Bible Engagement Online
I have been doing a lot of thinking about Bible engagement: how can we encourage people to engage with the Bible? In my paper: The Bible in the Digital Space (1189) I outline the importance of church attendance, with more church attendance equating to more Bible engagement. I offer that we need to go where people are as well as expecting people to come to to us, to a physical church building. And an obvious place to find people is online.
One simple example is The Bible page I started on Facebook where I post a short passage of scripture which appears on the wall of each of the presently more than 30,000 fans. A number of people then comment on the text and on each others comments, offering prayers, thoughts and affirmation. In terms of being an effective engagement tool, my sense is that the Facebook Bible page is on the right path, but not quite there yet. Spent some time yesterday chatting with Stephen Opie, Bible Engagement Advocate for Bible Society New Zealand, thinking through 
how we might create an engagement resource within Facebook. And we are not alone in exploring these sorts of questions. A number of agencies are creating tools to encourage Bible reading in the face of shocking engagement statistics. The American Bible Society have just recently launched an excellent website called Engage the Word well worth checking out @ engage the word
And in October, Stephen and I are leading a think tank called, Scripture Engagement in Post-Christian Societies which is part of the World Wide Scripture Engagement Consultation, where such questions will be explored and hopefully some concrete ideas formed.
Another organisation who is engaging well with the challenges of Bible reading is Scripture Union - England and Wales. While I was in Durham I caught up with Darren Hill, their Digital Content Manager who shared with me that their online Bible reading resource, WordLive was about to get an overhaul.. and this has now happened, with the new look WordLive being launched today. It is a quality resource offering daily Bible passages in a number of formats: podcast, mobile, email etc.. the format is clean and easy to use. I particularly like the About God section.. very cool presentation. So big congrats to the team over at Scripture Union - England and Wales, well worth not only checking it out but signing up. Head to: WordLive.
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6 Responses to “Bible Engagement Online”
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I’ve spent a fair amount of time with spiritual seekers online and offline and maybe the people I talk to are much further back in their faith journeys that the ones you are encountering Mark, but the last thing I ever mention is the Bible. As a Christian who is passionate about mission to post modern culture the Bible is vital for my life, but for them it has no relevance whatsoever. I have had years of patient work building relationships with seekers blown away by Christians waving their Bibles and demanding that their interpretion is the correct one.
For Christians who have responded to the command to ‘go’ and who are embedded in seeking communites rather than recreating church online, a much more subtle and nuanced approach to the Bible is needed. How do we begin to get people intrigued enough by the love of God which is at the heart of the Bible that they might risk engaging with Christians and with the Bible itself?
That’s an interesting position Karen but I wonder if the decision about not being interested in the Bible is one that we make on behalf of people. Maybe we decide they wouldn’t be interested in the Bible rather than looking for creative ways to anable Bible enagagement - does it say more about us and our approach to the Bible than it does about them. After all in a truly post-Christian society they may never have encountered the Bible so they are responding from ignorance!
No I am speaking from expereince. The groups that I’m with are quite clear that the Bible is the result of some dodgey deals by the early church and Constantine in particular. For them it represents a patriarchial and authoritarian viewpoint that seeks to repress any joy and love in their lives. Now I know that this isn’t the case but meeting Christians who live the gospel (hey I’m not the only one out there!) is are far better means to witnessing to the love of Christ than quoting the Bible at them when their ears are closed. Shouting is counter productive!
Of course this set of anti Bible feelings isn’t the case for everyone who isn’t a Christian but it does show the merit of listening to a group and its concerns before speaking just as Paul did in Athens when he spoke to the Jewish groups in their language and the Greek audience in theirs.
I think you are certainly on the right track Karen. Thanks for making this point. In addition to initially avoiding mention of the Bible, I have also begun to avoid self identifying as a Christian. I prefer Jesus follower. Words like “Bible” and “Chrisitan” have gathered a lot of baggage over the years. Thanks for giving us the benefit of your experience.
I’m engaging anthropologists and anthropology students from around the world with the Bible here: http://openanthcoop.ning.com/forum/topics/ancient-afroasiatic-religious-1
Please join in!
I’m not at all convinced that “more church attendance equates to more Bible engagement” - I’d want to see much more detailed stats than Mark showed in his talk. You need to look closely at what KIND of church promotes Bible engagement, for example, and how. And I’d agree with Karen that this focus on Bible engagement as the ultimate goal is unhealthy - the idea that people should go to church so they read their Bibles more, rather than, say, to worship God, just seems upside down and back to front.
As for online bible tools, I’d want to see good evidence and clear engagement with what we already know about the Internet to show that these tools actually appeal to people who do not read the Bible, rather than just offering new tools for those who do. Offering new tools is important and valuable, but shouldn’t be disguised by hype about outreach and evangelism.