As someone who takes Lego Photos, I see various types of Lego Models appear online. “My Jesus” was a model designed and built by Herbert’s Brickworks, and its one I quite like – a lot.
To celebrate the start of Advent this year, YouVersion – the creator of the free Bible App – is launching a new app to encourage a new generation of Bible readers. The Bible App for Kids, designed for ages 4 to 10, is available to download for free on all Apple and Android mobile devices. The app was developed in collaboration with international ministry OneHope which has reached nearly a billion young lives with the Bible.
Children are becoming more exposed to smartphones and tablet devices than ever before, and they are using their parents or their own devices to engage with content.
“Just like we’ve seen the Bible App transform how our generation is engaging with Scripture, we believe the Bible App for Kids will change how the next generation discovers the grand narrative of the Bible,” said Bobby Gruenewald, Innovation Pastor of LifeChurch.tv in Oklahoma, the creators of YouVersion.
The primary catalyst for the project was the YouVersion community itself, the world’s largest digital Bible-sharing community. A YouVersion survey indicated that more that 95 percent of community parents would be interested in a Bible app which would help their children engage with the Bible in everyday life.
“It’s important that we don’t lose the tradition of reading with our children in the digital age,” says James Poulter, the UK representative for YouVersion. “The Bible App for Kids is a great way for children to engage with the Bible’s text in a way that is fun and interactive. It’s not just a brilliant Bible app for kids, we think it’s one of the best mobile experiences for children in app stores right now.”
An engaging, interactive adventure that’s beautifully illustrated and animated, the Bible App for Kids explores the larger story of the Bible from a walk through the garden with Adam and Eve to a journey to Bethlehem the night Jesus was born. The app was designed from the ground up to engage kids who can’t read or are learning to read.
“Even in countries where evangelism is difficult, smartphones are prevalent,” said Poulter. “With translations in other languages also in development, the App will make it possible to reach children all over the world.”
YouVersion also plan to add features allowing parents to interact with their kids by connecting their YouVersion accounts.
The Bible: will it be a ratings miracle for Channel 5? Photograph: Joe Alblas/AP
It is better known for Celebrity Big Brother and documentaries featuring very long trucks, but Channel 5 will also be home this autumn to a sweeping 10-hour epic, The Bible.
Richard Desmond’s channel announced on Monday it had bought the rights to the show made by Mark Burnett, previously better known for shows such as reality hit Survivor and The Voice.
A big-budget glossy epic, The Bible was a surprise ratings hit in the US this Easter with more than 13 million viewers on The History Channel, one of its biggest-ever shows.
Producers claimed during the making of the show that it had been struck by mysterious omens which indicated the “hand of God”, including a sudden swarm of snakes.
It remains to be seen whether it works any ratings miracles for Channel 5.
The Bible, which stars Diogo Morgado as Jesus, devotes five hours to the Old Testament, and five hours to the new, with a mix of live action and computer generated imagery. It is billed as a production that “tries to stay true to the spirit of the book”.
So recently I moved from Bath to Exeter. Not a huge distance but certainly not close enough for me to keep going to the same church. This put me in a bit of a dilemma – how do you go about finding the right church for you?
The first question I had to deal with was why I don’t always like going to church? It’s become almost too obvious to say that men don’t like going to church, but often it’s true. I’m still not 100% on what makes me not like it, maybe I just like to have a lie in on a sunday or maybe I don’t like the idea of being preached at, though I do quite like doing the preaching. There’s lots of things it could be and maybe one day I’ll realise what it is that puts me off every so often. However me not always liking being there isn’t going to stop me going. I’ve figured that this whole following God thing seems to work best in a group!
Looking for a church is something I’d never had to do as a regular punter so to speak. I went to the church my parents when to when I was a child and continued there until I went to uni. While at uni I worked for a church on a placement and was expected there on sundays, so had never really had to find a church to go to for myself. There were a few things however that I thought were important about a church, and this is what I based my decision on, in no particular order.
Outward looking – they need to be involved in the community, the city/town and be concerned about engaging with real people missionally, not necessarily always focused on evangelism but working against injustice and bring glory to God in the local area.
The Bible as a high priority – I’ve noticed that at times it’s easy to under estimate the Bible and just take it at it’s face value, when in fact it’s a book that can entirely change your life.
Passionate worship – it was important to me to be in a church that passionately worships God, not just in sung worship but in everything they do.
A place to serve – there needed to be opportunities to serve in all sorts of areas but I do have a passion for worship leading and youth work
and now after a fairly long time of looking, trying to decide between visiting traditional churches and super charismatic churches and everything in between, I have found a church that seems right for me. It’s a free church, with all of the above, to the extent that the second time I went I was in the worship band!
The thing is, it’s not just a church that meets my ‘requirements’ . Its a church that I feel a part of already. This is because of the welcome I’ve received, to the extent that I feel I now belong to a church that wanted me to be a part of it.
As someone who takes Lego Photos, I see various types of Lego Models appear online. “My Jesus” was a model designed and built by Herbert’s Brickworks, and its one I quite like – a lot.
To celebrate the start of Advent this year, YouVersion – the creator of the free Bible App – is launching a new app to encourage a new generation of Bible readers. The Bible App for Kids, designed for ages 4 to 10, is available to download for free on all Apple and Android mobile devices. The app was developed in collaboration with international ministry OneHope which has reached nearly a billion young lives with the Bible.
