April 2010 Please note that some links may have expired due to the ever-changing nature of the Internet. Let us know if you find anything unexpected or offensive so we can remove or change a link. Youthwork magazine and CCP ltd are not responsible for the content of external sites accessed from youthwork.co.uk Mapping it all out Bringing the Bible to life for young people is a youth leader’s job… and John Allan believes that the best online Bible Atlas’ and maps can help. The more I teach the Bible, the more I see the value of maps. Scripture’s full of journeys, battles, meetings, and special places, and the better your kids can visualise where it all happened, the more they’ll remember what they’ve learned. When people see where Revelation’s seven churches actually were, or where the Babylonians came from, the stories mean so much more. OK, what do you do when you need a quick map? Google ‘Holy Land’? You can do better than that; the Web is loaded with resources, from the simple, uncluttered Bible Atlas (great when you’re in a tearing hurry) right through to the scholarly but fascinating links on New Testament Gateway. The New Testament in Maps helpfully plots every single development in Jesus’ life and early Church history, labelling it all clearly for you. But my favourites are Ebibleteacher, where the maps are simple, clear and therefore Powerpoint- friendly (they even do blank ones which you can customize); and the stunning BibleMap, an ambitious attempt to link every Bible placename to Google Maps, with clickable photos and back-up information too. More? You’ll also find mounds of useful stuff (not just maps) at Bible-History.com, among the stacks of useful, clearly organised Bible background information compiled from every conceivable angle. Don’t leave your kids wondering how far Bethlehem was from Jerusalem, or where on earth Elijah ran away from Ahab. Show them. EFFICIENCY EXPERT Phone number to remember? New speaking date booked? ‘To do’ list for the afternoon? One of my bad habits is to put all that stuff into little notes to myself in Windows Notepad. It’s quick, but your hard disk is soon clogged with hundreds of tiny text files which easily get lost. Over the years, there have been many attempts to improve on Notepad, but the most impressive yet is Cloudpad. Tiny but powerful, it lets you find everything you’ve written with an uber-cool ‘tag cloud’ which works brilliantly. You can grade your notes by urgency, so you don’t misplace vital information. It looks much nicer than Notepad, too. Mac owners are even better served. Sketchbox lets you keep notes and sketches too, with automatic timers (so that they pop up on screen just when you need to remember them). There’s also a Mac application confusingly called Notepad but it does much more than the Windows accessory – organizing your notes sensibly, offering clickable web links, providing password protection. In the real world, I wouldn’t write vital information on the back of a used envelope; I’d use a proper notebook. In the virtual world, I need to start doing the same. YOUTUBE PARABLES I shouldn’t really tell you this (because I’d like to go on recommending his material in future months!) but there’s an American Christian known as ‘thatjustinguy’ who keeps putting brilliant evangelistic video clips on YouTube. One superb example is The Etch-A-Sketch Video, which tells a little fantasy story to prompt questions like: what would happen if you could go backwards and make life different? What would you change first? Would human selfishness get in the way? And what does God mean when he promises to make all things new? The video gives no answers – which means it’s brilliant for stimulating discussion and allowing people to make their own discoveries. Check out the rest of Justin’s collection, too; it’s all good stuff. TEACH IT Can the Internet help you to teach young people how to share their faith? Yes, it can – and you needn’t look further than YouTube. Christians have posted thousands of video clips on the subject of personal evangelism, and some aren’t all that bad. Highfields Church, in Cardiff, has produced a punchy presentation of five top tips from evangelist Roger Carswell. It’s talking-heads stuff, but he’s engaging and honest, and his obvious enthusiasm is inspiring. ‘How to Share Your Faith’, a mildly comic send-up of stilted 50s training films, explains simply how to tell your own story. ‘Explaining the Gospel’ is a teenage-directed demonstration of how to use the tried-and-trusted ‘Bridge of Life’. ‘Graffiti Bridge to Life’, from the Billy Graham people, does the same – less simply, but much more trendily, utilizing rap, graffiti art, decks and arresting camera angles. And ‘How to accept Christ’ uses the ‘Bridge’ too, but adds in verses and questions people can use alongside it. So we’ve covered ‘how to explain the message’ and ‘how to tell your story’. One vital skill remains: how to answer questions and objections. Next time we’ll see what YouTube has to offer there... John Allan is based at Belmont Chapel, Exeter, UK, and is a regular contributor to Youthwork magazine. Back to main page