A Good Book Company project to help preachers worldwide to preach God’s word clearly and accurately.

Concept

Many pastors and teachers round the world have little education or Bible training, few resources in their own language, and a little English.  Yet they have the huge responsibility of teaching God’s word.  We aim to help these people.

Aim

Our aim is to reach pastors and teachers in every country worldwide who have need of basic help in teaching the Bible.  Our initial aim is to reach those who have some English. Our second aim is to publish the material in other major languages, again aiming at those who need simple help.

Plan

To provide basic sermon outlines covering key Bible books.  These will be written in very simple English.  They provide:1) a study section to help the preacher understand the passage in its context. This  focuses him on the main point of the passage and highlight areas to work on.  2) a basic talk outline, with suggestions of headings, illustrations and application. 

Publication and distribution

‘Preaching Mark 1-8’ was published early 07.  Around 16,000 have been distributed, mostly at very large discounts for Developing World situations.  Aside from direct sales from Good Book Co, distribution has been in three main areas;

• UK mission organisations that send out literature to pastors
• Organisations and individuals that organise preaching seminars in the Developing World
• Overseas organisations which distribute literature in their own country.

The last two areas need a lot more work to develop valuable partnerships, and to reach our aim of providing help for all relevant countries.‘Preaching Mark 9-16’ will be available Dec 07

Further Titles

Work has begun (or is imminent) on Romans, Philippians, Exodus and Acts, involving a range of authors, including African writers.

Translation

There has been interest expressed in translation projects, for India, China, Myanmar and Serbia.  Our policy is to be a supportive partner of organisations publishing and distributing our material in other languages.We would also like to publish the notes on the web.

The IVP website contains positive recommendations for dig deeper from David Jackman, John Chapman and Mark Dever, and deservedly so. The book aims to equip bible readers with 16 ‘tools’ to dig deeper into God’s word. Illustrations from Sach and Beynon show how right bible-handling makes a real difference in the lives of ordinary Christians. The 160 pages are a well presented and enjoyable read, packed with examples.

Conservative evangelical in approach, the book emphasises the importance of context, close attention to the text itself, application by first seeing what it meant to the original readers, hard work and the role of the Holy Spirit.

I have used this book, as preparation and background reading, twice, for a 10 week course on Bible-handling at All Saints, Crowborough. People of divergent Christian maturity have attended and, I think without exception, found the book enjoyable, clear, stretching, yet accessible. The questions at the end of each chapter are useful homework exercises.

The one drawback of the book is the occasional weak example doesn’t quite do all that the Author’s hoped (e.g. p.124) There is also one potential drawback, namely, excessive detail that might unnerve the ‘average’ Bible reader. For example, the ‘structure tool’ includes a section on Chiasm (p.47f) which is probably a bridge-too-far for many and of limited use to those without a facility in the original languages. However, a guided reading would ensure that this drawback is not realised!

Overall, the book is a superb resource and at £7 (or cheaper if you buy in bulk from 10ofthose.com, ) I warmly recommend it for use within the local Church setting and even as a way to brush up our own personal Bible-reading skills!

A short but inspiring talk by Eric Harmer from the third Partnership meeting of 2007

Right-click here to download the talk