Blessed be the Human
A new YouTube channel exploring the Bible for bored Christians and curious seekers.
The Project:
It’s not about being taught by an expert but exploring together with curiosity and creativity. The name is inspired by Psalm 1 and signals that it’s: spiritual, inclusive and focussed on human flourishing.
Each episode starts with a question that leads us into exploring the Bible through visual storytelling, conversation and thought experiments. The goal is to catch the imagination, connect deep ideas to real life, and point toward the true Human at the centre of everything.
It’s playful, thoughtful, and made for people who like to wonder.
4 video ideas to set the tone:
1. How the Gruffalo helps me
read the Bible.
2. Three ways to go to space.
3. Blessed is the Human.
(Psalm 1 meets Twitter)
4. Problem-Solving
in the Garden of Eden.
“Jonathan has been adding visual spice and depth to our CU Impact Group videos for the last few years. I'm very excited to see what he comes up with in this new storytelling project.”
— Peter Dray, Former UCCF Director of Creative Evangelism
The Human behind it:
I’ve had an itch since I became a Christian at fifteen to create moving images that move people closer to Jesus.
I produced the videos for UCCF’s first Uncover Gospel Project, created crowd-sourced art exhibitions, produced performances of The Mark Drama, co-led cross-cultural mission teams, written a 12-part Bible overview.
These days I live in Scotland with my wife, working as a freelance video producer and motion designer. I sit on the board of Al Massira, a UK charity that helps people from many cultures encounter the Bible’s story.
+ Some more humans:
The best human creativity is not the work of one author. Good editors play a massive role in shaping and finessing the books you read and the films you watch.
So, I’m working to establish a review group to help sharpen up script ideas and direct my imagination. Particularly to make sure the project has good input in 5 areas:
Storytelling - getting the audience into the story and leading them through effectively.
Biblical-Theological - making sure that biblical faithfulness is held up alongside creativity.
Cross-cultural - keeping in mind different worldviews on each story and learning from other cultures.
Visual Creativity - making sure stories and ideas are communicated effectively.
YouTube marketing - sharpening up content to grab attention, particularly for this medium.
Please get in touch with ideas of people to ask, or if you want to be on the team.
The plan:
Phase 1: Start-up / 2024
Aims:
Raise support from regular or one-off gifts to spend half my time on the project.
Establish a review group and process for writing videos.
Create at least 6 original storytelling videos that experiment with different formats and demonstrate what is possible.
Budget: £2,000 / €2.300 Monthly to cover half of Jonathan’s salary, tax and costs.
Excess budget allows for more focus and opportunity to involve other creatives in design and illustration.
Phase 2: Growth / 2025
Aims:
Use start-up videos to seek sponsorship or partnership funding from organisations.
Evaluate the initial start-up videos, with a particular focus on increasing reach and audience on YouTube.
How to support financially:
Become a patron
You can support this project with a regular or one-off subscription.
That puts you in the community. You’ll get a monthly update email, first look at new projects, and opportunities to input on what’s getting made.
Become a sponsor or partner for a video
Individuals or organisations can sponsor videos. Which means a thankyou in the video and/or video description.
Organisations can propose a partnership on a video. That means they can collaborate on a storytelling video, and publish an adaptation of the video on their own channels. For example: A ministry that works on debt-relief could partner on a video. I work on a related Bible story as a video. The final video is published by both me and that ministry.
For sponsorships or partnerships, please send me an email: hello@jogaway.com
FAQs
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The Bible Project does do a brilliant job of telling Bible stories.
Their main aim is to teach the Bible as a story. My main aim is to tell the Bible as a story.
Though what I’m describing might sound similar, I expect the output to look quite different.
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This is deliberately experimental and new. It’s hard for organisations to give so much freedom to an untested idea.
I’d love to be doing this within an organisation, but to be agile as I start and have the freedom to see what works, there are advantages to going solo.
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There’s a story behind that question. A story about an unlimited, all-powerful being who can do anything. That’s not the God of the Bible…
The Bible’s story is about a creator God who has made everything. And chooses to limit Himself by loving His creation and making promises to the people He created in His likeness.
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When you support you are paying for a service.
I’m based in Germany. And it’s not so easy here to accept giving income as in the UK. I’ve done lots of research and I believe I’ve found the most efficient way of receiving funds in this start-up phase.
My transaction fees are 3.5% rather than 8% on a platform like Patreon. And I reclaim VAT on my expenses.
My quoted budget of £2000/month includes the 19-20% VAT added to your subscription.
If you really want your gift to benefit from Giftaid, you could try to give through your local church.
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I’ll need to re-evaluate and make some adjustments, but I will still try to make something. e.g. Raising around £1000/month could result in 3 videos instead of 6 in a year. Sign up to the email list for updates!
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I’d be delighted! That means I could already start working with other creatives. and potentially produce videos faster. I will be more focussed and less reliant on finding additional freelance work.
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Get in touch: hello@jogaway.com