Toronto, Ontario – 15 April 2011 – The digital team at the Canadian Bible Society (CBS) raised a collective cheer when they heard the news that the Bible page on Facebook had outdone many leading sites from the world of sports, entertainment, and politics.
And this came on the heels of news stories that the Bible has cracked the top 10 highest-grossing book applications for the iPad for the first time2 and, according to Google Blog Search, there are about 277,000 blog posts for “Bible reading,” 409,000 for “Bible verses,” and 1,650,000 for “Bible study.”3
The stark contrast is not lost on the CBS team. It’s impressive that in a world of instantaneous, electronic communication and 140 character observations and anecdotes, young people are being impacted by two thousand year old Bible portions – like Paul’s letter to the Philippians; a text written in a Roman prison and hand delivered by Epaphroditus, who travelled much of the distance to Philippi on foot.
“While the original letter has been lost to the ages,” notes Giorgio Gori CBS director of strategic communications, “the words are still as fresh and vital as when they were first heard by an eager flock of earnest believers, and they continue to reverberate in the digital world.”
The mandate of the Canadian Bible Society – and over 140 sister organizations around the world – is being tremendously helped by the many new digital options. Distribution methods are rapidly multiplying with the text available in digital formats, and numerous online discussions and study sites.
Related links:
1. http://www.allfacebook.com/the-bible-is-this-weeks-most-engaging-page-2011-04
2. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/07/growing-bible-app-sales-hint-at-shifting-ipad-demographics/60485/
3. http://www.google.com/support/blogsearch/?hl=en
