For the past six months, NAC India’s Facebook page has been publishing the core thoughts for every Sunday’s Divine Service – two days in advance and with a local twist. Following is an overview of this initiative.
Social Media Helps Prepare for Divine Service
Since August 2017, the theme for an upcoming Divine Service (on Sundays and church holidays) have been published on our Facebook page. The intention is to help both ministers and members prepare for a rich and blessed experience of the Divine Service, so the information goes online two days in advance. It contains the bible verse, main theme, core thoughts and a summary of what the Divine Service will be all about. These posts correspond with the bible verses that are printed in our yearly calendar.
Eye-Catcher: Bible Verses in Indian Languages
From December 2017 onwards, these posts came enriched with some local flavours of India – by adding a photograph of the respective bible text in one of the many Indian languages.
Church Holidays Get Special Treatment
To spice it up a bit more, church holidays (like Christmas, Easter, etc.) were to get an extra treatment: Multiple photographs of the same bible verse in different local languages and scripts witness the rich cultural diversity in India.
Monthly Inspiration for our Youth
The latest addition (since January 2018) is a special post for our youth at the beginning of every month – January started with photographs of the bible verse in six local languages. In February, we even photographed nine different languages of the same verse (see images below)!
In India, the inspiration for our youth in February 2018 is based on Matthew 7: 12 – “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” – with the theme ‘Interacting in the mind and spirit of Christ’. Following are the bible verses in nine local languages, in alphabetical order.
Bangla / Bengali
Gujarati
Hindi
Kannada
Malayalam
Marathi
Odia
Tamil
Telugu
As of today, NAC India is active in 17 States of India, with nine different official languages. Translation of print material for ministers (like the Divine Service Guide) is currently done for six of these local languages in India: Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu.