Christians are unashamedly Jesus people. Our faith is based on, centred around and directed towards the person of Jesus Christ. So, knowing as much as we can about him is fundamental to our discipleship and evangelism. And despite the centrality of Jesus there can still be poverty of understanding about his life and teachings. This conviction was the motivation behind a fairly remarkable undertaking. My friend and former pastor, Martin Charlesworth, has recorded more than 90 hours of videos systematically working the life of Jesus from all four gospels.

The project is called Word Online.

As Martin explained,

“Over the past few years I have prepared and videoed a teaching series on the life of Jesus which uses all the materials of all four gospels and sets the story in a chronological framework. There are 184 videos of 30 minutes each, divided into fourteen series which take the story from the virgin birth through to the ascension without missing anything out! The episodes are also available on audio and there are full transcriptions and subtitles if required. The narrative aspect is highlighted throughout. The primary target audience is the church in the developing world and those who speak English as a secondary language. Podcasting is available on various platforms. Discipleship is the focus. Smartphone usage has been targeted through a web-based App. The software has been designed to allow for translation into other languages which we hope to develop in due course. Our big hope is that ‘Word online’ will be a strategic discipleship resource, particularly in the developing world.

Given that this is such an extensive resource it goes without saying that I anticipate that it will be used in many different ways and that few people will just go through it from start to finish! It is designed so you can drop in and out of the narrative easily or you can choose to study a specific topic on its own eg: the early life of Jesus (Series 1), the Sermon on the Mount (Series 4), the trial and death of Jesus (Series 13) etc.”

I’m very happy to recommend Word Online because Martin is a gifted teacher, and he has been an example to me of what it means to live a Jesus-centred life. I owe him a lot.

You can find out more and follow using these links:

https://wordonline.org
https://twitter.com/WordOnlineOrg
https://www.instagram.com/wordonlineorg
https://www.facebook.com/WordOnlineOrg