“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Acts 8:31

At Longheath Baptist Church we have a ‘Word of God’ problem. Our ‘pew’ bibles have been passed around, piled up, accidentally dropped by the children who help pack them away after the service and thankfully opened and read so often since I ordered 40 shiny new NLT large print Bibles that the spines are now clinging on for dear life. It’s a problem. But, by God’s grace, a good one to have.

We also have another ‘Word of God’ problem: People on our estate have many competing voices shouting ‘wisdom’ at them from
role-models on Eastenders to ‘lifehack’ tips on Facebook. Yet in a world where gang wisdom can be passed on at the tip of a knife our church has found the word of God to be “alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword”. But lack of literacy and a culture of resistance to formal learning means we have had to think carefully about how best to bring God’s word to the estate. Here’s some of
what God’s taught us:

1. Keep it simple. We chose the most accessible Bibles we could find for our services. So we changed from NIV to NLT and went for large print because you’d be amazed how many people come to church without their glasses.
2. Feed minds and bellies together. We can’t really do ‘Beer and Bibles’. But if you replace the beer with a juicy burger…
3. Video clips. One of our most successful ways of getting the gospel to the unreached is our Sunday evening ‘Food 4 Thought’. Snacks followed by a fun discussion question then a gospel-related short video followed by a thought-provoking gospel question. The most ‘street friendly’ are Christianity Explored’s ‘Soul’ and our own Pete Woodcock’s Parables series. But with a little creative thinking a lot can be done with YouTube clips.
4. Open the Bible where people are already comfortable. We tried to get teens to join us in our church hall to play ‘fun’ games with no success. Then one of the mums told us that a large bunch of teens often hang out in her front room so we turned up once a week and gave them a Bible study. Word of mouth filled the room with teens eager to laugh about their school day and study how the Bible had something life-changing to say to them.
5. Mum’s the word: we aim to leverage the contacts of our most successful networkers – mums. Estates are matriarchal societies and you only have to go to the school gates to see masterful networkers in action. These guys can distribute a Spiderman lunchbox, dropped coat, a dummy and our event fliers. Power mums.
6. One to ones work wonders. We study Mark because it is the shortest, has a clear structure, is full of action and surprises and has our Saviour’s glorious call to self-denying discipleship in chapter 8.

At Longheath, we’ve created a Mentors programme to help five men and five women study the Bible one to one, and this is bearing fruit. D, a man who had sustained a serious head injury, has now completed Mark’s gospel, Just for Starters, Man of God and we are surging through Luke. I thank God for him. The changes in his attitude and life have been remarkable – he is one of the first to arrive at church, and goes out of his way to help those more vulnerable than himself. Believe me, God’s Word is like positive radiation. Prolonged exposure leads to significant spiritual health benefits, and even to new life.