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Technology

Is Artificial Intelligence opening Pandora’s box?

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)?

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Translation Technology: Accelerating the Spread of God’s Word

  • by EMDC

Technology Images - Free Download on Freepik

Technology can be a polarizing word. The idea of artificial intelligence or robots can seem exciting to some of us but scary to others. But did you know that technology is playing a critical role in building God’s Kingdom?

Andrew Flemming, vice president of global partnerships engagement for Wycliffe said,

These tools include things like: Starlink satellites, which provide stable internet; Render, which records oral Bible translations; and Chameleon, which enables the Bible to be translated into sign language in persecuted areas.

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The Dramatized Audio Bible

  • by FCBH

‍The Audio Bible: Multi-voice, dramatized, high-quality, pure Word of God. It’s a standard of Faith Comes By Hearing and the typical model employed by our recording teams worldwide. But who came up with such a ground-breaking methodology?‍

It all started on a bus. Anet Jackson, co-founder of Hosanna (the original name of Faith Comes By Hearing), found great joy in sharing the Gospel with children via puppet shows in the various towns her family would visit during their itinerant ministry days. At Vacation Bible Schools around the western United States, Anet and her four children brought Scripture to life via dramatized portrayals of biblical stories.Read More »The Dramatized Audio Bible

God on the Move: Changing the Landscape of Deaf Bible Translation

In 2020 an exciting milestone was reached in the world of Bible translation when the American Sign Language Version (ASLV) of the Bible was completed! After nearly 20 years of work, Deaf Missions and partner organizations finished the complete translation — making ASL the first sign language to have the whole Bible.*

Today there are more than 350 sign languages known around the world representing 70 million signers. Of this population, less than 2% have encountered Jesus in a language and format they clearly understand.

With only one full sign language Bible complete, the Deaf represent the largest unreached people group in the world. But God is on the move, and technology is being developed that could change the landscape of Deaf Bible translation for sign languages around the world.

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The Word at Our Fingertips

  • by Joshy K

The Bible has the distinction of being translated and read in the largest number of languages across the world. Technology has come to the aid to present the Word to all people groups speaking diverse languages. The divine plan of God behind such developments can be understood when we examine the recent historical account. The technological advancements are making major contributions to the fulfillment of the last command and associated Bible translation activities. The relevance of technology in mission activities in the 21st century is highly significant. In order to share the gospel as well as for church activities, most churches and mission organizations are extensively using digital technology. In today’s digital world, social media serves as a powerful communication channel to reach out across the world with great speed. To present the Word to a larger group, digital media takes precedence in the present time. The emergence of the Apple store on 10 July 2008 and the Android market (Google Play store) on 22 October 2008 marked a paradigm shift in receiving the Word at our fingertips. Read More »The Word at Our Fingertips

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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Bibles and resources

Bibles and resources

Peter Brassington
Do you know where to find Bibles in all the languages spoken by people attending your church (live or online), and the people living in your community?
As we started 2021 YouVersion’s Bible app (also available at Bible.com) provided 2,212 versions in 1,512 languages. By Dec 31, 2021 this had risen to over 2,646 versions in 1,794 languages .
Many versions can be downloaded for offline use and easily switched between using the compare function. The interface is also available in over 60 languages.
The site and app includes reading plans, tools for creating verse images, or sharing notes and variety of other resources. There is also a Bible app for kids in over 60 languages
faithcomesbyhearing.com now has Audio Scripture recordings available in over 1560 languages. Increasingly these are also being made available as videos of at least one of the gospels, and they also have many additional versions in text only.  The Bible.is website and app includes these plus the Jesus Film Lumo gospel videos.

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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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Which Wi-Fi Media Box?

A detailed comparison of the ConnectBox, LightStream Pocket, MicroPi and BibleBox Pi

How do you get digital resources into the hands of people who aren’t connected to the Internet? How do you distribute apps, videos, audio, documents, and images to people who can’t afford the data it would take to download those materials? What if those people live in remote areas where they don’t have access to a cellular network?

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Oral Bible Translation

Oral communicators account for 70% of the world’s population. Many of them do not encounter situations in their daily life when they need to read or write. Using their rich oral tradition, they sing, tell stories, pass down history and teach skills to the next generation. There are over a thousand oral cultures in the world today, whose languages have not been written down. The Apostle Paul said, “There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning.” (1 Corinthians 14:10)  Yes, oral languages are meaningful, and significant.

It takes years of language study and analysis before even a Bible translation team can start translating in these languages using traditional methods. Even if the Bible is finally translated, only the literate few will be able to encounter the Word of God. It will remain unreachable for the majority of people speaking these languages. Oral Bible Translation overcomes these hurdles and engages millions of people with the Word of God.

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Global Bible Apps

  • by Joshy K

God is limitless. Access to His Word, the Bible, should be too! The mission of Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH) is to provide people everywhere with free access to God’s Word through Audio Bibles in every translated language.

The Global Bible App initiative makes the Word of God available to the worldwide community of Android smartphone users. The major focus is on people who are not connected to the internet. Global Bible Apps are designed and built by Faith Comes By Hearing using SIL’s Scripture App Builder tool for Android devices and contain the Bible text and audio in the language of preference. These standalone Bible Apps synchronize the text and audio in a “karaoke” style, enhancing the user experience.

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Will WhatsApp’s change in privacy policy affect me?

Some people are worried about WhatsApp’s change in terms. They wonder if they should switch to some other platform, some other app. Those are reasonable questions. However, let’s take a step back and look at the bigger picture from a wider perspective before jumping to conclusions. Let’s act out of confidence rather than out of fear. After all, the Lord has given us many gifts, but fear is not one of them. ‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.’ (2 Tim. 1:7, NLT)

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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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