Deepening Daily Devotions

“I’ve read this so many times before, but I never saw that!”

It’s a common reaction from those who are reading the Bible alongside study notes produced by the IFES Scripture Engagement team in Central Asia.

The indigenous resource was developed to meet a deep need, as Paul, a former General Secretary of an IFES movement in the Eurasia region, explains:

“When I was a student, I grew in my faith by developing the habit of daily Bible reading. In the UK, I could easily access resources that helped me understand the text and apply God’s Word to my situation. But in the 20 years I’ve served in Central Asia, I’ve found that such resources in Russian are extremely scarce.”

Out of Context

Over the years, various foreign materials have been translated into Russian. But using these can prove problematic. For example, Bible study questions often focus on particular words or phrases that lack the same connotations in the Russian Bible text. Or the applications tend to reflect mindsets, values, or cultural issues that are alien to Central Asian students.

This is also complicated by the fact that the most widely-used Bible version – the Russian Synodal Translation (RST) – was translated in 1867 from the poetic and archaic Church Slavonic language. Although Biblica has published a new Russian translation, many churches still use the RST.

In Context

Paul continues:

“We needed to write our own questions which would help students engage with the Bible in both the RST and the new translation. We wanted questions that would reflect their level of understanding and be attentive to the pressing social and theological issues they’re facing in their context.”

So, during COVID, the team composed Bible study questions and posted them on a church Telegram channel. Although written with students in mind, the questions were appreciated by a wider audience – teens, older adults, and the elderly.

We wanted questions that would reflect their level of understanding and be attentive to the pressing social and theological issues they’re facing in their context.

More Context

As the team witnessed this hunger and received feedback, they realised something else: the questions could be helpfully accompanied by a short explanation or reflection – a summary of the key points in the passage.

Over the last two years, the team has written booklets featuring both questions and notes, with each booklet containing daily studies on one book of the Bible. Around 250 copies have been distributed so far. Paul is delighted:

“We hope to see more students using these booklets for daily quiet times and we rejoice in every story of someone being impacted by studying God’s Word.”

Pray

Give thanks for the development of this indigenous resource and its ongoing impact. Pray that it will help many students in Central Asia to nurture their faith by consistently reading and studying the Bible.

Thank God for the Fellowship of Eurasian Bible Expositors, a joint project between IFES Eurasia and Langham Preaching that’s training students, staff, and church partners in the region to preach faithfully and relevantly.

Pray for a student leadership camp in Central Asia, 18-29 August, bringing together students and staff from three movements in sensitive countries – ask that they will experience inspiring and formative times in Scripture.

This Prayerline is adapted from a blog on the IFES Scripture Engagement website – read other stories and access resources here .