Coordinator: Jed Carter
The Scripture Engagement Research Compendium (SERC) provides brief, comparable descriptions of SE research projects conducted in minority languages around the world. It is a helpful starting point for those desiring to learn from SE research and for anyone planning SE research.
SERC was initiated in 2019 by Jed Carter, with the help of many SE researchers, including a significant number who contributed entries about their own research.
How can SERC be used?
You can sort the spreadsheet by PIQUE factor for types of research deemed relevant, by date to see how SE research has progressed, or by location to see where SE research has or hasn't been done. You can read full reports for the relevant research, and contact authors to ask how and why questions if planning similar research. You could compile a list of findings and evaluate which are likely to be true in your context.
What is PIQUE?
SERC uses the PIQUE framework, allowing for brief, comparable descriptions of research. PIQUE (Purpose, Informant, Quantitative-Qualitative, Unit of analysis, Extent of area researched) attempts to capture key aspects of research projects. In addition to helping the reader better understand what types of SE research exist, the PIQUE factors can be used to find past research projects which are similar to planned, future SE research, which enables SE researchers to build on past research. [more...]
"By using Participatory Methods, my students have seen all eight conditions for Scripture engagement strengthened, and Kingdom Goals met, working with various communities around the world. Both literate and oral-preference communicators have become more actively involved in creating with and learning from their local language Scripture."
This paper outlines the application of participatory methods to the “Eight Conditions for Scripture Engagement.”
Using the new “Appreciative Inquiry for Scripture Engagement” facilitation tool, translation teams and local leaders explore existing strengths and future hopes for each condition. Together, they prioritize their goals, and make an action plan to achieve them. The eight conditions provide an analytic framework for participants to evaluate strengths and overcome obstacles to their community’s interaction with Scripture.
Following appreciative inquiry, the new “Use of Our Arts in Ministry” tool allows teams to expand Scripture use to further artistic domains in ways that strengthen each weak condition. Participatory methods facilitation leads a team to engage their community with their translation in life-changing ways. Script outlines in appendices 1 and 2 explain how to use the two participatory methods discussed. [more...]
"Imagine a world-wide community speaking the words of the Bible together across towns, cities, and continents. Lives will be changed! Together we will read, speak, and hear the words of the Bible each day."
Bible 2020 is a year-long campaign encouraging us to speak the words of the Bible aloud across every country and nation. It starts on 1st January 2020. To get involved, join the global community using the app.
Bringing together the history of oral Bible tradition and the global reach of modern technology, Scottish Bible Society has developed the Bible2020 App, 366 days of short inspirational Bible verses that you can film yourself speaking and share it with your community so that together we can cover the globe in God’s Word through the year. The app will collate the videos and post them on a wall, letting you see and hear the nations speak the words of the Bible. [more...]
MTh Thesis, South African Theological Seminary (2013)
The major finding of the research is that the proclamation of the Gospel in the mother tongue of the people has made significant strides in the growth of Christianity among the Nchumuru people. However the Gospel proclamation among the Nchumuru often produces different responses ranging from full embrace to partial embrace as well as conflictual or negative embrace depending on how the Gospel is proclaimed and how the people understand it.
Abstract:
This thesis, Towards a Model of Contextualising Christianity in the Nchumuru Culture in Ghana: The impact of mother tongue Scriptures from 1989-2011, is a study on the impact of mother tongue Scriptures on culture and also the engagement of the Gospel with the culture of the Nchumuru people of Northern and Volta Regions of Ghana. It examines the coming of Christianity to the people and the patterns of evangelisation among the Nchumuru with special reference to the medium used in the proclamation of the Gospel. It also addresses the issue of the birth of a Bible Translation ministry among the people and the subsequent birth of the Bible into that culture and how the Nchumuru have responded to the proclamation of the Gospel as well as the impact it has had on the lives of the Nchumuru.
The writer contends that despite the challenges, indigenous Nchumuru Christianity is possible through the recognition of traditional or cultural categories as significant preparation for the reception of the Gospel. In this way the Christian faith can be articulated in the Nchumuru cultural context with the use of its thought forms and patterns in a relevant worship of God.
The major finding of the research is that the proclamation of the Gospel in the mother tongue of the people has made significant strides in the growth of Christianity among the Nchumuru people. However the Gospel proclamation among the Nchumuru often produces different responses ranging from full embrace to partial embrace as well as conflictual or negative embrace depending on how the Gospel is proclaimed and how the people understand it. There is the need for the people to perceive and respond to the Gospel in ways that are meaningful to their own understanding and experience. The significance of the impact of the mother tongue Scriptures in contextualising Christianity in the Nchumuru culture and its contribution in the evangelistic task of the church is therefore very crucial. [more...]