Free STEP Online Bible from Tyndale House

Scripture Tools for Every Person (STEP)

"STEP Bible is a Tyndale House project to build high quality free reliable Bible tools, with the aim of enabling anyone who wants to study the Bible seriously to do so. This has grown out of the free Tyndale Toolbar which is being used by thousands of people all over the world. 

"In many parts of the world the growth of the Church is outpacing the training of leaders and teachers, and Bible schools are struggling with limited resources. Many believers do not have a computer with reliable internet access but more and more people have access to mobile phones, and many to computers with SOME internet. We have created the STEP software from the ground up with these limitations in mind. 

"STEP Bible is especially designed for accessibility in poorer countries, while making reliable resources available for all."

StepBible.org is a good way to read the Bible and study it as deeply as you like. You can read English Bibles such as the ESV or NIV as well as Bibles in 280 other languages, and you can explore the original languages even if you don't know Hebrew or Greek.

It's a free gift to you and also one that you can help give to others.
Our new videos show its ease and potential and provide example Bible studies. The interface is intuitive, so you should only need to watch the Introduction once.

The videos show you how to:
Find quickly what you are looking for: a word, a topic, or a series of passages.
Read and study the Bible in your own mother tongue, and even add a missing language  

Download STEP so it keeps working even without internet. 

Install it from an SD card, which you can give away in any country, legally.
We'd love to use your expertise to develop this further. Grab the vision and perhaps contribute some time, or just refer it to a friend.

Education Manifesto by Douglas Groothius

This post will be a repository for articles relevant to philosophy of Christian education.

An Education Manifesto. 2014. Douglas Groothius  cautions against misuse of technology and bureaucracy.

Most learning–and the deepest learning–is undetectable by objective measures, because it is a matter of skill and character, which only develop through a mentor-mentee relationship and strong peer friendships among students. 

Individual Theology and Worldview Articles (3)

This post will contain links to individual articles that I have found particularly compelling, insightful, and valuable.

The Illusionist: How Herbert Marcuse Convinced a Generation that Censorship Is Tolerance & Other Politically Correct Tricks by Robin Phillips. This is MUST-READ.

His] vision was essentially Marxist, but with a twist. Whereas Marx believed that power rested with those who controlled the means of production, the Frankfurt school argued that power rested with those who controlled the institutions of culture. The school would come to include sociologists, art critics, psychologists, philosophers, "sexologists," political scientists, and a host of other "experts" intent on converting Marxism from a strictly economic theory into a cultural reality…. 

What emerged from the shadow of this new tolerance was a type of intellectual redistribution. Instead of redistributing economic capital from the middle class to the working class, as Marx had urged, the new tolerance sought to redistribute cultural capital. Marcuse made no secret that this was his ultimate goal, admitting that he commended "the practice of discriminating tolerance in an inverse direction, as a means of shifting the balance between Right and Left by restraining the liberty of the Right." This was achieved in a number of ways, including what Flynn has described as "attitudinal adjustment" effected by "psychological conditioning through entertainment, the class room, linguistic taboos, and other means [that] transmit their ideology through osmosis."

EVANGELICALS DIVIDED: THE BATTLE BETWEEN MELIORISTS AND TRADITIONISTS TO DEFINE EVANGELICALISM by Gerald McDermott April 2011 in First Things.

Evangelical theology has long been divided between those who emphasize human freedom to choose salvation (Arminians) and those who stress God’s sovereignty in the history of salvation (the Reformed). Now this old division has been overshadowed by a larger division between new opposing camps we may call the Meliorists and the Traditionists. The former think we must improve and sometimes change substantially the tradition of historic orthodoxy. The latter think that while we might sometimes need to adjust our approaches to the tradition, generally we ought to learn from it rather than change it. Most of the Meliorists are Arminian, and most of the Traditionists are Reformed, though there are exceptions on both sides….

But the way to renewal requires a conscious rejection of Meliorist accommodationism and the assertion of what I have called Traditionism, particularly its willingness to be instructed by the Great Tradition…. These days the most common temptations are to argue in neo-pietist fashion that doctrine and morality are finally unimportant as long as believers experience warm feelings about Jesus and engage in ministry to the world, and to reduce Scripture to the human expression of religious experience, finding revelation somewhere other than in the biblical text itself….

KARL BARTH’S FAILURE: KARL BARTH FAILED TO LIBERATE THEOLOGY FROM MODERNITY’S CAPTIVITY. by Matthew Rose June 2014 in First Things.

I missed Karl Barth when doing my MDiv. This is a good 15 minute introduction to Barth and how he fits into 20th/21st cc. thought.

But we are living through the unraveling of the Christian metaphysic, which began with a rejection of classical theism, proceeded to abolish purpose from the material world, and is now eliminating the rational and moral nature of man. In order to recognize this metaphysical demolition for what it is—one can scarcely repair what one misunderstands—Christians are no more helped by Barth than by theological liberalism. Both collude with secular reason in denying our capacity to attain knowledge of the highest things. We will be immeasurably better served by recognizing, as John Paul II wrote in Fides et Ratio, that our “crisis of meaning” stems from failing to defend the ability of reason to know “the ultimate and overarching meaning of life.” 

Leadership Articles

Three Types of Christian Scholarship from Credo House.

1. Exegetes (research) - Level one studies

2. Theologian/Philosopher (think) – Level two studies

3. Pastoral/Missional (apply) – Level three studies

I would say DMin/GlobalEd scholarship is largely a level-three enterprise:

These are concerned with how to distribute information to others. They are focused on how information can be applied to real life. They spend their time thinking about church, mission, and strategies. They are didactically (teaching) gifted. They are discerning as to what applies, when, and where. They are more hands-on with the real world, which gives them a great understanding of whether or not the truth, when tested, actually works. This is often the determining factor of the reality of our faith. The books and commentaries they write are normally more practically oriented, highly illustrated, and application-driven.

It has been said scholars stand on the shoulders of giants; in the case of DMin/GlobalEd scholars, they must stand on the shoulders of those standing on the shoulders of others. Which makes them... acrobats?

Winston Churchill.Volume two of William Manchester's The Last Lion - Alone:

"[Churchill] came to power because he had seen through Hitler from the very beginning -- but not, ironically, because his inner light, the source of that insight, was understood by Englishmen.... Isaiah Berlin, the Oxford philosopher, later observed that the Churchill of 1940 was neither 'a sensitive lens, which absorbs and concentrates and reflects... the sentiments of others,' nor a politician who played 'on public opinion like an instrument.' Instead Berlin saw him as a leader who imposed his 'imagination and his will upon his countrymen,' idealizing them 'with such intensity that in the end they approached his ideal and began to see themselves as he saw them.' In doing so he 'transformed cowards into brave men, and so fulfilled the purpose of shining armour.'" p. 687

Churchill was a force of nature and exactly what was needed for his time and place.

IQ, EQ, MQ, BQ. Also, Harvard Business Review article on CQ.  In addition to IQ and EQ (Emotional Intelligence), we've also got to deal with MQ (Moral Intelligence), BQ (Body Intelligence), and CQ -- Cultural Intelligence.

Transition Management - William Bridges. Bridges uses the term transition management to deal with the psychological and emotional issues associated with change. There are some great visual images available online for Bridges' transition model. Article uses Moses/Wilderness as the metaphor -- "Getting Them Through The Wilderness". Bridges' "neutral zone":

The neutral zone is a time and a state of being in which the old behaviors and attitudes die out, and people go dormant for a while as they prepare to move out in a new direction. It is a dangerous time for organizations, but it is also a time when innovations and experiments have an especially good chance of succeeding.

Free Online Bible College Education

BiblicalTraining.org.

Mission is to create and distribute world-class educational resources for discipleship that are holistic and accessible for all. BiblicalTraining is a web-based ministry whose content is free. Professors are among the best academics in the world. They encourage people to learn together, in mentor/apprentice relationships. Materials are broadly evangelical. They provide the content and delivery mechanisms, and their partners provide the community and mentoring. When there are no partners, we provide a virtual community and real-life mentors.

Instructors include Craig Blomberg, Darrell Bock, Wayne Grudem, John Piper, Ben Witherington. 

This appears to have high potential to be used collaboratively with a GlobalEd college.

Online Bible College (OBC).

Free Bible College education. Over 40,000 Students from 160 Nations.
Each lesson is in pdf format. At the end of each lesson, you do a multiple-choice quiz to demonstrate learning. At the end of each course, you do another quiz. And it's free. The language used in the quizzes might be a bit of a problem for some ESL learners. Students have the right to save the pdf lessons to their hard drive, and to distribute as long as they are not altered.

 

Bible CollegeEd For DevWorld Leaders Who Cannot Afford Bible College

The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) has 29 schools in its GlobalEd orbit.  For those who can afford/attend a school, great. But what about those existing or future leaders who cannot? I think of the practicing pastor I met in DR Congo; he didn't even have a proper Bible -- just a partial Jehovah's Witness Bible. We are talking poor, disenfranchised, disconnected.

At the same time, internet and smart phones, if not laptops, are becoming ubiquitous.

So, my dilemma is this. What internet resources would I put into this man's hands that would enable him to get a tuition-free Bible College education (at least the content), without leaving his home, family, or ministry context. These guys are out there. Do we hear their cry?

My approach to the internet is this: "whatever I set out to do, someone else has already done, probably better". So, rather than start from scratch, I would look for existing sources.

Theopedia is not ideal, but it's a start. Perhaps someone could work his/her way through Theopedia and suggest a learning path.

I believe the biggest need in teaching these folks is not in teaching them what is true, but in protecting them against what is false. They are susceptible to every heresy and wind of doctrine that is out there -- one guy in Africa claims he is Jesus Christ, and his wife is the Holy Spirit! So, I would frame the need as building these students up in the truth that fortifies against heresy. A heresy-based approach to Bible training. Hmm. Interesting - "teach the heresies!".

Because of this, I think I would start with Theopedia's coverage of the Trinity.

Alternatively, a resource-rich organization like the PAOC could divvy up the project into 30 pieces  and each scholar/school develop a simple curriculum in simple language for each of the 30 subjects. This could even become suggested pre-reading for students planning to attend a Bible college.

Can we hear the cry of the poor?

Related articles

• My Experience In The Word Of Faith Movement Pt. 4
• Heresies about Jesus and the trinity
• Online Teaching: Reflections of a Virtual School Teacher
• Read The Bible Not The Watchtower
• The doctrine of the Trinity: one being and three persons
• The Bible Teaches the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity and Scripture shows the Error of the Jehovah's Witness
• Trinity Doctrine vs Oneness Pentecostalism Doctrine - Berean Perspective Podcast
• The Oneness Heresy
• Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs
• Pentecostalism: A Brief Review

Leading Edge Learning: Tablets Meet Solar Kiosks

An eLearning Revolution, and It's Starting in Rural Africa.

Tablets meet Solar Kiosks.

Currently, there are 10 such "eSchool360" schools in rural Zambia. They were built and are being run by a NYC-based non-profit called Impact Network. The teachers are given tablets and projectors to deliver e-Learning lessons. The schools are outfitted with solar panels to power these electronics. The eLearning curriculum, created by a Zambian organization called iSchool, was designed to move the country's educational system away from rote memorization. Teachers are also provided weekly professional development focused on helping them use the technology and enhance their pedagogical skills. Management staff travel to schools by motorbike through areas where formal roads don't exist.

Related articles

• SolarKiosk: Mobile Modular Power for Really Remote Areas
• World's first solar powered kiosk comes up in Ethiopia
• Germany / Ethiopia/ Graft Architects' Solarkiosk Wins German Ecodesign Award
• Ethiopia Becomes Home to First SolarKiosk
• SolarKiosk Comes to Ethopia
• The World's First SolarKiosk Opens in Ethiopia