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
Let’s use media! They’re quick to make, easy to distribute and use, attract large crowds, and communicate efficiently. They’re simply awesome! But do media really work like this? How do you figure out which are the most relevant, appropriate, and effective media to use? You may be tempted to begin with what you like yourself or what you can fund. The quicker you get these media out there, the better it is, right? Alternatively, you could take it more gently and start by thinking anthropologically.Read More »Thinking Anthropologically about Media: Finding Relevant 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.”
Davar believes that all people should have the opportunity to know the God who made them and that the truths of the Bible are not bound to the reader or ink on paper. Isaiah 55:11 says, “so is my Word that goes from my mouth; it will not return empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
So, how does Davar encourage deployment of His word to accomplish what He desires?
Read More »Davar Audio Bibles – deploying God’s Word to accomplish what He desires
Cross-Cultural Mentoring Workshop at EMDC 2024 Thailand
My attending the Cross-Cultural Mentoring Workshop was the highlight for my leadership training this year. This is something that I have been waiting for to attend for a year. In 2023, I attended a session of Dr. Sunny Hong at EMDC Thailand. This was the first time I got a chance to hear her deep knowledge about the diaspora and refugees.Read More »“The Cross-Cultural Mentoring Workshop gave freedom to be me, while the society plays with other rules.”
This is a response to some recent posts about the importance of Bible translation in fulfilling the Great Commission. Yes, there is much truth in that, but more is needed. It really helps to have Scripture impact (or ‘engagement’) the top priority, the ‘car’ as it were, with translation the engine that sits beneath the bonnet. Not all drivers need to know all the details of the engine, but they need to be able to control the vehicle. The most important thing is to be able to get from A to B (see point 2), rather than knowing how the engine works. These are the ten reasons to make Scripture impact a priority:
The conference was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 22 February to 1 March 2024. It brought together 100 participants from 23 countries of Africa. It was an opportunity for Scripture Engagement, Media and Ethnoarts specialists and consultants to get together, to share resources, ideas and strategies and receive training on some of the latest approaches in encouraging engagement with the translated Scriptures. The conference was bilingual, in English and French. Four participants formed a ‘Listeners’ team’. Their role was to listen carefully to the key themes coming out of the presentations and discussions, both formally and informally, seeking to hear what the Lord was saying to us. Here is a summary of what they heard…Read More »Listening and Learning at The Africa Scripture Engagement Conference 2024
Image generated using OpenAI’s DALL-E
Since the rise of personal computers, humanity’s dependence on and emotional connection to technology continues to break new ground. This entrenched connection empowers people to pursue their social goals at the touch of a finger. Digital communication enables people to make friends with new acquaintances met in online spaces and to form diverse online communities—crossing nearly every type of boundary. Within this complex landscape, many people operate with an unspoken expectation that technological mediation can help them achieve their deep-rooted emotional and social needs.
Read More »Exploring the advent of an immersive digital culture
Based in the UK, Compass Braille is a registered charity that began in 1990 by producing the Hindi braille Bible. It now produces Bibles and books in 55 languages for worldwide use. The braille is used by various groups who work among people with visual disability in towns and villages and they distribute the braille to churches, house churches, schools, colleges, training/drop-in centres, libraries, etc.
Getting started in Bible storytelling has never been easier with access to online training called Bible StoryFire. On Story Café (4/23/24) we learned from Regina Manley, the producer of the series how Bible StoryFire https://biblestoryfire.com is a great resource for beginner storytellers to skilled storyteller discussion leaders alike. This series includes 26 audio lessons and four video models. Read More »Bible StoryFire: Everybody loves a good story…
Jesus Film Project and Premise Entertainment have announced a new animated take on the 1979 Biblical motion picture Jesus, slated for global release in 2025. Utilizing state of the art animation technology, the project combines the talents of entertainment industry veterans and the expertise of archaeologists and theologians to transport audiences back to Jesus’ time.
Read More »New Animated ‘Jesus’ Film Coming to Theaters Worldwide in 2025
In English the metaphor of Pandora’s box is often used to describe a new technology or a new way of doing things, where we are not always sure what the consequences might be… Many people might describe Artificial Intelligence as opening Pandora’s box. Some people might react with concern or fear, just seeing the negatives of Artificial Intelligence. Others might get so excited about what is possible with Artificial Intelligence that they overlook the negative things that can come along with this tool. So how should we in vernacular media approach the matter of Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Read More »Is Artificial Intelligence opening Pandora’s box?
ABR MEDIA is organizing a REGIONAL CONFERENCE to take place in ARUSHA, TANZANIA in AUGUST. There will be three opportunities to gather, learn together and to NETWORK as we continue in MEDIA ministry here in SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA .
Read More »ABR Media Conferences August 2024 – SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
There is a lot more to someone’s sense of identity than language and location. Last year I met a ten-year-old whose eyes lit up when she realised she could make the Bible her own.
She is a metaverse native and she was reached with digital Bible Mission – a missional approach where Bible and digital cultural engagement go hand in hand.
Read More »Unlocking Digital Bible Mission to Digital Culture with Digital Tribes and Nations
Read More »Come and See: Glimpses of Trauma Healing at Dzaleka Refugee Camp
Originally blogged by Peter Brassington on Feb. 13, 2024 HERE
I recently realised that across the different bible apps on my phone I have access to over 30 different audio Bibles, read from different versions, in many different voices, and with or without a backing track, but I didn’t realise until yesterday that I had the entire New Testament sung by award winning Gospel artists to a piano accompaniment.
We have extended the early-bird registration rate window for our EMDC 2024 Conference Thailand for one week until March 8th, 2024.
Early registration is only $80 and free to many who qualify!*
Read More »EMDC Thailand 2024 Early-Bird Discount Rate Extended!
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
ICETE & Michael A. Ortiz
Theological Education more Globally Connected
At present, there are nearly 50,000 training programs for church leadership worldwide. Some are formal, while many are less structured. Some are complicated and at times bureaucratically stalled, while others are nimble and ready to shift on a dime. Some are accredited, some are not and desire to be, and some are not and do not care to be. Some are in-person, some are distance models and highly flexible including online formats. Some are local, perhaps regional programs in a single language, while some are global and even extending across various cultures and languages. The array of programs, objectives, modalities, and scopes have expanded beyond our capacity to quantify all of them.
Read More »International Council for Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE)
Lament is loving our neighbors with our tears.
~Lamma Mansour~
Lament as an Offering
As I sat quietly listening to Filipe’s heartbreaking story of the brutal attack that left him paralyzed from the neck down, tears streamed down my cheeks. The video crew, along with Filipe and his wife, passed around a single role of toilet paper as we each tore a piece to blot away tears. Our small crew borrowed an office on the outskirts of Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi to record powerful stories of transformation and healing from trauma that many in the camp had been experiencing.