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Scripture Engagement

Unaddressed Trauma

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:

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The Untapped Power of Media for Mobilization

  • by Joshua

The State of the World

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?

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Innovation Does Not Equal Technology

  • by Jon Hirst
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. 

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PTXprint – Instant publishing tool for Paratext.

PTXprint – Bible Layout For Everyone

Rapidly create Scripture PDFs for quality trial publications

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.

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The Bible Explained

  • by Art Ayris

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.
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Open Bible

  • by Biblica

In the Open.Bible initiative, Biblica is publishing Bible texts with a Creative Commons (Attribution-ShareAlike) Licence. This means that you are free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. You can adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. You must attribute the original work to Biblica, and if you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
“By releasing complete Biblical texts for free under Creative Commons licensing, the traditional Bible licensing, publishing, and distribution pipeline can be completely replaced with a much faster, more efficient vehicle.”

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How is Scripture Engagement different from Bible Study

 
How is Scripture Engagement Different from Bible Study?
Dr. Phil Collins
Scripture engagement is not the same thing as studying the Bible. It is a complement to deep study of the Scriptures. In the process of promoting Scripture engagement, the last thing we want to do is detract from the importance of studying the Scriptures. Let’s be very clear here: Studying the Scriptures is absolutely essential to the Christian life. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us that we are to come to the Bible as a “worker who . . . correctly handles the word of truth.”
Teachers of the Scriptures are a gift to us from God (1 Corinthians 12:28). Jesus came as The Teacher (John 13:13). The Apostle Paul was a scholar (Acts 22:3). The inductive study of the Bible—the process of observing, interpreting, and applying the Bible—is how we understand what the Bible means. We must know what the Bible means if we are to have an accurate understanding of God as we meet with him.

Reach4Life

  • by Biblica

The Choice is Yours

Reach4Life is a comprehensive, Christian life skills program for young people — with a particular focus on identity, sexuality, and relationships — that brings about holistic spiritual and behavioural transformation. It is based on the idea that real comprehensive behavioral change is only possible once there is a spiritual revolution in the hearts and minds of young people.

Reach4Life is designed to inspire youth to plug into a relationship with God, the raw power of the Bible, the wisdom of saving lovemaking for marriage, the support of a local church, the beauty of a transformed life, and the opportunity to change the world one person at a time.

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Abide Bible

So often we think of Scripture Engagement cross culturally.  But what about for ourselves?

The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.
A.W. Tozer

Has anyone ever taught you how to abide in God’s Word?

Do you know how to come to the Scriptures in a manner that promotes a thriving, living relationship with Christ? For many, the guidance ends at read your Bible and pray every day.
Too many people have come to the Bible with an inadequate approach, flounder around, and then stop coming to the Bible; thinking that something was wrong with the Bible or with themselves.
Or, perhaps your time in the Bible is rich but you’d love to teach others how to grow spiritually through Bible reading but just aren’t sure how to go about the process?
The Bible itself teaches us how we are to abide in God’s Word. Words the Bible uses besides “abide” (1 John 2:14) include “meditate” (Ps. 1:2, Josh. 1:8), “consider” (2 Tim. 2:7), “look into” (James 1:25), “dwell” (Col. 3:16), “see” (Jer. 2:31), “bind” (Deut. 6:7), “receive” and “search” (Acts 17:11), “hide” (Ps. 119:11), “hold fast” (1 Cor. 15:2), “piercing” (Heb. 4:12), and even “eat” (Jer. 15:16).

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Digital Strategy Guides

Here are eight guides to help as you plan digital Scripture engagement strategy:
  1. Audience Questions
  2. Digital Strategy in Partnership
  3. Design Questions
  4. Distribution Options
  5. Digital Promotion
  6. Digital Scripture Engagement Pathways
  7. Monitoring, Evaluation and Analytics
  8. Training Pathways

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Using Wi-Fi boxes at large events.

Digital Distribution Strategy for Bible Dedication Celebrations
A Step-By-Step guide for using Wi-Fi media boxes at your event
Author: Martin Lange (2020)

“While stacks of the newly published Scriptures awaited eager buyers, those embracing the digital age were not forgotten. Five Wi-Fi hubs had been set up at various locations around the stadium. A large vinyl banner promoted the availability of a free Bible app and other Scripture resources for those who connected to these units.”

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Using Your Wi-Fi Media Box

28 ideas for digital distribution
Author: Martin Lange (2020)

For years, Missionary Aviation Fellowship’s pilots carried a box on planes containing Bibles and Christian literature. When they landed, these resources would be offered for sale. Eventually, due to the popularity of smartphones and the weight of books, they switched to carrying less printed resources. Instead, a Wi-Fi Media Box was often substituted. It weighed almost nothing and could hold more resources than a physical box.

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Scripture Engagement Guide

The Scripture Engagement Guide (SE Guide for short) is a web-based tool for local communities to explore a variety of topics to consider their needs, then find the resources to help them get there.

We exist so that local communities everywhere are engaging with Scripture in transformative ways.

We empower communities to make informed and sustainable decisions for their future. The journey isn’t ever a perfectly linear process – instead we come alongside communities as they try an idea, evaluate the results, and then take their next steps. This is more about the process than the products that may be created or utilized along the way. The journey through the site can be expressed in four general stages:

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Media Training & Certification

   IMS Media Training & certification

 

IMS (SIL International Media Services) offers you a selection of core and specialized training modules to choose from, allowing you to be better equipped for the specific ministry context you are in.

If you are wanting to be certified as a Media Specialist, our obligatory four core modules are: Audio Production, Video Production, The role of media in ministry & holistic development, and Facilitating media. In addition to this, we offer a range of additional specialized courses for those seeking to become Media Consultants such as Dubbing biblical films, Using social media effectively, App building or Participatory radio drama.

Our training helps you…

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Recording God’s Word by Any Means

  • by FCBH

Imagine: You live in a secluded village on an island in the Pacific. You have only ever known the religion and rituals of your community, but you know in your soul that there must be something more. You yearn for truth and peace. Once, a foreigner brought a book in the local trade language and tried to tell your people about God, but your heart language does not have a written form. Only a few of your family members and friends can read the trade language to a small degree. The book that the foreigner brought contained complex wording that made no sense even to them. You eventually resign yourself to the fact that if there is a God, He doesn’t care about you enough to speak His truth in your language.

…Until one day, your neighbor shows you an interesting device. Emitting from it are words you recognize. Your neighbor tells you that at last, because of this device, your community can hear God speak—in your language.

Faith Comes By Hearing strives to ensure that every last person has the chance to hear God’s Word, no matter where they live or what language they speak. To carry out this work, we employ a variety of methods in recording and providing Scripture to more people.

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Measuring Scripture Engagement in Digital Ministry

Discipleship and Digital Ministry 

If you are in a digital ministry setting, you know it can be difficult to decide how to differentiate between digital engagements and digital Scripture Engagement. We can get caught up in how many “impressions” we obtain, but forget that our end goal is to make disciples. The video below gives you a taste of how we at FCBH have been working to make disciples and engage with people digitally during this pandemic season. 

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Why We Don’t Start with Bible Translation

When a new programme starts it’s often tempting to set it up as a Bible translation programme. Sometimes that’s appropriate. In many cases, for a variety of reasons, it’s not. This is because:

  • It’s a minority language
  • People tend to be bi- or multi-lingual (at least if they live in towns, or have been educated)
  • They’re oral preference
  • They’re illiterate or semi-literate, or literate only in the language of wider communication
  • They aren’t yet Christian believers
  • etc.

If any or all of the above are true, then it’s good to start with language development and Scripture engagement rather than full-blown Bible translation, where you translate whole books of the Bible, and aim for a full Bible or New Testament + Psalms or Panoramic Bible. Sometimes the only reason for doing the latter is the kudos of the team, which is not a good reason. We’re aiming for transformed communities, not team kudos!

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