An interesting article from Lamar Vest – CEO of American Bible Society about reaching “Millenials” with the Word of God.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lamar-vest/the-challenge-from-millen_b_572570.html
The Biblical Challenge from (and for) Millennials
May 19, 2010The Emergence of Mobile
May 17, 2010
Mobile Internet access is increasing at an alarming rate. More than 100 million of the 400 million Facebook users now interact with their Facebook pages using a mobile device. Mary Meeker (Morgan Stanley’s Managing Director of their Global Technology Team) is predicting that in the next five years, “more users will connect to the Internet over mobile devices than desktop PC’s.”* Meeker says that adoption rates of mobile technology are 11 times greater than adotpion rates of AOL and many times faster than adoption rates of Netscape back in the early 1990s. The Facebook stats show that social networking fits the mobile platform more naturally than a desktop PC does. Social networking really comes into it’s own when coupled with a mobile device as it allows people to remain connected 24/7. Read the rest of this entry »
What just happened? Facebook just took over the Internet, that’s what.
April 26, 2010
The first time I ever heard of Facebook was the day after the terrible Virginia Tech Massacre (April 2007), when one student reportedly informed her family that she was safe via her Facebook status. At the time, it was a relatively new web platform that was beginning to dominate the US College market, taking over from Myspace.
A lot can happen in the space of three years, especially when it comes to technology. This week, TechCrunch, a group-edited technology blog said this; “All the momentum is behind Facebook and how they are changing the web, and our culture.” That’s a dramatic achievement in a short space of time.
And now it’s official, Facebook just took over the Internet. I’m not joking. They did. Literally, last Wednesday. Read the rest of this entry »
Solitude, Silence and Meditation
February 9, 2010
I had a stimulating discussion with a pastor the other day in which we talked about Scripture engagement with the Emerging Generation. He raised a question I’ve been thinking about for some time – how far do we go to accommodate the post-modern approach of the Emerging Generation to the Bible before we really lose the essence of the model of personal spiritual practice demonstrated by Jesus?
A strong desire of the Emerging Generation is to relate to one another in community, be it online or offline. Talking about faith / God / Jesus / the Bible etc in community allows an Emerging Generation person to discern what they do and don’t believe. They can contribute, agree, disagree and build their theology based on what they learn from others’ experiences and ideas. But is this safe? What kind of theology will this kind of approach result in? Read the rest of this entry »
New Ideas on Scripture Engagement with an Emerging Generation
February 3, 2010
From the Think Tank at the Worldwide Scripture Engagement Consultation in Malaysia, I have written this paper outlining some new thinking on Scripture engagement with the Emerging Generation. You can download it here. You’ll need Adobe Reader to view it.
I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on this!
Scripture Engagement with an Emerging Generation
This essentially is a summary (from my perspective) of the Think Tank and the ideas coming from that. I am very grateful to all 21 people who took part in this process.
Global Church Reform – the absurdity of the ‘Attractional’ church model in 2010
February 1, 2010
Being in Malaysia at the WWSE conference has given me a small insight into what is happening to the church globally. I believe the church is going through a reformation of sorts, on many levels. Scripture engagement is playing a huge part in that. In fact, Scripture engagement may be the most important element.
Phylis Tickle suggests in her book The Great Emergence that every five hundred years, the global church goes through what she calls a giant rummage sale. Effectively it examines itself, biffs out the bits that are no longer relevant for the times and brings in new ideas and theology. She suggests that the church is right in the middle of this rummage sale right now.
I agree with her. Everything points to this – at least in my small part of the world. Church numbers are declining, the number of non-church going Christians is climbing, and Bible ownership, readership and literacy is rapidly falling.
To my surprise, I discovered at WWSE that the Bible engagement crisis may not simply be a ‘Western’ problem. A pastor from Indonesia came up to me and asked for help. “For what?” I replied. “My people all own Bibles but not many are reading them,” he said.
I met others from SIL who are not translators, nor administrators, but Scripture Use workers. One in a Pacific meeting I attended worked in PNG. His problem the same – not many Christians in his remote region are reading the Bible.
This problem is epic. Read the rest of this entry »
Smartphone key to Bible engagement in near future
December 21, 2009
I’m becoming more and more convinced that the smartphone will be a key Bible engagement tool in the near future. I believe these devices represent the pinnacle of Internet development – people remotely connected wherever they are, whatever they are doing.
Sales of Smartphones are exploding, with 2.1 million sold in Australia alone in 2009. Some estimates indicate Smartphones could make up to 38% of all mobile phones in America by 2013*. Some are even predicting they’ll replace laptops.
This, from a Stuff article this morning on Smartphones: “Futurist Paul Higgins, from Emergent Futures, said smartphones would replace most laptop and PC applications. ‘[It] is really a social enabler that allows us to do things we have always done or always wanted to do but far more easily. It’s about removing barriers to people to act. If you can do something now rather than having wait for two days, it’s far more likely to be done.’” Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook Bible Page about to Hit 1 Million Fans!
October 31, 2009
Kids’ Responses to Tarore and Her Book
October 22, 2009
I received a letter today from a Bible in Schools teacher who has given out the Tarore book by Joy Cowley that we’ve produced here at Bible Society. She kindly sent me some notes from the kids who received copies. Here’s what some of the notes say (uncorrected)…
“I think it was really cool to be one of the first people to get the story of Tarore and Her Book by Joy Cowley.”
“I loved it. I hope there is another book that carrys on with Tarore and Her Book.”
“I am soooo lucky to be in the first school to hear Tarore and Her Book.”
“I like the book because it torks about tribes bringing Peace to each other.”
“I thought it was a good story and a very good way to live.”
“Thank you for printing 30,000 storys about Tarore and giving them to us.”
“It must have cost lots of money to make all those copies!”
“I think some more children should read more of the Bible like Tarore. But it is a great book.”
“It was exciting to hear Joy Cowley read it to us.”
Tarore Book Launch Video
October 21, 2009Courtesay of the wonderful team at Shine TV here in New Zealand.
