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Lessons for Trainers and Learners

Scripture In Mission – Three Major Priorities In Eradicating Bible Poverty

 
Illustration  from TV – Eradicating Bible Poverty@call2all

Scripture In Mission: Three Major Priorities In Eradicating Bible Poverty

The Scripture in Mission Multiplex Resource Team

Written by John Watters, PhD, Chair of the Forum of Bible Agencies International.
This Cape Town 2010 Advance Paper was written by the Scripture in Mission Multiplex Resource Team as an overview of the topic that was discussed at the related session on ‘Scripture in Mission’ at the Cape Town 2010 Congress. 

Abstract

Peter and Angela are busy with their middle-class lives. Next door, Lucy is a Buddhist from East Asia and her housemate is into New Age religious matters. Mma Echu has no Scriptures in her language, and the chief of her village has built a shrine for his god. Amin is interested in Jesus but is illiterate, while Hussein is deaf.
What do all these people have in common? They suffer from a malady that afflicts billions of people scattered throughout every nation in the world—Bible poverty. But none of them realize it.
What are the signs of Bible poverty? It is present where people are hindered by barriers from having access to the Scriptures in a language they understand well and engaging with them in ways that transform their lives. It cuts across economic levels, social status, religious identity, ethnic groups, and languages. Bible poverty affects regions of religious persecution. It affects the non-literate, the deaf, and the blind. Still others, like the Befang of Cameroon, simply do not have any Scripture in their language. And a host of professionals in cities from Shanghai to Munich to Bogota have no confidence in any truth but their own experience. Barriers to engaging meaningfully with the Scriptures show up everywhere: in urban contexts, in rural contexts, in regions where other major religions dominate, and in the post-modern West. But once we identify these barriers, can we also work to build bridges that enable people to overcome these barriers?

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Script Fit Videos

In 2019 I went to Southeast Asia to oversee a video dubbing. The team there assured me they had prepared the script to fit the video’s timing, and it was ready for recording. But when we began to dub the video, we realized that, in many parts, segments were too long. In other parts, as we watched the video, we realized that we could often see the actor’s mouth moving but nothing was being said in the dubbed language. We spent many hours of several days adjusting the script to achieve a good dubbing. We needed a translation consultant to approve every change. Precious recording time was lost and the dubbing took days longer than planned. 

When I returned to IMS-Waxhaw, many of my colleagues told me similar experiences they had had on the field. Something needed to be done to help prevent the “script fit blues.” All the instructions for preparing the script are in the Shell Video Manual (Step Five), which every field team receives when they apply to dub a video. But the manual can be a difficult read, especially for non-English speakers. And many people think that when it comes to script fitting, they already know everything they need to know. So I wrote the scripts, and we assembled a team to create two animated videos explaining the why and how of script fitting. Read More »Script Fit Videos

Mobiles, Media, and Ministry: Lessons for Trainers and Learners

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:

  1. Foundations of Media Ministry: Principles and practices for developing media materials and strategy that lead to follow-up and discipleship.
  2. Mobile Ministry: The mobile phone is the device through which most media ministry efforts will be experienced. These lessons teach the capabilities and limitations mobile technology provides and how to adapt your media ministry efforts.
  3. Social Media: These lessons teach you to connect with the lost via social media so you expand your reach among almost any people you want to reach.
  4. Do-it-Yourself Media: These lessons teach anyone to create authentic, contextually-relevant media that can reach thousands.

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