I haven’t found anyone in church leadership who saw this coming. There aren’t stories of prescient church planners and innovators who had prepared for the day when nearly every church had to stop all programming, including Sunday worship services, and find ways to communicate with their members while they were largely confined to their homes.
As a Christian publisher, we’ve faced different problems, including international supply chain issues, printing and delivery delays, and a halt in plans to provide resources to churches that aren’t meeting.
One thing that has remained strong here at Tyndale is the demand by individuals for Bibles. People are indeed seeking out God’s Word as much around them has collapsed. I’m sure we’d all agree there has never been a better time to dive deeply into God’s Word.
It may be that God will use this time to turn our generation to unprecedented repentance and faithfulness. I think that you’ll agree that a deep and lasting revival will depend on a groundswell of biblical literacy.
Perhaps you have faced in your church what research has shown to be the case nationally: regular church attenders love and respect the Bible, but less than 40 percent of them are reading the Bible regularly.
So, how can pastors and church leaders promote biblical literacy and reading the Bible regularly?
We believe there are four keys:
- Readability – The individual’s ability to easily read the passage.
- Portability – An individual’s ability to take scripture anywhere.
- Understandability – Tools an individual can use to understand the meaning of the text.
- Accessibility – Study materials and devotional guides an individual can use to practically apply what they are reading.
This month the Tyndale team has launched The Filament Collection, a highly relevant suite of Bibles that combines readability, portability, study materials, and devotional depth. Filament is a fascinating, enjoyable, and comprehensive tool that can impact Bible literacy and provide a reading experience that can attract serious new readers.
We pray that, together with the bold and persistence ministry of pastors and church leaders, this season will be a catalyst for regular Bible reading and spread of the gospel.
Posted on September 11, 2020
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Key areas on how to better serve the church during the pandemic can include:
Reaching out to to educate senior members about church outreach levels. This will impact senior’s response to attending church.
Allow the B attitudes to affect your responses to giving your time and service to the church.
Be sure the kids in ministry are excited and filled with joyful explanations of Sunday service memories.
Be sure to include memorial frames of members that have been lost due to the Cooronavirus.
And, give them a clear understanding of what applications look like. I have been using this since the early 80s from 12 Dynamic Bible Study Methods by Rick Warren. A quality application is:
1. Personal-it applies to you
2. Practical-it is worth doing
3. Possible-you can actually do it
4.Provable-you(and others) can tell if you’ve done it
Some might say, I will show more of God’s love for 1 John 4:7-8. This is personal, practical, and possible but isn’t provable. Quantify the every application.
I will show more of God’s love by being kind to everyone who is rude to me.
“ by Giving everyone I meet an encouraging look, word, and/or touch. (Careful using the latter these days)
“ by telling at least one person how they can experience God’s love and know Him personally.
Applications help us to be doers and not hearers only. Form one for every encounter you have with God