Summer 2011 - News from Bible Society

‘I’m excited at the prospect of taking H+ further locally.’

‘Please don’t dumb H+ down – there are other courses that do so.’

 

This is what church leaders said after attending Bible Society’s recent hermeneutics training event, H+. Over two days, they worked through our

newly developed, ten-session, Ordinary Hermeneutics course, learning how to pass fundamental, interpretative skills onto their congregations.

 

People soon realised that H+ was not just another resource, not just another Bible study, not something they’d done earlier. H+ challenges assumptions, opens new ways of engaging with Scripture, provides a framework for spiritual growth that is based on sound Bible literacy.

 

To ensure that it would work for people from various social and educational backgrounds and church traditions, we previously tested H+ among ten pilot groups across the church and socio- demographic spectrum. There was no doubt: H+ was meeting a fundamental need. Most churchgoers lacked even the most basic hermeneutical skills, such as appreciating historical context, authorial intent, reader horizon, or text genre.

 

Following the extensive field-testing, H+ is about to be made available nationwide to church and leaders house-groups, or anyone who is involved in teaching the Bible.

 

If you think you might like to become an H+ course facilitator, why not attend one of our training events? Dates and venues will be announced shortly at www.hplus.org.uk

 

Meanwhile, if you have any questions concerning H+, email Michael Pfundner, Bible Society’s Church Programme Manager, at michael.pfundner@biblesociety.org.uk

 

Celebrating The People’s Bible yesterday, today, tomorrow – churches up and down the country are preparing to celebrate Bible Sunday on 23rd October. This year’s theme, inspired by a national return to the Bible in the Book of Nehemiah, is about celebrating the Bible as a gift for everyone.

 

Ben Whitnall, Bible Sunday project manager, said, ‘The Bible is for all people, something that can be communicated

in the public square. That goes for Ezra, reading it from a platform in Nehemiah’s time, to Bible Society’s work in film, media and the arts today.’

 

The free Bible Sunday materials include a sermon by Joel Edwards, of Micah Challenge, as well as prayers, drama sketches, all-age service ideas and youth materials. These can be downloaded online from biblesunday.org or call Bible Society on 01793 418 222.

 

Please invite your church to recognise and celebrate the transformational impact of the Bible with this year’s free Bible Sunday materials. If you have not done so in the past, then the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible is a great year to get involved.

 

James Catford

Group Chief Executive