Blog-Post Round-Up July 15-31 2012

Welcome back to the fortnightly round-up of what’s new and exciting on The Big Bible Project website. Our #digidisciple(s) have continued to provide excellent content, and below, we’ll attempt to summarise by theme.

#BigBible

With the summer upon us, a number of people are moving on, to new homes, callings and jobs, whilst some are called to be with God. Sally Coleman reflects on beginnings and endings. Thomas Mathie highlighted what we’re seeking to demonstrate on The Big Bible Project – a range of diverse voices (we may not agree with them all), all of whom have something valuable to contribute, something that is echoed in Dot Gosling’s piece to love as Jesus loved us.

Do you do theology? Are you scared of the word theology? Pam Webster encourages us that if you’re ‘thinking about God’, you’re doing theology - with Twitter debates opening the conversation to, therefore, how does ‘academic theology’ differentiate. Richard Littledale, responding to Kate Bruce’s piece, calling for the removal of poor practice in preaching. If you’ve not seen “KJB: The Book that changed the world”, and you enjoy docudramas, check out Bex’s review of the DVD.

Paul Blakey lives his life in a desire for community transformation, and gives highlighted thoughts of his meeting with the Prime Minister. Micha Jazz looks at society, as received in daily news, and believes that the ‘secular experiment’ is showing signs of wear and tear. Have you ever tried to get a grip of the Bible in our postmodern culture – do you know what postmodernism is? Watch this video from Mark Meynell (created by Helen Nicholls) for a way in.

#BigRead12/#BigRead13

We are starting discussions for #BigRead12 Advent, where we’ll be looking for 25 daily entries (preferably a mix of text, image, video, poetry) on the theme of ‘Waiting’. Advent is a time of waiting for God’s arrival, for his promise to us on earth. What does ‘waiting’ look like for us, as we wait with hunger, for a job, in line (always the wrong one?), and for the special time of Christmas. What do you associate with ‘waiting’ and might you be keen to contribute?

We have confirmed with SPCK that for #BigRead13 Lent we will be using Rowan Williams book The Lion’s World. There will be some similiaries with #BigRead11 and #BigRead12, in that weekly housegroup materials will be provided free-of-charge, Rowan Williams will provide video content, and we will encourage conversation online, asking for . Unlike Tom Wright’s books, however, this has not been written as a Lent reflection, but has strong themes that will be drawn out in materials for four housegroups, through blog posts throughout the week, and also materials for Holy Week.

#DigiDisciple

There’s clearly a hunger for ‘digital theology‘ as Tim Hutchings got plenty of conversation going with his post on the subject. Ali Gledhill wins an award for the ‘geekiest’ title for a blog post, challenging us all, as #digidisciple(s) to ‘let everything you do be thoroughly motivated by and grounded in the character of God and his word, such that it is obvious in every area of your life all the time’, something that Steve Blundell looks at through his assessment of ‘Preach the Gospel at all times: where necessary use words‘. Dave Warnock considers skills that can be taken from counselling into the online spaces. Through the diverse range of people we can interact with online, how does the digital contribute to opportunities for Christian unity asks Robb Sutherland, and the Salvation Army highlights the ‘new street corner‘.

The Church Sofa encourages us to be more creative and imaginative in our use of the internet. Kate Bruce, looking at a digitial world where things can be done so differently, engages with Walter Bruggeman’s latest work to ask whether there’s still a place for sermons. James Prescott asks us to think about why we tweet, what we’re hoping to achieve for ourselves, and for others, as we do so. Bex, Jackie and Ailsa looked at the Olympics - did you watch the opening ceremony, did you engage with it via a second screen such as Twitter, or another platform such as Second Life?

Bex Lewis was interviewed for Youthwork Magazine about her passion for encouraging #digidiscipleship.
Learning Button

#DigiLit

It’s been fascinating to watch Rev’d Bruce Nicole use social media on his 390 mile walk, and Andrew Salt reports back on their experiment, and what was gained from participating. We’ve been sharing a lot of infographics on Big Bible, including this one on “when is the best time to post” – if you’re not sure what one is - here’s an infographic to explain what an infographic is!

We’ve discovered a great tool to draw word clouds from Twitter hashtags, an app we plan to use at #CNMAC12, when Bex will be drawing upon audience tweets, comments and questions to sum up the day. Another conference to look forward to is the Church and Media Network – if you know a Christian, 18-35, keen to break into the media, encourage them to sign up for one of 16 free places for the MediaNet Academy.