Scripture Engagement

Audio Digital Film and Video Literacy Orality Visual Arts

Scripture in an Accessible Form

The Most Common Avenue to Increased Scripture Engagement

T. Wayne Dye (2009)

The choice of medium can make a difference, and better artistic quality enhances any communication. However, the most important quality is how relevant the message seems to be to the lives of its hearers. If a hearer (or reader or…

RichardOctober 3, 2009

Bible Reading

More Precious than Gold

Read the Bible in one or two years

Robert Murray McCheyne (2008)

God reveals himself to us in Scripture. As we read the Bible daily, he gradually works on our thinking, our will and our emotions so we can love him 'with all our mind, our strength, our soul, our heart'. The…

RichardSeptember 29, 2009

Research

Taking the pulse: Is the Bible alive and well in the Church today?

Congregation members also feel that there is scope for improving the role the Bible plays in Church services. Many feel their understanding of the passages read by preachers during sermons would increase if preachers were better at contextualising the material…

RichardSeptember 29, 2009

Bible Translation Culture Language Issues

The Vernacular Treasure: A Century of Mother-Tongue Bible Translation

Harriet Hill (2006)

Bible translators realized that translated Scriptures sitting in warehouses fell short of their goal. Their real goal was that receptors use these Scriptures to draw closer to God. UBS refers to this goal as Scripture engagement; SIL and Wycliffe refer…

RichardSeptember 25, 2009

Literacy

There’s More to Reading than Meets the Eye

Lyndal Webb (2009)

There is more to reading the words on the page than meets the eye. In order for the Bible to be read with comprehension and understanding, resulting in an appropriate response to God’s communication, the reader must be equipped with…

RichardSeptember 23, 2009

Audio Bible Translation Orality

Advancing Bible Translation for Non-Reading Audiences

Viggo Søgaard (2009)

The issue of non-readers is an issue for all countries, as we see reading declining even in countries with high literacy rates. It has been estimated that in some African countries printed scripture only reaches around ten percent of the…

RichardSeptember 21, 2009

Film and Video Understanding Scripture

Bible Lands as Classroom

Krijn van der Jagt, Ray Pritz

The Bible Lands as Classroom series (eight 45 minute DVDs) is an excellent teaching tool for Bible translators, pastors, and people in general who would like to know more about biblical geography, history, and culture. The series was filmed in…

RichardSeptember 18, 2009

Advocacy Bible Reading

25 Ways to Engage the Bible

Ron Forseth (2007)

Of this I am convinced: This side of heaven there is nothing more wonderful we could ever hold in our hands or engage with our minds than God’s Word as given to us in the Bible. The author describes 25…

RichardSeptember 15, 2009

Advocacy

CABTAL Church Relations Initiatives

It is important for all of the local churches to be increasingly implicated in the translation project for the following reasons: It ensures that the translated Scriptures will be used after the New Testament’s publication, so that there will be…

RichardSeptember 13, 2009

Culture Leadership Training

African Traditional Religion and Christian Counseling

Karl Grebe, Wilfred Fon (2006)

We soon found that even the most experienced Christian leaders were not always sure how to relate the cultural phenomena to the biblical picture. On the whole, the church had bypassed the task of interpreting the cultural picture from the…