.
This parent expressed a widely held view in many parts of Africa: Western nonprofit organizations want to show people across Africa in the worst light in order to raise money. People feel exploited.Read More »Simplicity Gone Astray
What are the key topics to consider in planning and developing a new Christian product for discipleship, evangelism, education, or other kind of engagement? What are the questions we should be asking ourselves as we consider ?
An initial thought about three P’s of product, protection, and promotion quickly expanded. Alliteration may have got the better of me or provided a framework for some valid thinking. Other p’s could be partnership, professionalism, pride (the good and bad kinds) , patience, perseverance, perspiration (effort and hard work), perspicacity (deep insight and discernment) , politeness (cultural sensitivity), pushiness, possessiveness (releasing organisational hold and letting community emotionally own products and process).
We are living in exciting times for the digital publishing of Scripture. The Bible is being made available in ever more of the world’s languages, as audio downloads, Smartphone apps, Scripture videos, on social media and language-based websites.
But good products alone will not ensure success. The diagram below, developed by a multidisciplinary team within SIL, illustrates several key themes that need to be considered in a comprehensive digital Scripture access and engagement strategy.
Read More »Developing a Digital Scripture Access and Awareness Strategy
“I know how you can tell this story,” I said to a colleague with a smile. “Someone did something that made a positive change among some group of people in some country, and it’s so amazing everyone needs to know about it!”
We were talking about how to tell stories from “sensitive” or high-risk contexts, and I said this jokingly as we considered what could and could not be said in stories. We had a good laugh and proceeded to find a solution.
While I said this in jest, this is a basic formula for telling impact stories. Of course, usually when applied, it includes real information—not just “something” or “someone.” Yet, what do you do if putting these key details into your story threatens the project you want to write about or risks the lives of your subjects? Should these stories be left untold?
The Mobiles, Media & Ministry: Lessons for Learners & Trainers curriculum contains 41 lessons, 360 pages of trainer guide materials, 70 pages of student handouts, and over 1,000 presenter slides.
The lessons are divided into four topic areas:
Read More »Mobiles, Media, and Ministry: Lessons for Trainers and Learners