Posted on by Dave Miers

Video Bible Reading

Check out the following two vids from my mate Matt Sparks and MBM Youth. They’ve started producing video Bible readings. The public reading of scripture ought to be central to our Christian gatherings. Some might argue differently, but I think that the videos actually help to show the significance of the Bible. What do you think?

The ‘Redeeming Ruth’ series at Mars Hill Seattle had video bible readings. City on a Hill in Melbourne have also been doing video Bible readings. (Check out 5 reasons they’re doing them over at Communicate Jesus)

Got any other examples of ministries doing video Bible readings?

Anyone keen to do them for SOULIES, let me know!!

9 Replies to “Video Bible Reading”

  2. how does it end up working practically on the night?

    Do kids open their Bibles to the chapter/verse, then watch the screen? Or is this replacing open Bibles?

    My hesitation is that it’s a bit like putting the text of the reading on the screen. Why bother looking up the passage if it’s there for us?

    I kind of like the idea that kids have a Bible open on their lap, so that if they’re confused, they can re-read the passage. And the surrounding verses. And also that if the talk gets a bit boring, they’re tempted to read the context of the passage, or go flicking through the Bible for funny bits. I remember doing that as a teenager, and while I might not have been paying attention to the talk, I was still getting familiar with the Bible (yes, by looking for naughty bits in Leviticus and Deuteronomy).

    The other thing I’d worry about losing is kids learning to find passages in a Bible. Even though it can get a bit time consuming and distracting in the program when kids are lost trying to find the verse, at least kids are opening Bibles and learning how to find stuff.

    I reckon this video idea would work really well for introducing memory verses, complementing a ‘normal’ Bible reading, or highlighting key ideas in a talk or series.

    1. hey matt, not sure exactly what it looks like.
      from chatting with matt sparks, at the moment this is only for the series this term and all the passages are short chunks.

      i get what you’re saying about bibles.

      but i don’t think it needs to be either/or.
      no reason why it can’t be both/and.

      historically, it’s been common to listen to word without necessarily having a copy on your lap – either because of availability or literacy.

      i think the “both/and” could be having a reading happening on screen, but then the preacher continues to refer to the word sitting on peeps laps.

      i take it you’re not into people reading it off their phone/tablet?

      1. I think it’d work best as a both/and thing, to drive home the key verse.

        I don’t have a problem with people looking up the verse on their phone/tablet. I was stoked to see a young fella in my small group had got himself a Bible app to read on his iPod; he hasn’t gone to church growing up and it’s a great sign that he’s getting into it.

        And I think that even though historically people haven’t had Bible’s on their laps for long, it’s a good thing that we have available; loads of bibles and good reading skills. Lets keep the two together.

  3. Hey Matt & Dave,

    Thanks for your thoughts on these videos!

    The way it’s worked for us is that we show the video as the bible reading immediately before the talk. We then throw the verse up on the screen generally for the duration of the talk and the preacher will make reference to it as per normal. We don’t have kids bringing bibles to youth group or hand them out for the talk. We use the screens for verses. I have no preference over what media the scriptures come in… screen or print. I’m not sure one is better than the other.

    This is a one off thing that’s worked for our series this term coz we’ve only preached on 1 or 2 verses… 68 words or less! We wouldn’t do this for a full chapter of Genesis…only coz it’d take us too much time to create.

    These videos are being watched over & over which helps them stick in the kids heads! They remember what the passage was the next day coz they go home and watch it!

    I think the combination of the visual and the auditory is also helpful for those kids that are more visually wired. It’s been helpful for us, it’s created excitement about the bible readings and we’d definitely do it again and experiment with other ways of doing the bible readings!

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