Jesus Film Project carries more than 30 short and feature-length films and has partnered with more than 1,500 ministries to see more than 500 million indicate decisions to follow Jesus. Many missions organizations have called the JESUS film “one of the greatest evangelistic success stories of all time.”
By Mark Ellis –
Scene from JESUS Film
Taweb* is a terrorist who killed many people, including more than a dozen children. As time went by, however, he felt a growing uneasiness about his role in the killings.
“For most fighters, it’s nothing to them, all the killing,” Taweb told the JESUS Film Project. The lack of peace caused him to leave his band of fighters for a break. After he arrived in his home village, he learned about a visiting team showing the JESUS film privately, house-to-house.
He was intrigued that the film was in his mother tongue. He wasn’t planning to watch the film, but God intervened, and Tawab found himself at one of the private screenings.
“By accident, I watched the JESUS film. I had never heard of Jesus before. I had never heard the message of peace.”
As he watched the story about the life of Jesus taken from the Book of Luke, the power of the Word and the Spirit touched his heart and he became a follower of Jesus. “Taweb found himself transformed by the Holy Spirit as he heard the Word of God, the gospel. The ‘worst of the worst,’ a murderer of innocent children, was forgiven, at peace, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus,” according to the JESUS Film Project report.
After Taweb accepted Christ, he asked the ministry team if they would show the film in his home. When they did, his entire family became followers of Jesus.
“The next night 45 families in his village gathered to watch and they all became believers – about 450 people in all – in this highly resistant area,” the report stated.
In the next four months, 75 of his fellow militants laid down their weapons and became followers of Jesus. “Today, each one of them leads a home church and they are passionately and boldly reaching the people around them, mostly by using ‘JESUS.’”
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8:29)
If you want to know more about a personal relationship with God, go here
To learn more about the JESUS Film Project, go here
Siberia: The light of Christ in the darkness of Winter
Elena is a field worker with Operation Mobilisation. In the year 2000 she moved to Arctic Russia to share the gospel with the Nenets people by translating the Bible in their language.
The Nenets are indigenous reindeer herders living in Northern Siberia, including the Yamal Peninsula. ‘Yamal’ means ‘The End of the Earth’. Out on the tundra, locals travel by snowmobile or reindeer sled. To reach particularly remote villages, it takes two to four hours by helicopter from Salekhard, the main city in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (district). The Yamal Peninsula is home to more reindeer than people and winter lasts nine months. “It’s very cold; minus 40°C can be pleasant for a walk if there is no wind,” Elena jokes.
The Nenets minority group has a population of around 45,000 people. Half of them live in Russian-speaking villages, while the other half are nomadic reindeer herders who live on the tundra and speak the Nenets language. Translating the Bible has been a complicated process, but today four books of the New Testament are in print, while others are in progress. OM East also published and illustrated two Bible storybooks.
‘Then I understood the meaning of light’
“I moved to Arctic Russia during December, the darkest month,” Elena recalled. “One day when I was testing translations, the electricity suddenly cut out. We sat without light all day. It was dark! Then I understood the meaning of light.” For Elena this experience of the Arctic winter darkness is a picture of life without Jesus Christ. Her desire is for the Nenets to know Jesus as the light of the world.
“I want every Nenets child to have a Bible,” she says. Over the past years she has distributed thousands of Bible storybooks. Wherever she came, the children took more interest in these Bible storybooks than in the chocolate she brought.
Their nomadic lifestyle makes it difficult for the reindeer herders to carry a collection of Christian literature. “They don’t have extra things – just the minimum,” Elena explains. “They have one pot, one kettle, and they don’t need a freezer!” However, they do have mobile phones. Her solution is to develop publications into applications so they can be stored on mobile phones, also allowing individuals to listen to the text. OM East plans to help provide these resources digitally.
The Warmest Tent on Earth – Pitching in the Siberian Arctic Winter
About 16 years ago, Elena met Neko, a Nenets woman who invited her to visit two family members on the tundra. Elena tested a translation by reading some Scripture verses to their hosts. They reacted strongly by walking out, leaving her alone in the tent. Jesus’ teaching had touched a nerve. But Neko changed, and the next time they met she had decided to be baptised and insisted on giving Elena a tithe to print Mark’s Gospel.
Elena prays for a revival among the Nenets. Today there are around 200 known Nenets believers, representing a small percentage of the population. The indigenous people group believes in numerous gods. For many, the reindeer are their life, their source of food, clothes, transport and shelter. Elena longs for the Nenets to acknowledge their Creator as their true provider and life-giver.
Prayer focus – Give praise to God who is light. Give thanks that He speaks through His Word. Pray the Nenets will put their trust in Jesus and receive His salvation. Pray for wisdom as Elena helps make God’s truth available. Pray that believers grow strong in their faith.
God’s leading through an unusual dream and a miraculous meeting led to evangelizing a hidden tribe in the Philippines.
By Mark Ellis —
Caleb & Gladys Byerly with their children
In 2013 Caleb Byerly woke up with a start and began to furiously write in his journal everything he saw in a rather unusual dream. For the previous five years, the small-town North Carolina resident had been engaged in mission outreach to indigenous people and tribal areas in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.
“In the dream, I was standing on top of this mountain. I was looking out across the mountain, and I saw a tribe of people,” he told The Unseen Story. Caleb and his wife, Gladys, live in Moravian Falls, a town of 1400 in the foothills of the Brushy Mountains.
He had never seen the tribe before, so he asked, “What tribe are you? What people are you?”
“We’re the Tinananon tribe,” they replied. Caleb had never heard of this people group and he began to carefully observe their actions in his dream.
A tribal chief walked forward carrying a musical instrument. Caleb happens to be an instrument maker by profession, so his eyes “zoomed in” to study the distinctive design of an instrument unlike anything he had ever seen before.
It had 30 strings going all the way around the top of a golden bowl, from the outside, crisscrossing in the middle of the instrument. “I suddenly got a full download of everything about this instrument, what dimensions the instrument was, what material it was made out of, even like how it was tuned and how it was played. After that, I kind of zoomed back out.
“This tribal chief, he took the instrument and he put it on the table. He took two small sticks, and he began to play this instrument. As he played the whole tribe started to dance and they started to worship. This kind of sound of worship just filled the place. It was as if heaven and earth just collided. After that I woke up from the dream.”
God has spoken to Caleb through dreams previously, so he meticulously recorded in his journal the name of the Tinananon tribe. He made detailed drawings of the bowl, its dimensions and materials, a wooden ring that goes around the bowl, the strings connected by wooden pegs, and the two sticks used to play the instrument.
“I feel like when God speaks to you, it’s an invitation to partner and walk with God. It’s not just God commanding you to do things or God just saying do this, do that. But it’s the Holy Spirit inviting you into some new journey that he’s calling you into, and it’s connected to you, it’s connected to your DNA and your calling. I really value that a lot. I really thought that this would be a really exciting thing to follow with the Lord.”
Caleb began to search online for any reference to a Tinananon people group but came up short. “I contacted different organizations like Wycliffe Bible Translators, and Summer Institute of Linguistics to see if they knew anything about this tribe. But everywhere I searched, I could not find that word. I tried the different spellings, but just couldn’t find anything there. So I kind of gave up on that.”
But as a professional instrument maker, he was intrigued by the idea of recreating the instrument he saw in the dream. “I’m gonna make this thing!” he decided. Even though he had not put metal and wood together in that way, he was up for the challenge.
“I got into my shop, and I just kept breaking this thing. I kept breaking things and snapping things. I could not figure out this one process. I got really frustrated. I was like, I’m just gonna put this thing to the side. I just couldn’t figure it out.
Caleb in his shop (Evergreen Missions)
“So, I kind of gave up on the whole dream. I felt like I had done my part. I wasn’t getting anywhere. So I just kind of gave it up.”
Trip to the Philippines
About six months later, he took a mission trip to the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, an area where he had previously been involved in ministry.
“I was on a Jeepney, which is like a public transportation. There was this man that was sitting on the other side of me. I could tell this guy was staring at me. I was like, what’s this guy doing? Every time that I would look at him, he would like look away.”
Caleb knows the national language of the Philippines, Tagalog, so he spoke to the man. “As I was talking to him, it turns out that he’s a believer! So we’re chatting and then right in the middle of our conversation, I heard the Lord speak to me. It wasn’t an audible voice or anything. It was just felt.”
The Lord spoke to Caleb’s heart and said, I want you to ask that man about the Tinananon.
Inside, Caleb resisted. No, I’m not going to ask this man about the Tinananon, he thought. I’ve already tried to do all my research.
A second time the Lord nudged his heart, Ask this man about the Tinananon.
Caleb built up his courage and said meekly, “Sir, do you happen to know Tinananon?
As soon as he said he word Tinananon, the man’s eyes got really big.
He leaned in and said, “Hey, that’s my people — that’s my tribe! How do you know my people?”
Caleb was rendered speechless for a moment. “Tell me everything you know about your tribe.”
Manigos began to explain that his tribe lives in a deep mountainous region of Mindanao. “This area is a really dangerous place,” he said. “No one from outside goes to this place.” Manigos estimated his people group numbers between 70,000 and 100,000 people, scattered throughout the mountainous region in pockets.
Caleb invited Manigos to follow him to the place he was staying and showed him his journal entry with the word Tinananon.
Manigos began shaking his head, and tears streamed down his face.
He said, “Remember earlier on the bus, I kept looking at you.”
“Yes, what was that all about?”
“I kept looking at you, and the reason why is because I’ve seen you before…I just realized where I saw you, I also saw you in a dream.”
Manigos explained that was born in the Tinananon tribe. He left as a young man and went to Davao City, the largest city on the island of Mindanao, with 1.8 million people. He came to know Jesus while he lived in the city, then God called him back to his tribe through a dream.
In the dream, Manigos had gone back to evangelize his people – with Caleb! “He saw me in his dream,” Caleb said, “and I came and joined him. He and I began to minister and bring the good news of Jesus to his people.”
They were filled with wonder and awe at the way God brought them together. The two men stayed together for several days. “We all worshipped together and prayed together for a few days. Manigos invited Caleb to visit his tribe.
“Yeah, I would love to go to your tribe,” Caleb replied, “but I need to ask my wife first.” His wife, Gladys, was eight months pregnant at the time. Going on a potentially dangerous journey, immediately before the birth of their first child was a big decision they had to make.
After Caleb flew home to North Carolina, he and Gladys sought the Lord’s direction. “We felt like the Lord’s hand was on it,” he said. “And if the Lord showed this, up to this point, then He would continue to be with us. So I decided I was going to go, but I wanted to get back in the shop and try to make this instrument again.”
Caleb got very focused and asked the Holy Spirit to help him. “The Lord gave me wisdom, gave me insight on the process of what to do…with the help of the Holy Spirit and my wife, we were able to get it. I finally made this instrument!
He put the strings on it for the first time. “I tuned it up the way I heard it in the dream. I got the two little sticks. And I started to play it. It was that same sound, the same sound that I heard in the dream. And I was like, this is it. I was just really excited about it.”
Caleb bought a plane ticket and left the next day for the Philippines, taking the instrument with him.
He met a tribal friend named Ansulao and his new friend, Manigos, at the border of the mountain range closest to the tribe. “All three of us, we got on this one little motorbike. It was like 120 cc, a little motorbike.”
The motorbike they took into the mountains (Evergreen Missions)
A large storm had passed through the steep, undeveloped mountainous area the day before. “It was really muddy, very hard to get through there. And then while we were on this motorbike, another storm came. I was trying to hold this instrument, and I couldn’t hold it to my left or my right, so I had to put it above my head.
“Imagine three people on a little motorcycle. I was holding this musical instrument above my head trying to balance.”
They came to a hanging bridge, which consisted of two ropes and primitive wood planks. They managed to get across the bridge and were going up a steep hill, when the motorbike popped its gear and went into neutral.
Suddenly they were flying backward, toward the cliff. The motorbike wheel hit a rock and all three men went flying. “Thank the Lord, we landed in this smooth, green patch of grass, just feet away from the cliff, the drop-off cliff!”
As they entered the area of the Tinananon tribal group, Caleb heard the still small voice of the Lord once more: Caleb, I want you to take the instrument to the chief.
They started asking about how to find the chief’s house, which they learned was another three and a half hours away, on the other side of the mountain.
By the time they reached the chief’s house it was almost evening. Mud covered their clothing as they approached a small wooden house and knocked on the door.
When the chief opened the door he had a shocked expression on his face – especially to see an American in this remote area.
“We are, I am coming to your tribe for the first time,” Caleb said. “I just wanted to give this as a gift to you,” he said, holding the instrument in his outstretched arms, covered by a blanket.
The chief placed the instrument on a table and took the blanket off of it. “He saw this instrument and he started staring at it. He kept looking at this instrument over and over again. He kept asking me, ‘Where did you get this instrument from?”
“Well, I just kind of made it,” Caleb replied.
“No, no, I’m serious. Where did you get this instrument from?”
“Well, if you really want to know. Last year, I had this dream. In the dream I heard the name of your tribe, the Tinananon, for the first time. I’d never heard that word before. I also saw this musical instrument in the dream. I felt like my God has given this dream to me.
“After that I met this man, Manigos, who is from your tribe, and he helped me lead me to your house today. I was able to make this instrument. I just felt like I wanted to give this instrument to you today.”
The chief continued shaking his head in disbelief, examining the instrument carefully, asking questions about it. He summoned other leaders from the Tinananon tribe and they walked around it incredulously, pointing at it, saying “Salimbaa.”
“They have their own native tongue,” Caleb notes. “And I don’t totally understand their language. So I was pretty lost about what they were talking about.”
Finally, the chief motioned to them and said, “I need to show you something.” They left his house and went down a small pathway over to another structure.
“They call the house Paluvaran, which means House of Prayer in their language. This is the place where they worship. But it’s also sort of a storehouse of all their kind of ancient articles of their tribes. They have pottery work, metalwork, weaving, all these different things that are tangible evidence that their tribe has been living and existing for hundreds of years.
“I was amazed by this place. They had all these musical instruments on the side of the wall.” As a professional instrument maker, Caleb found it fascinating, incredible.
The chief informed him there were different musical instruments for each of their gods. “They have the god of the tree, the god of the stone, god of the river. And they’re not necessarily gods, but they believe that the one true God or the Creator has sent down angels to guard these different things like the angel of the river, the angel of the stone.
One of the musical instruments in the Paluvan along with traditional clothing (Evergreen Missions)
“Instead of praying and worshiping directly to God, they pray and worship to these different angels; the angels would be the ones to connect them to God. And so it’s a little bit different, but it’s not completely like they believe in many different gods, they believe in the one true God.”
Caleb noticed there was one spot that was empty on the wall between the other instruments. “They said that somewhere between 100 and 150 years ago, there was a tribal war. During this war, their most valuable musical instrument that worshiped the God of all gods was taken away from them.”
In response, they lamented for a time and created a song that goes something like this:
The Salimbaa was taken away from us,
God is going to redeem it back to us one day.
“It was a prophecy. This instrument is the instrument that worships the God of all gods. They said, ‘Today, you brought the Salimbaa to us!’”
Caleb was blown away. “Oh my goodness!” he exclaimed.
After that there was a small gathering of tribal leaders. “This is it! This is the Salimbaa!” they cried. Everyone knew what it was when they saw it and heard it played.
Caleb learned the Salimbaa’s golden bowl, with strings stretching from side to side around the bowl, that the convergence in the middle is the place where the Tinananon believe the Salimbaa connects heaven and earth.
The place in the middle
“They said that, in the last time, in the last days, God is going to be coming down from heaven, and he’s going to call all the righteous people to him. When God comes down from heaven, God is going to be riding on the inside of the Salimbaa, as if the Salimbaa was an aircraft that connects heaven and earth.”
Their name for the God above all gods is Manama. “They started praying to Manama…and they dedicated this instrument back to God.”
Caleb with Chief Suhat and the Salimbaa instrument (Evergreen Missions)
As a sign of special honor, the chief placed a tribal leader’s headpiece on Caleb’s shoulder. “We now consider you a chief of the Tinananon tribe,” he said. “Whatever you believe God is calling us or leading us into, we’re going to follow you.”
Reeling from the whole experience, Caleb was humbled by the gesture. They stayed with the chief, Datu Lipatuan Suhat, for three days.
“There wasn’t a lot that manifested with him giving his life to Jesus,” Caleb told God Reports. “I did pray with him a lot and prophesied over him. But after we left, we didn’t return for a few months, but during that time, within a month or two, the chief had an encounter with Jesus, and the Lord spoke to him and he wrote everything out. That is when he gave his heart to Jesus.”
On the second visit, Caleb asked Chief Suhat how he could help the tribe.
“Well, if you can help us with one thing, I want you to help us translate the Bible into our language.”
In January 2015, Caleb arranged for Translators Association of the Philippines to meet with all 50 chiefs of the Tinananon tribe.
“Some of the chiefs didn’t want the Bible to be translated and others did,” Caleb told God Reports. “There was tension in the room. None of us as foreigners felt led to speak up. The chief came up to the front and opened up the Cebuano Bible, from Genesis.”
Caleb learned the Tinananon believe that God came down and took the soil of Mindanao and put it in his hands and blew on it and that is when the first man came alive.
“We believe God made man from his breath,” Chief Suhat said, “by taking the dust of the earth and breathing on it.”
Chief Suhat proceeded to read the biblical account of the creation of man:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)
Then the chief paused, set the Bible down, and said: “It’s only the first few pages, imagine what it would be to have the whole Bible translated.”
The other chiefs nodded their heads in agreement. “That’s true,” they said, and all 50 agreed to let the translators begin their project.
Chief Suhat passed away in 2015, shortly after the translation process began.
Since then, there have been four churches planted among the Tinananon. “It’s just amazing, the open doors that the chiefs have given us for this tribe,” Caleb says.
Manigos (left) with Caleb and another Tinananon pastor
“It was mostly through Manigos,” he adds. “He could speak the language and knew the culture. He has such a heart for his people. He has a God-given call to his people.
First church built by Manigos among the Tinananon
“Last year (2019) we went and visited the tribe and he had taken this small group of people on fire for the Lord and it’s grown to hundreds of believers there now.”
The first believers among the Tinananon (Evergreen Missions)
Could God connect an instrument maker living in Moravian Falls, North Carolina with an unreached tribe in the Philippines through a dream?
In 1727 the Moravian Church established a continuous prayer movement that ran uninterrupted, 24 hours a day, for 100 years. Moravian missionaries were part of launching the first large-scale Protestant missionary movement, beginning in 1732.
Did God touch Caleb and Manigos in response to the Moravians’ prayers?
“I felt like the Lord had arranged everything,” Caleb says, “in such a perfect way of organizing everything, just perfect timing. It was such an amazing series of events that took place that I couldn’t take any kind of claim for it.
“The best way I could explain is I was right there in the middle of the journey with God. I felt like He was there in the moment. I was like, yeah, this is Him. This is Him, this is what He did.
Caleb and Gladys Byerly are the founders of Evergreen Missions. Their focus is to partner with God in bringing His kingdom to the Earth. Caleb and Gladys focus mostly on mentoring and discipling indigenous leaders, who will go to their own people and bring them life from Christ Jesus. To learn more, go here
Adam Fish and his wife Brooke started The Unseen Story, which features firsthand accounts that reveal the reality of God’s love. Their interview/podcast with Caleb Byerly, along with many other great stories may be found here
Lee sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3:16, and then he asked, “Could God ‘dvu’ people?”
There was complete silence for three or four minutes; then tears started to trickle down the weathered faces of these elderly men. Finally they responded.
“Do you know what this would mean?” they asked. “This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia, while all that time we rejected His great love. He is compelled to love us, even though we have sinned more than any people.”
+++
Translator Lee Bramlett was confident that God had left His mark on the Hdi culture somewhere, but though he searched, he could not find it. Where was the footprint of God in the history or daily life of these Cameroonian people? What clue had He planted to let the Hdi know who He is and how He wants to relate to them?
Then one night in a dream, God prompted Lee to look again at the Hdi word for love. Lee and his wife, Tammi, had learned that verbs in Hdi consistently end in one of three vowels. For almost every verb, they could find forms ending in i, a, and u. But when it came to the word for love, they could only find i and a. Why no u?
Lee asked the Hdi translation committee, which included the most influential leaders in the community, “Could you ‘dvi’ your wife?”
“Yes,” they said. That would mean that the wife had been loved but the love was gone.
“Could you ‘dva’ your wife?” Lee asked.
“Yes,” they said. That kind of love depended on the wife’s actions. She would be loved as long as she remained faithful and cared for her husband well.
“Could you ‘dvu’ your wife?” Lee asked. Everyone laughed.
“Of course not!” they said. “If you said that, you would have to keep loving your wife no matter what she did, even if she never got you water, never made you meals. Even if she committed adultery, you would be compelled to just keep on loving her. No, we would never say ‘dvu.’ It just doesn’t exist.”
Lee sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3:16, and then he asked, “Could God ‘dvu’ people?”
There was complete silence for three or four minutes; then tears started to trickle down the weathered faces of these elderly men. Finally they responded.
“Do you know what this would mean?” they asked. “This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia, while all that time we rejected His great love. He is compelled to love us, even though we have sinned more than any people.”
One simple vowel, and the meaning was changed from “I love you based on what you do and who you are,” to “I love you based on who I am. I love you because of Me and not because of you.”
God had encoded the story of His unconditional love right into their language. For centuries, the little word was there—unused but available, grammatically correct and quite understandable. When the word was finally spoken, it called into question their entire belief system. If God was like that, and not a mean and scary spirit, did they need the spirits of the ancestors to intercede for them? Did they need sorcery to relate to the spirits? Many decided the answer was no, and the number of Christ-followers quickly grew from a few hundred to several thousand.
The New Testament in Hdi was released last year, and twenty-nine thousand speakers are now able to feel the impact of passages like Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, ‘dvu’ your wives, just as Christ ‘dvu’-d the church.…” Pray for them as they absorb and seek to model the amazing, unconditional love they have received.
The rise of the Internet is without doubt the most revolutionary development of the last 25 years. It has radically changed our lives and also influenced the way we think about the church.
The internet has given ordinary people (the ‘laity’) considerably more influence: everyone who wishes to do so has the opportunity online to nurture and shape their own spirituality, to become a creator or influencer, and to connect with others in communities and on platforms, completely outside the scope of their own church. To faith communities and church leaders, the internet provides an infrastructure and tools to make church fully interactive and participatory, and to extend its missionary reach far beyond the physical sphere of the church building.
This is revolutionary. For the church today, the internet can be what the printing press was for the church in the Reformation – a game changer. The internet helps us to see the church as a network, a movement and a co-creative project. It encourages us to embrace a ‘digital priesthood of all believers’.
The rise of the Internet is without doubt the most revolutionary development of the last 25 years. It has radically changed our lives. But has the internet also influenced the Church?
Recently Heidi Campbell, professor of digital religion at Texas A&M University, came up with a new book: ‘Digital Creatives and the Rethinking of Religious Authority’. It’s about how the rise of the internet is also changing the way we think about the church – the ecclesiology – and how missionary internet pioneers see and shape this.
I’ve known Heidi Campbell from the early years of the internet, so when she approached me in 2013 for an interview to give my perspective on this as a ‘religious digital creative’, it led to a contribution to the book. I’m making this available in a pdf.
The internet has given ordinary people (the ‘laity’) considerably more influence.
In other words: the internet has empowered people. It touches many areas of our lives, but I now limit myself to the impact on faith and the church:
Everyone who wishes to do so has the opportunity online to nurture and shape their own spirituality, to become a creator or influencer, and to connect with others in communities and on platforms, completely outside the scope of their own church.
To faith communities and church leaders, the internet provides an infrastructure and tools to make church fully interactive and participatory, and to extend its missionary reach far beyond the physical sphere of the church building.
This is fundamentally revolutionary. For the Church today, the Internet can be what the printing press was for the Church in the Reformation. A game-changer.
The internet encourages the church to function as a relational network. To start thinking decentrally (‘bottom-up’) about the church instead of centrally (‘top-down’), as polyculture instead of monoculture.
The internet helps us to see the church as a network, a decentralized movement and a co-creative project.
I have expressed this idea in my seminars on missionary innovation as follows:
“Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has done more for the mission of the Church than the entire Church growth movement put together. Because we are now rediscovering the power of decentralized movements”.
The simple church movement, which states that you can be the Body of Christ in all sorts of places, in all kinds of forms, in the middle of everyday life, and that these groups best develop ‘organically’, is an example of this.
At a time when I blogged a lot about ’emerging church’ (2002-2007) there was another digital pioneer, Tim Bednar, who published a paper with the somewhat provocative title ‘We Know More Than Our Pastors. Why Bloggers Are the Vanguard of the Participatory Church’. Although blogging has been partly overtaken by vlogs, podcasts and social media, I consider this work to be a classic if you want to understand how the internet influences ecclesiology. You can simply extend the lines of thought.
A generation that grew up with the internet makes different demands on the church.
Bednar expresses this as follows:
“We expect a co-creative church in which we can not only participate fully, but which we can help to shape in all aspects”.
Say a digital priesthood of all believers.
There’s still a lot to be said about this, but I promised to keep my mails short and concise. To deepen your understanding, I invite you to read the two publications I have linked to.
If you want to discuss in-depth what this means for your congregation or organization, book an innovation consultation.
* I know of no other book like this one that provides rapid-fire, easy-to-read, factual literary snapshots of virtually every well-known revival since Pentecost. … I felt like I had grasped the overall picture of revival for the first time” ~ C Peter Wagner
Same 2020 text now as Revival Fires with Chapter 7: Twenty-first Century Revivals
* Amazing by Jo Swan: Full of true accounts of what happens to whole towns and cities when God’s people humble themselves, pray, and the Holy Spirit rushed through with his transforming power. Loved every minute of these stories. ~ Jo Swan
* Great compilation of Revival Happeningsby Kristina S.: Great book. A compilation of reports from revivals from around the world. Really helpful in preparing for a sermon series on Revival!
South Pacific Revivals– Blog South Pacific Revivals– PDF Community & Ecological Transformation * Dr Geoff Waugh shares the message of revival clearly through the simplicity of the Word and his own personal experiences, being part of God’s big revival story in the Pacific. His book is a must-read for all who follow Pacific Revivals and world movements of the Holy Spirit. ~ Romulo Nayacalevu, Fiji
* Good home group study. It’s down to the homegroup to work as a team to put the theory into practice fitting in with existing church structures. ~ G Sinclair
Body Ministry – Blog Body Ministry– PDF Amazon edition * This resource will be of benefit to all ministry leaders and teachers. I recommend it for positive change and for allowing the Holy Spirit, the Great Teacher, to have full reign. ~ Valerie Caraotta
100 Bible Quotes: Bible Verses to Memorize – Blog 100 Bible Quotes– PDF Amazon Gift Edition 100 Bible Quotes gives you the most popular and well known Bible verses grouped in themes for easy memorization. Additional sections add other Bible passages. These quotations are from the world’s most famous book, now translated into 700 languages and additional New Testament translations into another 1500 languages.
Bible StoryPictures & Models Bible Story Pictures & Models – PDF Amazon edition An activity book with 58 pictures and models for children and parents or teachers to enjoy.
* Bible Story Pictures & Models stands out above the rest, looks and sounds original, fun and very inspirational … Your illustrations and models are all terrific for them to color and create. It is all very well done and inviting for your targeted young readers. ~ Ellery Alouette.
* The Queen’s Christmas & Easter Messages is an appealing, highly unusual and very creative anthology. ~ Alison Sherrington
* I haven’t seen anyone else draw the events of these years together in this way before. Using the Queen’s speeches not only ties in the unfolding events of our time but reveals a deep spiritual glue that provides a fascinating and intimate insight into the personal life of our Queen. A fascinating read. ~ Rev Philip Waugh
* A new and innovative approach to the Christmas Story and its clear message of peace and goodwill to all. It is a rewarding experience to read it from cover to cover. ~ Don Hill
* What an amazing collection! This has so many wonderful Christmas messages and is a great addition to any family during the holiday season. ~ Jenny & Benny
* This is a remarkable work and something quite unique that I’ve not come across before (and believe me I’ve seen most ideas). There is a huge appetite for devotional type books and I’m sure that this one will appeal to many people. ~ Russ Burg
* One of the most interesting devotionals ever! As a huge fan of all things Narnia, I am so grateful for this deeper aspect of the truths in C.S. Lewis’ stories. Geoff Waugh did a great job in crafting such a book as this. What a wonderful addition to any collection, and an inspiration to know Jesus more deeply. ~ Belinda S.
* You can read the Narnia tales as just good stories, but CS Lewis wanted people to see more. This book will help you see the many links with Jesus, the Lion of Judah. Use this to enhance your wonder and love of Christ. ~ Rev Dr John Olley
* Best companion work I know of. … Either for a young person who is interested in exploring more, or as a resource on a pastor’s desk, it is an invaluable companion to the original series. ~ Amazon Customer
* This is a great companion when you read, and is a stand-alone teaching on the depths of teaching that C.S. Lewis weaves into Aslan’s character. Definitely worth your time. ~ Steve Loopstra
* Looking for a great book to help you meditate on the wonder of Jesus in all his richness and grandeur and love? Geoff Waugh has helpfully and thoughtfully brought together wide-ranging biblical passages (not just a string of references for you to look up!), arranged in clearly titled sections (this book is a combination of his smaller books, The Lion of Judah nos. 1-6). Read this book prayerfully and you will not be the same! Then share it with others. ~ Dr John Olley.
* This book is full of information, biblical information. I have learned so much from it and what I wasn’t able to keep in my head, I had my handy highlighter, so I could go back to it and find it. It is a book of multiple books and it’s not that big, but it’s filled with so many facts and details. If you want to learn more from the Bible, this is the book to read. ~ A. Aldridge.
Hundreds of ideas for Christian groups with a wealth of activities, studies, prayers, and resources for groups of all ages. Contents are: Ideas for integrated Bible studies; Ideas for Bible studies and prayers; Ideas for church activities – devotional, educational, creative, serving, social, sporting; Ideas for all ages together; Ideas for building relationships.
This book offers a huge range of activities, arranged according to group activities. It provides a wide range of activities for many different kinds of groups. The first section, Ideas for Integrated Bible Studies, gives you four group studies on each of the themes or topics.
* Five Stars: I really enjoyed this book. It helped me to understand more about what I have been going through. ~ James Bird
Jesus on Dying Regrets– Blog Jesus on Dying Regrets – PDF Advice about the top 5 regrets of the dying Gift Edition in colour This small book explores Jesus’ advice about the top 5 regrets of dying patients. Those regrets are transformed into these positives: 1 Be true – “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” 2 Work wise – “I wish I didn’t work so hard.” 3 Express feelings – “I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.” 4 Stay connected – ” I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.” 5 Be happier – “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”
* “I’m reading your book ‘God’s Surprises’ and I can feel the power of God and a tremendous desire for a Revival in Italy, where I live.” Francesco Trentinella.
* I have read many similar stories, but this one exceeds them all. … Geoff has done well to not only be in so many places and seeing God at work but also writing a book about it all. ~ Barbara Vickridge
* I am enjoying these Journals a lot! Read about things that the Bible talks about, but they are happening in our day and age around the world. Some of the journal pages I skip over, but not many. The people of our day are being the army of our God and His work is advancing. Let us be encouraged and pray that God helps others bring glory to God and that we ourselves follow God’s directions in our own lives to let God shine thru us. Talk about getting a lot for your money! ~ Deborah Mares
* Amazing moves of God! An amazing book that will build your faith. ~ A.B. van Leeuwen
Photo: The oldest complete Bible, c350.
Codex Sinaiticus, a manuscript of the Christian Bible written in the middle of the fourth century, contains the Old Testament translated into Greek and the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament. The hand-written text is in Greek.
The milestone of 700 translations in 2020 is indicative of the acceleration that is happening in the work of Bible translation – to the extent that it is impossible to state which translation was actually the 700th, as there were several launches of physical Bibles, as well as several being made available online and via apps, all at about the same time.
There are also over 3,500 translations of portions of the Bible in other languages.
James Poole, Executive Director of Wycliffe Bible Translators, says, “It’s good to take a step back and realize what this 700th Bible means: 5.7 billion people who speak 700 languages now have the Bible in the language that speaks to them best. That is a remarkable figure and continues to grow. However, there are still about 1.5 billion people – that’s roughly 1 in 5 – who do not have the Bible in their language. That’s an injustice that Bible translation teams worldwide continue to work to put right.”
The Huichol (Wixáritari) Bible was launched in Mexico on 10 July 2020. One participant at the launch event said: “We are so happy that we now have the complete Bible, the Old and New Testaments.” The New Testament was completed in 1968, and it has taken a further 52 years of faithful service by the Huichol Bible translation team to complete the job.
In contrast, the Ellomwe Bible was launched in Malawi just five years after the Ellomwe New Testament was published. Hundreds of people danced and sang to celebrate the launch of the Bible. Senior Chief Nazombe, who received a copy of the new Bible on behalf of the Ellomwe community, said: “I am grateful to God that I can witness this in my lifetime.”
Around the same time, new additions to YouVersion (the online and mobile Bible app) included two Nigerian languages – a newly edited version in the Tiv language (which was first published in 1964) and the Igede Bible.
Source: Wycliffe Bible Translators
Joel News International # 1188, September 14, 2020
See Revival Highlights from Journey into Mission Details of mission adventures in over 20 countries. It includes early days as a single and then married teacher in Papua New Guinea and teaching in Australia and other countries.
