Not only do billions around the world now have access to the Bible online, and not only are many of them actually reading it, they're also actively engaging with the Word of God—and with one another in far flung virtual communities across the planet.
With these trends, the vocabulary of Bible dissemination is changing. For centuries, the buzzword was distribution, with a focus on quantity delivered. The new buzzword is engagement.
Lamar Vest, president and CEO of the American Bible Society (ABS), says
we're witnessing "a revival of Bible engagement. For too long we have
judged our effectiveness by the number of Bibles distributed. We are
determined to no longer judge our effectiveness by tonnage but by
impact."
Vest's comments came at a conference in Orlando,
Florida, held late last year by the Forum of Bible Agencies and largely
catalyzed by ABS and its new engagement initiative, Uncover the Word.
The event drew representatives from over 125 organizations, including
Willow Creek Association, Renovaré, the Salvation Army, Christianity
Today, and Scripture Union, plus many denominations. Participants were
urged to "leave behind their logos and egos" and join a "movement" for
Scripture engagement.
Presenters included Bobby Gruenewald, founder of
YouVersion.com, with over 50 million us ers; Mark Brown, creator of the
Bible page on Facebook, with over 8.5 million "friends"; Jim Mellado,
president of Willow Creek Association; Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback
Church; Chris Webb, president of Renovaré; and Sam Rodriguez, president
of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.
"The Bible has long stood as the centerpiece for the
moral ethos in this country," Rodriguez said in his opening address. "We
have lost that. This movement will reaffirm biblical orthodoxy among
us. It will be a prophetic, truth-telling movement. We will reengage the
culture with this story."
New research from ABS and the Barna Group—called State
of the Bible 2011—was also pre sented. Results showed that 45 percent of
Americans say God regularly speaks to them through the Bible, but 50
percent say the book is hard to understand. "Some see that 50 percent
statistic as a problem," said Mark Forshaw, executive director of ABS's
Global Scripture Impact, "but we are choosing to view it as an
opportunity."
The study also showed that while 86 percent cite the
Bible as "a sacred book," only 20 percent are engaging it in their
personal lives. Joel Hunter, pastor of Northland Church in Orlando,
cited a widespread "de-emphasis on the Bible. Unfortunately, we are
biblically ignorant. We go to the Bible when we need something, but we
are not married to it."
Are the marvels of modern technology—the information superhighway on steroids—changing that?
The New Roman Roads
The
ancient Roman roads spanned more than 250,000 miles. The Romans started
building these continent-connecting arteries in 500 B.C., enabling both
their empire to grow and the gospel to advance rapidly.
Today's Roman roads are the Internet, the smartphone,
the tablet, and social media, ready and waiting for innumerable journeys
of faith and witness. While the ancient roads connected hundreds of
towns and cities, the new ones connect millions of homes and
individuals. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman recently wrote, "The world has gone from connected to hyperconnected."
By Robert C. Crosby in http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/june/social-network-gospel.html?utm_source=ctdirect-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=9474904&utm_content=127944513&utm_campaign=2012
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