Biblefresh: it could change your world

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The Bible and Modern Science

A Christians in Science day conference

Saturday, 12^th November 2011 Read the rest of this entry »

Unlocking real life stories of urban people…

Revealing Good News of the Down to Earth Christ…

Releasing life-changing skills and confidence…

‘The Bible has plenty to say – more than we’ll ever know – about our lives if we know how to read it and apply it… if we know how to UNLOCK it!’

Unlock exists to help urban churches of any denomination respond to the challenges of the inner cities and poor housing estates. It is especially concerned with communication in ‘tabloid’, ‘non-book’ or ‘oral learning’ cultures. Using the Unlock approach, change happens as a result of linking real life experience with the Bible.

Telling tales from Liverpool (1)

The lost child.
Our first session looked at the theme, ‘Even Good Parents Make Mistakes’. Starting from a picture of a very lonely looking girl we shared stories. Of course, we all had plenty of personal experience to draw on!
I then told the story of Mary and Joseph losing Jesus on the way back from Jerusalem. At our following meeting one of the girls was really animated when I asked, ‘Has anything from the last session made a difference to you over the last fortnight?’ ‘Yes, yes! It was amazing, right, we was in town and me mate lost her kid, only for a few minutes like, but while he was lost we bumped into her mam, and her mam was furious, yelling at her and that. And I thought, that’s a bit harsh, she’s only made a mistake. Then we found the kid but her mam were still going on and I remembered what had happened to Mary.
So I told her if it was good enough for Jesus to have a human mam that made mistakes then surely it’s good enough for anyone!’

Unlock has been around since 1972 but even so, it doesn’t offer pre-packaged answers. Each group has to work creatively within its own unique situation, while Unlock workers assist in that process.

Telling tales from Liverpool (2)

Changing the narrative.
‘I have learnt the importance of listening to the group’s stories and adapting sessions to their experiences rather than sticking rigidly to planned outlines. That was true with the pre-Christmas ‘Staying for Lunch’ session. The planned session was around the theme ‘Celebration’ but in response to the opening questions the mums told stories about expense, debt, and trying to make ends meet. The Bible story I had prepared, the Wedding at Cana, didn’t resonate, so we talked about the widow’s lost coin instead.’

Dawn Lonsdale, Chief Officer, explains the ethos of Unlock: ‘The founders were particularly concerned that Christian disciples in deprived inner cities and city estates were being denied the chance to explore their growing faith for themselves in ways that fit with their way of looking at life.
‘There is a vast array of resources for people who want to grow in Christian faith and discipleship. But in general those resources are alienating for urban working class people. The fear was that ordinary working class people were left feeling that learning about faith couldn’t have much to do with them, because it wasn’t presented in a style that related to their everyday lives and their way of looking at things.
‘Unlock quickly realised that there were different approaches, which were more comfortable, and appropriate, for people who, “can read but don’t much”. The kind of people Unlock works with, have sometimes been made (or allowed) to believe that they are not qualified to think theologically, and have nothing to contribute to exploring the Christian faith: ‘I’m nobody, no one will be interested in what I think, and I’m not very good at explaining…’

Telling tales from Liverpool (3)

Created in God’s image.
‘After preparing the veg together and putting the soup on to simmer, I asked, “Have you ever made something that you are proud of?” Given the nature of the group, the responses were quite amazing, including reupholstering a three-piece suite and carving book ends that are still used some 20 years on.
“How did you feel?” was the next question, to which someone responded, ‘Kinda too big on the inside, like there wasn’t enough room for how pleased I was, and I might burst.” We shared a few more experiences and then went through a pictorial account of the creation story, finishing by saying that when God made all those things, and when he made each of us, He thought it was good. He probably had the same feelings you did when you were pleased with what you made…
There was a moment’s silence, one of those holy feeling pauses, then, reverently, ‘That’s boss, that is. God thinks I’m alright.’

Dawn Lonsdale continues: ‘The truth is that when you ask these urban disciples to tell their stories, and when there is real listening, you find stories of biblical values lived out; stories that have real resonance with the stories in the Bible, and which provide a very fruitful source for theological reflection and new insights.
Unlock is working to enable those Christians who live and worship in urban, less wealthy areas to have the confidence to interpret their faith and the Bible for themselves, and then to share it appropriately – and to challenge the way the church has traditionally communicated the good news.

Where is Unlock? Unlock has workers in Bristol, Birmingham, Glasgow, Hull, Liverpool, Sheffield … and is planning to start in Manchester, Leicester, Leeds… see www.unlock-urban.org.uk for the latest news and developments.

This week Christian Today talked to Krish Kandiah about his thoughts on the Biblefresh movement.  We have reproduced their article with their kind permission.

Krish Kandiah is a popular blogger, writer and speaker and Executive Director of Churches in Mission at the Evangelical Alliance. He talks here about the Biblefresh movement inspiring Christians to reengage with the Bible throughout 2011 – and why it’s about more than just reading.

CT: Biblefresh has triggered a flurry of initiatives and projects by a huge number of organisations. Are you surprised by how well it’s taken off?

Krish: We’re just really encouraged that groups like the Methodist Church and the Brethrens and Pentecostals have grasped this, the Methodist Church in particular from the beginning.

We didn’t want to say to people to just go back and do what you did before, but we want people to engage in the Bible in a fresh way. Biblefresh is inviting churches to do something corporately – to have a weightwatchers approach to the Bible! Everyone’s got a set of scales at home but they sign up to Weightwatchers to measure their weight in public. There’s corporate encouragement to lose weight and there is accountability and you work together to reach your goal. The church could work together through the Bible in a year and help each other and encourage each other and tweak things here and there that could get people engaging with the Bible more.

You will see on all of the Biblefresh material that we haven’t put a picture of a book and that’s because we want to say to people that there are so many great digital ways to engage with God’s word today – whether that’s through WordLive, smartphones, YouVersion or whatever means you can engage with God’s word.

It’s amazing how Biblefresh is spreading virally because there are so many great opportunities for us to use a communication tool well. Paul talked about doing whatever it takes, that he would become a Jew to reach the Jews and a Greek to reach the Greek so that by any means possible he might win some for Christ, and I think that’s got to be our opportunistic attitude to these new technologies.

CT: That concept seems to be sparking interest across the generations.

Krish: Yes, it’s really exciting because for some people they have never read the Bible before. We want grandparents to get excited because they are the most trusted generation in this country and they have huge influence over the younger generations. We’re encouraging them to give a Bible to their grandchildren because it means so much more coming from grandpa or grandma. We really want to see these generations keen to interact with the Bible.

CT: It’s interesting that you mention the word exciting because not many people today would put the word exciting together with the Bible. Do you think that’s even a common perception within the church that we need to be wrestling with?

Krish: Yes. Rob Bell did a commendation for us in which he said our unfamiliarity has bred more unfamiliarity. And that’s true. If we can give people a way back into the Bible they could taste how good it is. I was at a Youthwork conference in Eastbourne recently and I showed the youth leaders there how the writer of the Psalms doesn’t rhyme sounds but ideas. And they thought ‘wow, I’ve never seen that before’ and new bits of the Bible are opened up for them.

It’s like learning to drive. A whole new part of life opens up and there are open roads and places to explore. If we can give people a few skills the Bible will come alive to people in a new way. It can be a really exciting experience but there might be a little bit of work people need to do to get started.

CT: You’ve asked churches to sign up to a covenant.

Krish: Yes, we’re asking churches to make pledges in four different dimensions. The first is Bible reading, so do something corporately to help the church read the Bible together. The second is to invest in training because if the pastor or the house group leader or Sunday school teacher isn’t excited about teaching the Bible then the trickledown effect won’t happen. So our advice to churches is to do something to raise the game and train those who are teaching the Bible. Maybe send the pastor on a weekend course to refresh their preaching or do something for the house group leader in the church.

The third is Bible translation. For 400 years we have had the Bible in our own language and it’s a travesty that there are billions of people who have not even a word of the Bible in their own language. Wouldn’t it be a great birthday gift to give a translation of the Bible to the poorest country in Africa – Burkina Faso. We’re asking churches to think about what they can do creatively to release funds that would make the Bible available in Burkina Faso.

The fourth is to do something to help people experience the Bible. We call this the Lord of the Rings factor. A lot of people went to see the movie and then went to read the book and we want to see if we can do something similar with the Bible. There are theatre companies, operatic companies, a painting competition, video competition, all sorts of things to help churches give people an experience of the Bible that will draw them back to it again.

CT: Why have you decided to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land a part of Biblefresh?

Krish: We thought that would be a great way to give people a Bible experience, reading Jesus’ words to Peter as we sit by the Sea of Galilee. Being there will really help the reality of these stories because the Bible isn’t just some great mythological book but took place in real space/time history. These pilgrimages are going to be very Bible-based trips where we will be reading key parts of the Bible in key biblical sites.

CT: Is part of Biblefresh also about helping people discover how the Bible can become a part of their everyday life?

Krish: Yes, my wife and I have written a book into that called Route 66, which will be available at Spring Harvest, and in that we make the point that the Bible is full of different types of literature. God gave us wisdom books so that we would make really wise decisions, while the Psalms really pour out their emotional lives. There is emotional integrity in there that really equips us to speak to God when we are running out of words or tells us what to do when we feel isolated or despairing. We want to help people have a roadmap of how the Bible opens up the whole of life to his word.

CT: You’ve got so many exciting projects but what is it you really want to see happen within the church during this year?

Krish: We would just love to see the whole church get into the whole Bible for the whole year. I spoke to the New Testament Church of God because of every time I go on the Underground in London and see a person reading the Bible they are usually from the black majority church and I wanted to know how they can help the rest of us! At the other end of the spectrum I spoke to the Proclamation Trust and they’re putting on events to help people engage with the Bible so it really is the whole cross section of the church – charismatic, Pentecostal, reformed Methodist, all of us working together. It’s really exciting that we can be one church gathered around one book for one year.

CT: Hope 08 was planned for a year but gathered such momentum that it just continued. Do you envisage Biblefresh really being for just for one year or are you open to it going further?

Krish: With the Biblefresh coalition of 100 different Christian organisations working together in this joined up way, I’m hoping there will be a legacy. Instead of the church being very empire-built – ‘I will do my little bit in my little corner’ – we want to see the relationships continue. Organisationally Biblefresh will finish at the end of 2011 but there are lots of other things the Evangelical Alliance has got planned to help people interact with the Bible and we hope the legacy of Biblefresh will remain for a long time and that we give the church a real boost in confidence in God’s word.

This article was reproduced by kind permission of Christian Today.

We have received a great review of the Biblefresh book in November’s edition of Christianity Magazine

“A bright and appealing magazine format features more than 50 individual writers and organisations sharing their passion for the word of God, in both bite-sized chunks and larger portions.   Read the rest of this entry »

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