Lausanne World Pulse – Perspectives Articles – Viral Biblical Education: A Case Study

By Debbie Farrar
December 2010

Multinational and Multilingual. “…becoming all things to all men in order to save some…” (I Corinthians 9:22)
When a student accesses the landing page of IBS, he or she finds the entire website can change from English to Spanish, to Chinese, to Arabic, to Vietnamese, and back to English in seconds. The website and courses are being translated in thirteen languages, thus providing learning access to almost fifty percent of the world population.

Cultural and local distinctives must be taken into account. A hybrid approach to theological education is the preferred model integrating face-to-face meetings to start and end a course, while allowing much of the weekly interaction to take place online. Because courses are written for a global student body, as much of the cultural context is stripped away as possible. The trained facilitator guides the students and helps them create the necessary conceptual links to the specific context. While biblical truth comes to us within a historical and cultural context, the principles and truths are universal and timeless.

Going Viral with God’s Word
Preparing the next generation of leaders for ministry is beyond the capabilities of any one organization. Understanding these five breakthrough concepts could catapult online Christian education into viral growth; unprecedented cooperation; and freedom from time, place, and language limitations.

Debbie Farrar has been a fund development strategist for faith-based ministries since 1998, working with nearly one hundred ministries globally, including Josh McDowell Ministries, Awana International, Trans World Radio, and Operation Mobilization. She serves on the board of directors for Global Mapping International.

Comments on this article

What an eye-opening article that clearly explains how using the latest technologies is helping to train the next generation of Christian leaders. It’s exciting to get a glimpse of what God is doing.

cal :: 7 Dec 2010

I pray that many will be challenged to seriously investigate the use of the Internet as an educational tool for fulfillment of the Great Commission. Thank you for this article.

George Law :: 2 Dec 2010