5 Steps to Engage with the Bible

Here are the latest resources on the Scripture Engagement website:
Scripture Engagement Research Initiative< Mar 03, 2022 10:53 am
A multiagency research program of Dallas International University
Dallas International University (DIU), in collaboration with SIL’s Pike Center for Integrative Scholarship, has launched the Scripture Engagement Research Initiative (SERI). The SERI program hosts a series of large grant-funded Scripture Engagement research projects. Research topics are proposed both by participants and by the SERI leadership. Participants can serve for short periods of time or as part of a longer-term assignment.
Story group in West Africa
What makes a good oral Bible story? There are many ministries that develop oral Bible stories, and they have varying approaches on the process of developing an abbreviated and simplified story from a biblical passage(s).
Good story development follows four principles embraced by many in the story community of biblically faithful to the textual Bible passage(s), orally reproducible (meaning that that story can be easily learned and told by others), naturally told and the story is appropriate to the culture, often expressed in the use of key terms understood by the local community. In addition, a good oral Bible story based on a Bible passage(s) has a plot or story line that keeps the listener interested and engaged. The actual storyteller can also influence the quality of the story experience to the listener
When developing an oral Bible story, a ministry may embrace common elements practiced by other story practitioners (e.g., testing the story with those who don’t follow Jesus) while having nuances (e.g., use of technology) in the story development process that is unique to the ministry.
So what makes a good oral Bible story? Two important aspects are fidelity to an established process and people embracing the story.
To attend the session on this subject go to https://emdc.online/list
or if you miss the session, the video of the emdc online session may be found here https://emdc.online/archive/687
Unaddressed trauma creates barriers to hearing, understanding, and accepting the love of God. In other words, trauma can keep someone from truly hearing the gospel and creates barriers to spiritual growth. If we are concerned with sharing the gospel and planting healthy and reproducing churches, we must pay significant attention to trauma. We must equip and empower lay people with the basic tools they need to address trauma safely, responsibly, and effectively. As lay people learn to use these tools, healing multiplies alongside the Good News.
Healing cannot take place in 7 or 10 simple sessions – it is an on-going journey. From entry into a community to leadership development, it is important to help communities establish environments where healing community, faith, and purpose can flourish. Comprehensive frameworks that integrate a trauma-informed approach into church planting strategy provide structures that allow for lay people to be trained and for healing to happen over time appropriately, in a healthy way, and in a way that multiplies. A trauma-informed approach should take the following steps:
(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.
While this blog departs a little from the normal EMDC topics it has been dealt with in the past. An Introduction to Healing the Wounds… Read More »Trauma Healing – Strength from Weakness
Global Missional AI Summit The Global Missional AI Summit brings together mission-minded workers, Bible translators, and technology practitioners to explore the value artificial intelligence (AI)… Read More »Global Missional AI Summit
Join us at the Storytelling Café at EMDC Online! I recently went to the massage therapist because my neck was hurting and all I had on my mind… Read More »Bible Storytelling Cafe.
In a survey done by Barna Research, it showed that 51% of the U.S. churchgoers do not know the Great Commission and 63% could not even correctly identify Matthew 28:18-20 as the Great Commission when given 5 verses to choose from. Media and social media have played a major role in desimination of information whether true or false, and have lead to response and action among people. Are we creating enough digital awareness through videos and on social media about the needs of the Unreached People Groups?
Illustration from 10 Types of Innovation: The Art of Discovering a Breakthrough Product
Imagine that someone was to say to you, “I’m involved in an innovative project.” What assumptions would you make about the project? Take a moment to be in that conversation and truly consider my question.
The word “innovative” will tip you off that they are working on something new. You may also assume that there is a degree of risk or uncertainty in the project’s outcome because it is new. It is also likely that you assume that the project involves some new technology, or an existing technology applied to a new domain.
It’s that last assumption that I would like to focus on for a few minutes. Why is it that we tend to associate innovation with technology? My guess is that we are simply used to seeing the two go hand in hand in our 21st Century world. There have been so many astounding advances in technology in the past 20 years that our brains are almost conditioned to join the two concepts together.
PTXprint is a stand-alone program which allows you to create high quality PDFs for trial publications of Scripture. It has a multitude of easily configurable options allowing a whole range of outputs. The interface is user-friendly, enabling anyone to produce Scripture for testing within their local context.
When Google launched Chrome they created a comic book to explain Google Chrome. After the U.S. government spent millions of dollars compiling the 9/11 Commission Report they had a problem – no one was reading the voluminous text. That is, until it came out as a graphic novel and catapulted to best-seller lists and the front of USA Today. Comics, it turns out, can be the language of choice to explain stories of significance.
Below and countless other letters and e-mails we receive attest to the fact that people need to understand the Bible. That is why the Comic Bible Society focuses on serializing and explain in a systematic, chronological and visual manner the whole testimony of the Scripture.
Read More »The Bible Explained