Bible Engagement Blog

Why Read the Bible?

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:13:00 GMT

Why should we read the Bible? Google “Bible Reading” and there are dozens of Bible agencies, ministries, churches and individuals inviting people to read or listen to the Bible. To help us read the Bible they offer a huge range of plans, charts, guides, schedules, approaches, programs, challenges and resources. The information on the sites offering Bible reading plans say we should regularly read or listen to the Bible to develop our faith as Christians, for inspiration, to see what wonders God works, for the sake of learning, for guidance, to study, to know truth, for adventure, for a steady diet of God’s Word, for a rewarding experience, and so on.

While there is value in reading the Bible for the reasons mentioned above, the main reason why we read the Bible should be to connect with the Person of whom the Bible speaks – the triune God. This is paramount; if we read the Bible to know the Word of God, yet don’t read it to know the God of the Word, we miss the mark! Love the God of the Word and we’ll love the Word of God! When we read the Bible for any reason other than because we love God, it may be a difficult, confusing or boring read. But when we read the Bible relationally, as God’s love letter to us, our reading becomes a living, experiential, intimate, interactive, functional, communal, and transformational journey with Him . . .

Transmediatization

Tue, 01 May 2012 17:12:00 GMT

Transmediatization is the presentation of the Bible in electronic formats. Since the 15^th Century, with the advent of the Gutenberg Press, the primary means of distributing and reading the Bible was through the medium of print. Since the development of computers in the 1950’s and the commercialization of the Internet in the 1990’s the print medium has been eclipsed by the digital medium. A new era has dawned in the way we think, speak, see and correspond. Quickly and dramatically, the digital wave has crested.

The implications of transmediatization are far reaching. Printed Scriptures, while yet important, have to make room for hypertext (the digital form of highly interconnected and multidimensional narrative). This generation are seeing with different eyes and hearing with different ears. Change is happening faster than ever before. Over the past twelve months the percentage of Canadians reading books in an electronic format has grown from 5% to about 50% of the population.

Adapting* the Bible to the digital medium is not an option, it’s a necessity. The church (Bible agencies included) requires a fresh understanding and response to how we invite and encourage connections with the Bible. New territory must be explored and settled. This will entail the use of a new creativity, new language, new words, and new ways of using and illustrating words.

The way we provide access and interaction with the Bible may determine whether or not facilitating encounters with God and progressive transformation of people will meaningfully occur in the years ahead. By 2015 it is estimated that 1.4 billion people will own smart phones – making phones the most common devices for accessing the Internet. With this in mind Scripture Union recently developed the SU Canada App for Android and Apple phones. The SU Canada App helps connect people with Jesus and His Story. The key feature of the App is the eDaily Prayers. The eDaily Prayers, uploaded from Monday to Friday, provide reflections on Scripture and ‘scaffolding for meditation’. The App also features the Bible Engagement Blog, Twitter, Facebook, and the opportunity to sign up to receive SU’s free eDaily Devotions (sent through email).

*Adaption does not imply, in any way, the changing of the content or canon of the Scriptures. Adaption refers to the change or modification to the way we provide access to the Bible. That is, adaptation is making the Bible available in ways that are suitable for a new and different purpose.

Measuring Bible Engagement

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:33:00 GMT

So how is Bible engagement measured? Those who define Bible engagement as something cognitive or transactional find it relatively easy to quantitatively measure the activity because the variables can be isolated and studied. For example, one of the tools developed by this writer as a simple gauge of Bible literacy is the Measure of reading/connecting with the Bible in the table below.

Measure of reading/connecting with the Bible

-4	Is unaware of the Bible
-3	Is aware of the Bible
-2	Has access to a portion of the Bible
-1	Has access to the Bible
0	Owns a Bible or a portion of the Bible
+1	Never or rarely reads/connects with the Bible
+2	Reads/connects with the Bible once a month or more
+3	Reads/connects with the Bible once a week or more
+4	Reads/connects with the Bible once a day or more

Quantitative measures of Bible engagement, while useful, have limitations because they do not and cannot measure the more complex nature of Bible engagement, elements like ‘meaningful encounters with Jesus Christ’ and lives being ‘progressively transformed in Him.’

So how are the more qualitative elements of Bible engagement measured? By definition such qualities are difficult to determine, but clearly confirmation of Bible engagement is seen in people’s lives when they are connected with, coming alive to, are tied to, are investing in, being submitted to, are reliant on, are receiving from, and acting in line with the One of whom the Bible speaks, Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, meaningful connections with the Bible are occurring when:

- people are seen to be imitating Christ’s humility (cf. Philippians 2:2)

- when our stories are interwoven and subject to His Story (cf. Micah 6:8)

- when we are producing a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown (cf. Matthew 13:8), i.e., receiving, hearing and understanding God’s word (cf. Matthew 13:23).

Reading The Bible For What It Truly Is

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:51:00 GMT

In 1992, I attended a two week graduate course on Relief and Development at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in the USA. During the opening session the professor asked the group of fifty or so students to describe how they pictured God. With few exceptions, God was portrayed as a middle aged white suburban male (the primary demographic of the students). I learnt that most of us think God is like us.

What we do with God, we do with the Bible. Our tendency is to project onto the Bible what we want to see or hear. Instead of being caught up in the Bible’s story, we harness the Bible to our story. It’s a predisposition; our natural inclination is ego-centric and our bent is to manipulate the Bible to our own ends. Simply stated, we read the Bible to get what we want out of it.

So how do we read the Bible for what it truly is and not for what we want to make it? By bringing three “friends” to the table:

The Holy Spirit . . . ask Him to help you understand what you’re reading
Bible commentaries and guides . . . use them to mine the collected wisdom of the church
Mature Christians . . . learn from pastors, teachers and people who are wise in the Word

Scott McKnight in his excellent book, The Blue Parakeet, would add that if we are to read the Bible in a way that is renewing and ever renewing, then we should also read the Bible as story, learn to listen to and for God in the Bible (cf. Matthew 7:24-27), and discern how best to live out the Gospel (cf. Colossians 1:9-10).

Information, Formation, Transformation and Revelation

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:18:00 GMT

Information is defined as acquiring knowledge through experience or study.People who read the Bible for information are focused on facts. Awareness, familiarity and developing biblical comprehension and understanding are the primary objectives. Reading for information concentrates on collecting data, learning about Christianity, understanding the stories and teachings, investigating Christ, reading Judeo Christian history, or becoming acquainted with God.

Take away the prefix ‘in’ from information and the stem word is formation. Formation is defined as the act of giving or taking form, constructing or developing, coming or bringing into existence. Reading the Bible for formation opens a person to an interaction and exchange with God. Formation reading is creative in nature; involving growth and shaping that potentially leads to change. When people read the Bible for formation they’re interested in learning right from wrong, seeking direction and purpose for their lives, wanting to be ‘fed’ and grow in faith, looking for help or hope, in search of inspiration, or trying to build a relationship with God.

Adding the prefix ‘trans’ to the stem word formation introduces yet another level of connecting with the Bible – reading for transformation. Transformation is defined as a radical change or alteration – a conversion to another form. In biblical parlance it’s when a person stops conforming to the pattern of the world and is inwardly altered by the renewing of their mind (cf. Romans 12:2). Transformational reading involves a deep rooted modification of the heart so that a person’s intentions, inclinations and spiritual instincts are directed to Christ and His glory.

Revelation is the act or process of disclosing something that was previously hidden or obscure. In the Parable of the Sower the climax of the story comes when people “hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop” (Mark 4:20). When reading the Bible results in people becoming living epistles, i.e., being public life words, then reading for revelation has occurred. Producing a crop is the ultimate goal. It’s not enough to hear the Word and accept it; the inward must become outward - the concealed must be revealed.

A Crisis

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:20:00 GMT

The Bible is a closed book for most people in Canada. According to national research* conducted in 2009 in 18 cities in 9 provinces in Canada, 58.8% of Canadians say they do not read the Bible. Of the 1259 people polled, 21.5% said they didn’t know why they don’t read the Bible, 20.9% said they’re too busy, and 19% said they’re not interested. Only 3.2% of Canadians who don’t read the Bible said they didn’t have a Bible. Among church goers, many have never read the Bible from cover to cover and only a small number read the Bible daily. Simply stated – there’s a crisis!

Most Christians believe the Bible plays an essential, indispensable, and crucial role in directing Christian faith, life and practice. Many people, regardless of whether or not they’re Christians, recognise that the Bible has significantly informed and shaped Western culture. So why aren't people reading the Bible? This question is difficult to answer because the reasons are complex. There are cultural factors like the demise of Christendom, the impact of postmodernity, secularism, and religious pluralism. And there are other factors like declining church attendance, people not feeling the need, changing priorities, scepticism and doubt.

SU Canada’s response to the decline in Bible engagement is to issue a fresh invitation to read the Story in an exciting new way – called the Essential 100 Challenge™. The E100™ is based on carefully selected short Bible passages – 50 from the Old Testament and 50 from the New Testament – that helps people grasp the essence of the Story and get into a Bible reading habit. Check out the E100 Challenge™ here.

Hear more about the crisis by clicking on the YouTube link.

* Research conducted by Scripture Gift Mission Canada

Defining Bible Engagement

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:05:00 GMT

Building on biblical, theological, historical, and cultural insights, and utilising relational and interactional language, here’s a working definition for Bible engagement: The process whereby people are connected with the Bible such that they have meaningful encounters with Jesus Christ and their lives are progressively transformed in Him.

To elaborate; Bible engagement is the process (that which occurs in and through the stages and courses that mark the journey of our lives) whereby people are connected with the Bible (reciprocating with the Story) such that they have meaningful encounters (significant meetings that involve coming together with and developing a vital relationship) with Jesus Christ (the One who by grace and through faith saves us from sin and sanctifies us by the Spirit) and their lives are progressively transformed in Him (marked by evident ongoing obedience and life-change that takes place individually and in community).

One word in the above definition of Bible engagement requires illumination – the word ‘transformed’. It refers to the process of change whereby a person becomes progressively more Christ like (cf. Galatians 6:15). That is not to say that transformation is something that people can do to themselves. Transformation does not happen naturally and it does not come easily. The prophet asks, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?” (Jeremiah 13:23). There is no outside force that can change people to become more like Christ. Something internal is required. Transformation begins when a person realizes that “the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint” (Isaiah 1:5) and proceeds when forgiveness for sin is sought and received (the heart is changed, Psalm 13:5), and by faith in Christ being “the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2), a right relationship with Christ is formed (the heart believes and is justified, cf. Romans 10:10) and love for Christ ensues (cf. Mark 12:30). This is not of a person’s own doing but comes from the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 2:8-9), that is, transformation cannot happen apart from Christ. Thus transformation is being shaped by Christ and living out lives that imitate His life. It is refusing to “be conformed to this world” and is the change that comes “by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

Natwivity

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:35:00 GMT

Knocking on a non-Christian’s door and asking him or her to read the Bible will, in many cases, probably be as effective as asking me to bungee jump – it’s just not going to happen!

So how do we invite non-Christians to connect with the Bible? Incrementally and creatively!

Jeremiah, my grandson, recently celebrated his first birthday. It was a big moment. His parents decided he’d get to eat sugar for the first time. After the presents were opened he was presented with a cupcake. It was a sight to behold! Jamming fistfuls of icing smothered cake into his mouth he devoured it in less time than you could say, “Release the hounds!”

Newborn babies drink milk. Cupcakes aren’t on the menu for the first few months of life. Learning to eat is incremental – we start a baby on liquids and gradually introduce solids. So here’s a Bible engagement maxim: sip milk before you eat cupcakes.

Jeremiah eats cupcakes, but he’s iffy on beans. The fact that he doesn’t like beans hasn’t deterred his mum. She’s found cre8tve ways to make them palatable by mixing them together with other foods.

Huw Tyler, Ali Johnson, Katherine Cook and Andy Kind of the Share Creative project know something about making Bible engagement incremental and cre8tve. They developed the Natwivity: daily Christmas tweets of 140 characters with a thought or comment from Mary, Joseph, Wise Men and Shepherds, with further entries from Herod, an Inn Keeper and his wife, and friends of Mary and Joseph. Social media is a great tool for inviting engagement with the Bible. Check out the Natwivity here and while you’re at it check out The Digital Story of the Nativity on You Tube.

The Stakes are High

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:05:00 GMT

The stakes are high. Every year for the past three years nearly 6,000 American elementary and high school children have pitted themselves against each other in a spelling-bee-style competition known as the National Bible Bee. For several months students participate in online tests and exams in the hope of being selected as one of 300 children and youth to compete in the Nashville, Tennessee, November finals. The hugely popular Scripps National Spelling Bee awards the national spelling champion $35,000. Prize money at the National Bible Bee outstrips this award. Top place in the senior category of the National Bible Bee is $100,000 and total prize money at the event is $260,000.

Imagine being a ten year old contestant: You walk up to the microphone and look at the moderator who asks you to recite 1 Timothy 2:9-11. You have more than 2,000 memorized verses buzzing through your mind, but you can’t stall. You know if you pause for longer than ten seconds, you’ll be eliminated. One wrong word when you recite the text - eliminated. So you recite the text slowly and clearly, take a deep breath, and wait for the judges to nod. If you get the nod you’ll return to your seat with the other finalists and prepare yourself for the next round . . .

Many are asking why the organizers of the National Bible Bee are doing what they’re doing. Phil Vischer, a Bible Bee presenter and co-creator of the Veggie Tales cartoons says, “These kids are learning the Bible so they can live Christianity well.”

Some of my Christian peers can recite, from memory, several texts from the Bible. Many Christians I know can barely recite a verse or two. Nine year old Olivia Davis, winner of this year’s primary division says, “If young people all did Bible Bee, we could change the country forever!” Can memorizing the Word of God lead to cultural change from sea to sea? Maybe! The Bible teaches us that when our hearts and minds are full of good things, then our words and actions will be good (cf. Luke 6:45). So I’m with Olivia; dreaming about what could happen if people, both young and old, started memorizing Scripture.

[ Source for information on the National Bible Bee: The Globe and Mail. Monday, November 21, 2011]

Open the Book

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:21:00 GMT

After several years investigating the connections Canadians do or do not have with the Bible, we’ve discovered the Bible is the most popular least read book! Tragically, while there are three Bibles in the average Canadian home, they’re usually found on a dust covered shelf. Despite the availability and advanced marketing of the Bible, fewer and fewer Canadians are reading the Bible, knowing what it says, and living according to its principles.

Even among churched Christians, many never read the Bible from cover to cover. A Bible literacy poll in an Evangelical Toronto church in March 2010 revealed that eighteen percent of the congregation reported reading the Bible once a day, thirty-eight percent read the Bible once a week, twenty-one percent read the Bible once a month, and twenty-three percent said they seldom or never read the Bible.

The fact that the Bible is being treated lightly, ignored, or dismissed, isn’t due to limited selection or accessibility. Among the more than eight-hundred English versions of the Bible there are hundreds of reader friendly formats and more than one-thousand different Bibles that can be purchased online from Amazon.com. There’s even a waterproof version for those who like reading in the shower!

At Scripture Union Canada we’re deeply concerned about the growing disconnection with the Bible. Yet while we’re concerned, we’re optimistic. The decline in Bible engagement means there are more opportunities than before to bring fresh invitations for people to connect with the Bible. So we’re praying for a Bible reading revival – praying that Canadians will open the Book.

Update!

Eric Reynolds from Power to Change posted an article on the Power to Change blog where he quotes from the "Open the Book" blog. I've copied Eric's blog below:

Antique Is In There is a whole world of antiques and collectibles that I am only barely aware of. I stumbled into it this year as I moved into my new home and began to find some furniture. I thought, “It would be a good idea to get some used stuff and save money. I should check out the antique shops.” There are a few by my house, so I paid them a visit (and some money soon after). Was I in for a surprise! The first place was decked out: fancy with lights and polished tabletops. The prices were double what you would pay for new! I thought, “Don’t old things depreciate in value?” In the basement they had more treasures, but again, in my opinion, over-priced. The woman that ran the store wouldn’t budge on any of the items and insisted in their value. The second store was more of a barn, stacked to the rafters in… stuff. A row of old doors, wooden boxes, everything wooden and polished brass. It was overwhelming! This vendor was willing to negotiate from his top-dollar pricing. Nonetheless, the manner in which he talked about his items, combined with the sheer quantity and organization, betrayed his passionate love for these fortunes of someone’s history. A few months went by and I spoke to another man. His name is Dr. Lawson Murray and his eccentrics, though thoroughly covered by a compassionate demeanor, are similar to that of the two shopkeepers. He, too, cares deeply for an antique that he believes still contains much more value than its contemporaries deem it to possess. He is the President of Scripture Union Canada. Rare objects of all sorts garner top dollar, but Murray’s concern is in the undervalued nature of the Holy Bible. He writes: After several years investigating the connections Canadians do or do not have with the Bible, we’ve discovered the Bible is the most popular least read book! Tragically, while there are three Bibles in the average Canadian home, they’re usually found on a dust covered shelf. I’m all too familiar with this reality and it pains me to hear his findings, though they do not surprise me. But Murray turns to hope quicker than I do. At Scripture Union Canada we’re deeply concerned about the growing disconnection with the Bible. Yet while we’re concerned, we’re optimistic. The decline in Bible engagement means there are more opportunities than before to bring fresh invitations for people to connect with the Bible. So we’re praying for a Bible reading revival – praying that Canadians will open the Book. Visit their site and see what Lawson Murray and Scripture Union Canada are doing. Our prayers and God’s blessings with them. You hear that? Dust it off. Open the book. Antique is in.

“To Be All Ear”

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:21:00 GMT

A missionary working on Bible translation in Africa had difficulty finding a word in the local dialect for “obedience”. One day, while walking through a village, his dog took off in pursuit of a chicken. The missionary whistled and called the dog back to his side. An elderly local man sitting by the roadside, impressed by the instant obedience of the dog, exclaimed, “Mui adem delegau ge!” which literally translated means, “Dog yours, ear is only”. In other words, “Your dog is all ear”. This gave the missionary the descriptor he needed for obedience – “to be all ear”.

The fact that the dog heard and acted on the missionary's call is what made it obedient. When we hear a good sermon, attend a Bible study, or read a Christian blog we may be inclined to think we’ve done enough. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hearing must lead to doing. Obedience is the desired outcome of Bible engagement. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word and does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does” James 1:22-25 (NIV).

Letting the Bible Have Its Way with Us

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:22:00 GMT

Most of us think of Bible engagement as giving people a Bible, reading or studying the Bible, giving our loyalty to the Bible, or the work associated with Bible translation, linguistics and publishing. At Scripture Union Canada we believe Bible engagement should go beyond these transactional and cognitive elements to embrace and emphasise encounter, relationship, interaction, and transformation. That is, Bible engagement is the process whereby people are connected with the Bible such that they have meaningful encounters with Jesus Christ and their lives are progressively transformed in Him.

Bible engagement is about people meeting the One of whom the Bible speaks and being changed by His Story. For Bible engagement to occur, transformation, not information, should be the desired end. When transformation is the desired end then Bible engagement is first and foremost about letting the Bible have its way with us.

Roy Harrisville in “The Loss of Biblical Authority and Its Recovery”, in Reclaiming the Bible for the Church, eloquently makes the point that the Bible “will have a man’s or woman’s heart and soul, and if not, it will work despair . . . whoever you are, if you do not repent and believe the testimony laid down in this book concerning God and his Christ, it will judge you to inconsequence, render your reading of it, your interpretation of it, your preaching on it a comic spectacle to the world to which you believed you had to adjust it.”

The point is this: Bible engagement should be more than connecting with a book (even when it is described or thought of as the Book of books). Bible engagement should be a connection with the triune God’s Story in a way in which a person’s or communities’ story intersects with, is changed by, and finds its place in the Story.