- Home
- News Blog
- Resources
- Events and Training
- About Us
- Contact Us
- Advocacy for SE
It's not enough to translate the Bible; it's not enough to distribute the Bible. Our desire is to see real Scripture Engagement: people encountering God's Word in life-changing ways. On this site you'll find news, events and resources for those encouraging Scripture use and Bible engagement around the world.
An Exploration of the Ordinary Hermeneutics and Faith of Generation Y
Author: Ruth Perrin
Published by: Pickwick Publications (2016)
From the book’s description:
"Young evangelicals in Britain often find themselves at odds with an increasingly secular society, and yet the tradition persists and in some places flourishes. Sociological studies into the faith of this demographic group are rare, yet there is much to be explored as to how their faith functions and how it compares to other groups globally. Similarly, given the privilege evangelicals afford the biblical text, how young believers engage with the ancient Scriptures they understand to be "the word of God" is particularly significant.
"This work addresses that core question. How do young evangelicals make sense of the Bible today? Based on qualitative data gathered from three diverse evangelical churches it compares the reading priorities, ordinary hermeneutics, and theological concerns of young adults. Presenting age-related focus groups with challenging biblical narratives, the study compares strategies for negotiating the texts based on age, gender, and churchmanship. It provides a unique insight into the realities of Bible reading and the faith of "Generation Y" and gives food for thought not only to those with scholarly interests, but also those with a pastoral concern to shape and sustain the Christian faith of young adults in Britain and beyond."
Available in print and as a Kindle e-book. [more...]
Read, Reflect, Remember, Respond
Author: Lawson Murray
Published by: Scripture Union Canada (2017)
About the book (from the Bible Engagement Basics web page):
Do Christians really know what the Bible is and the difference it can make in their lives?
Are Christians being equipped to dynamically connect with God’s Word? Is the Bible being read as God intended? According to Bible engagement advocate, Dr. Lawson Murray, the answer is no. He says, “Most Christians are unsure about how they should interact with the Bible. They’re confused about what it is, how to read it, and how to apply it to their lives.”
Vision for Bible Engagement Basics
“The vision for this book is not to help more people read the Bible,” says Murray. “The fact that only 2 out of 10 Christians will read the Bible from cover to cover isn’t really the problem. The real problem is relational - people aren’t connecting with Jesus. That’s why this book’s about learning how to engage with the Bible in order to meet with Jesus and live in harmony with His Story.”
Contents
Each chapter looks at a different aspect of Bible engagement and provides tips to help a reader read, reflect, remember and respond to God's Word.
The book is divided into 3 sections: Principles (Theme, Authority, Story, and more), Practices (Interpreting, Reflecting, Spoken Word, Journaling and more) and Paradigms (Children, Millenials, Small Groups and more). [more...]
Author: Research conducted by Barna Group
Published by: American Bible Society (2017)
"Americans believe the nation is in moral decline, but they see hope for change in the pages of Scripture, according to the 2017 State of the Bible survey."
The "State of the Bible" is an annual report commissioned by American Bible Society and conducted by the Barna Group. According to this year’s survey, general trends skew positively toward both Bible engagement and perceptions of the Bible.
Here are some of the research findings:
- Half of Americans are ‘Bible users’ – that is, they engage with the Bible by reading, listening to or praying with the Bible on their own at least three to four times a year (50%).
- Nearly one-third of adults say they never read, listen to or pray with the Bible (32%), a five-percentage point increase over 2016.
- The King James Version continues to be the version Bible users prefer most often, with 31% using this translation.
- 58% of Americans wish they spent more time reading or listening to the Bible.
- More than one half (56%) of those who report an increase in Bible readership attribute it to their understanding that Bible reading is an important part of their faith journey.
- The top reason for decreased Bible reading continues to be being too busy with life’s responsibilities.
- Most Bible users (91%) still prefer to use a print version of the Bible when engaging with scripture, yet an equal number (92%) report using another Bible format than print in the past year.
- As expected, younger generations prefer to use their smartphones to access the Bible more than other generations. More than one in four Millennials (27%) prefer their phone compared to one in five (20%) Gen-Xers, 7% of Boomers and just 3% of Elders.
The full report is available as a free PDF download. [more...]
An interactive workshop for training listening group leaders and promoters
Author: Richard Margetts (2016)
Available in both English and French.
The training workshop described in this guide was developed in West Africa and includes input received from around the world. It is for listening group leaders (those who lead/facilitate the groups) and for group promoters (those who visit groups to encourage them and mentor the facilitators).
A listening group is an opportunity for people to get together to listen to a passage from the Bible and talk about it together. In this guide, you’ll find elements which focus on the ‘why’ of listening groups as well as the practical details of ‘how’ to lead a group.
WHY?
Group leaders need to know why they are doing what they are doing. What is the aim of a listening group? What kinds of group can we have? How will we know if a group is working well or not? Why are they gathering together to listen? The aim should be transformational Scripture engagement: that people encounter God’s Word in life-changing ways.
HOW?
The workshop guide includes sections on how to lead the listening time, how to manipulate the audio player and how to ask good discussion questions. It can be taught in an interactive way and participants should have plenty of opportunity during the workshop to practice participating in and leading listening groups.
An ideal time for such a workshop could be when new audio Scriptures in the local language have been recorded for a community and when audio players are available. It would work well at the launch of a listening group programme in a region, after some initial promotion work has been done to get churches involved and committed to running groups.
The guide is downloadable here in both PDF and Word formats and is published under a Creative Commons License, meaning that you can adapt it for use in your context. [more...]