In Australia, Indigenous Ministries Launches Illustrated Bible Presentations

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ministries (ATSIM) in Australia recently launched a series of 30 PowerPoint Bible lessons in easy English, especially illustrated for indigenous Australian audiences.

Titled, “The Bible says…,” the PowerPoint series was created as an evangelism resource for indigenous communities.

Don Fehlberg, the recently retired ATSIM remote area senior pastor, said: “A picture tells a thousand words. These new illustrated PowerPoints will be very attractive for indigenous audiences for whom English is not their first language.” 

The series is the end-product of several years of teamwork by ATSIM supporters. Bible workers Mancel and Jubilee Dougherty of Finke, Northern Territory, started the project and developed the initial series. Fehlberg and his wife Eileen helped translate the original lessons into easy English, and the content was illustrated by Graham and Dianne Weir, who have extensive experience creating illustrated PowerPoints for Mark Finley’s “Search for Certainty” series.

To give the illustrations a realistic feel, Fehlberg’s photos of first nation peoples were used along with artwork produced a few years ago for ATSIM by Australian Seventh-day Adventist artist Phil McKay.

“This is a great resource that will benefit ATSIM throughout Australia. The presentations are user-friendly, and they are effective in communicating the Bible truths,” Darren Garlett, Australian Union Conference (AUC) ATSIM director, said.

Albert Gerry, elder of the Port Hedland Seventh-day Adventist Church in Western Australia, is already using the new resource to lead a Bible study group. He recommends the study guides to anyone who wants to give Bible studies. “It has been a lot easier to present, and those who were studying found it easy to follow and go through the Bible study guides, even with very little understanding of the Bible. It is a great resource,” he said.

Fehlberg highlights that even though the resource was purposefully designed with indigenous Australians in mind, it can be equally useful for anyone who wants to give Bible studies to people who speak English as a second language.

“Anyone with the ability to connect a computer to a home TV can use these free resources to win souls,” he said.

The original version of this story was posted on Adventist Record.