Scripture engagement research across 70 global programs has uncovered something the Bible translation movement didn't fully expect — and the findings could reshape how mission leaders, Bible translators, and church leaders approach translation work for decades to come.
In this inaugural episode of Scripture Impact, Dr. Tim Hatcher sits down with Brian Kelly, Director of Collaborative Exploration at Seed Company, to unpack the groundbreaking Scripture Engagement Dynamics research hosted at scriptureimpact.org. Drawing on years of rich ethnographic data collected across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania, from both Christian and resistant non-Christian contexts, the research identifies which factors most consistently drive higher levels of vernacular Scripture use, and which factors derail even the healthiest translation programs.
The findings surprised even the researchers. Six factors statistically tied for first place as the strongest predictors of Scripture engagement, including some that few in the translation world would have placed at the top of the list.
In this episode, you'll discover:
Why six factors, not one, statistically tied as the strongest predictors of vernacular Scripture use across 70 programs
How local ownership, long considered the most critical factor in Scripture engagement, turned out to be more complex and multivariant than previously understood
Why contextualization ranked among the top six predictors and what the ethnographic data revealed about how communities connect God's Word to their own cultural frames
Why arts scored as high as local ownership in the statistical analysis and what that means for how translation teams approach community engagement
How theological mismatches between Bible agencies and host communities silently undermine Scripture adoption and why this is one of the field's most overlooked challenges
A critical guardrail: why focusing only on the top six factors is a dangerous oversimplification
Brian Kelly is Director of Collaborative Exploration at Seed Company, where he leads research and development initiatives in partnership with more than 150 organizations worldwide. Brian has served in Bible translation and orality ministry with Wycliffe Bible Translators, SIL International, and the One Story partnership, including field work in the Caribbean with Creole communities, and has taught courses at Dallas International University. He brings decades of on-the-ground experience to the questions that matter most in the translation movement.
Scripture Engagement Dynamics Research Report — scriptureimpact.org
Visit scriptureimpact.org to download the full Scripture Engagement Dynamics research report — free and available now. Subscribe to Scripture Impact wherever you listen to podcasts to be notified when new episodes drop.
