Chiang Mai Orality Network

This issue of Mission Round Table addresses the place of story in our lives and our proclamation of the gospel.
What is it about stories that we find so gripping? In part, it is their description of the human condition. Whether based on a historical incident or entirely composed in the mind of the teller, a good story speaks to our basic needs as humans. This explains why our self-understanding is often grounded in stories and why they supply the foundations for our ethical and religious ideas. It also explains why story is such a valuable means of sharing the gospel and nurturing people in the life of faith. There is a sense in which telling the old, old story again and again enables both tellers and listeners to have their thought lives and their actions penetrated and guided by the one grand story of Jesus and his love. The more we rightly encounter the story, the more it informs our worldview and unites us with the God of the story.

As some of the following articles make clear, it is essential that we tell this story in a way that is understandable to our listeners. And though the words of the biblical story do not change, the way our listeners hear the words can vary greatly.

Contents

Textuality and orality in the Bible – Jerry Hwang

Resources for Gospel Storytelling

Orality Praxis in Discipleship and Church Planting – Larry Dinkins

Orality, Preaching, and the Gospel – Desmond Soh

A Journey Worth Taking – Christine Dillon

Mini-Bibles – David Eastwood

Story Telling – Martin Goldsmith

“Hymns of the Everlasting Hills: The Written Word in an Oral Culture in Southwest China,” PhD dissertation by Aminta Arrington – Reviewed by Walter McConnell

In 1975 I was a student at Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Dan Bacon (DTS grad and OMF director at the time) was the chapel speaker and asked us students whether we were praying for any specific missionary.  At the end of his talk, Dr. Bacon handed out a little blue commitment card which I filled out. Within days I received information concerning Dr. Henry Breidenthal, a graduate of DTS as well as a medical doctor and linguist. After six years of tribal and medical ministry, Dr. Henry moved to Bangkok and in 1971 started the Bangkok Bible College. I set about lifting Dr. Henry up to God daily, even though my knowledge was limited to a card with his picture on it.  In God’s timing I began to attend an OMF monthly prayer meeting as a way to further my growing interest in Asia. At one memorable meeting I poured out my heart to God for Dr. Breidenthal, mentioning the problems I imagined that he and his wife and children were encountering in that Buddhist stronghold. It was then that a veteran missionary pulled me aside and gently whispered in my ear, “Larry, Dr. Henry is single.”

I continued to pray for Dr. Henry over the next five years and had the thrill of meeting him personally in 1980 during my Thai language study in Bangkok. After six years of up-country church planting experience I joined Dr. Henry in ministry at the Bangkok Bible Seminary to then be installed as dean in his place when Henry left for home assignment.

In 2001 Dr Henry and I were able to jointly start the Chiang Mai Theological Seminary. Last month there was a special chapel service to honour Dr Henry Briedenthal’s 51 years of service in Thailand.  Henry has a passionate discipline for the Word, prayer and evangelism and handed out wristbands with his famous motto – no Bible, no breakfast!

I don’t know of any single male missionary in OMF who has maintained such a consistent walk and ministry on the field for over 50 years. Dr. Henry is not just finishing the race; he is sprinting as fast as his nearly 84 year old legs will carry him. Like the apostle Paul, he is gearing up for a strong finish.

Every Sunday, for probably 40 years, Dr. Henry has handed out gospel tracts in a local park. Henry has never owned a vehicle and so peddles to the park on his ancient bicycle. I see a crouched figure, bent over the handlebars with a first year Bible student/disciple peddling behind trying to stay up with him. I thought to myself, “When I grow up, I want to be Dr. Henry Breidenthal!”

After a 3 day bible story training in Mae Sot, North Thailand, Kennedy Paizs and I were making the five hour trek back to Chiang Mai. I noticed an elderly monk hitch hiking by the side of the road. I stopped and asked his situation, being careful to use the proper vocabulary for monks. He was visiting a sick monk in the next city and needed a lift to the hospital. We sat him in the front seat and what proceeded was a 90 minute extended story session.

During that time we told him the story of Jesus crucifixion, the two thieves killed alongside Jesus, the burial and resurrection of Jesus and his parable of the prodigal son.  The monk’s background was initially catholic, he had heard these stories before and in characteristic fashion said that he respected Jesus and saw no problem in holding to both religions.

As we pulled into a filling station for gas, he mentioned that he felt thirsty and needed some water. I entered the 7-11 store and reached for a couple of 15 cent water bottles. He indicated that those were “no good” and instead placed a couple of 70 cent mineral water bottles in my hand. Since I had not eaten lunch, I began to pick up some treats to eat on the way. As I placed my items at the register, he told the clerk to add a pack of cigarettes to the bill.  After I had paid, I reached down to pick up my items, but the monk had already confiscated the bag!  As a monk, he was used to people giving him free stuff to make merit and thought I was buying the whole bag for him! He had just explained to us a number of Thai words, one of which was “graeng jai” (difficult to translate, but basically means “to defer” to someone).  I realized I was too “graeng jai” to ask for my items back and so we continued our trip.

Our conversation then rambled on about Thai politics, Buddhist animist beliefs, life in at the temple and even Hollywood movies (he had seen 10 James Bond films). As we dropped him off at the hospital, he accepted a tract and gave us his contact information. Kennedy and I then paused in the car and prayed for our unexpected guest. We are now making plans to visit him on our next trip to Mae Sot.

Our monk friend openly shared how he had lost both his wife and baby when he was 27 years old and after working manual labour for 30 years had finally gotten too feeble to work and with no family to support him, entered the monkhood. The sad fact is that there are thousands of similar scenarios taking place all around us here in Thailand. The Thai people’s greatest need is to hear the life-giving stories of the gospel, so that they may understand the message clearly and thus see the uniqueness and power of Jesus.

How can you make the most of your retirement? I recently read an article by Evan Tarver listing “7 Reasons Why Americans Retire in Thailand” and it got me thinking. Tarver started his article about the benefits of retiring in Thailand by saying, “If retiring Americans are looking to maximize their retirement, it’s a good strategy to retire to Southeast Asia …” The maximization of retirement from Tarver’s viewpoint related primarily to economic, dietary, exotic location, transportation, language and visas factors. His 7 reasons included, 1) Low Cost of Living, 2) Delicious Food, 3) Tropical Climate and Exotic Setting, 4) Central Travel Location, 5) Availability of Retirement Visas, 6) High Number of Expats and Foreigners, and 7) Low Language Barrier. You can read full article here. My official retirement year is on the horizon, so I began to think of how I could entice others (particularly Christians) of retirement age to “maximize their retirement” here with OMF Thailand.

1. Need of Seasoned Coaches

My co-worker is 83 years old and is fully involved in both the Thai church and seminary he founded. Dr. Henry Breidenthal is an invaluable source of wisdom for ministry to Thai Buddhists as well as a coach to the hundreds he mentored over his 51 years in this country. There are precious few experienced coaches/mentors for the large numbers of new workers who arrive on Thailand’s shore every year. Retirees with ministry or business experience can make a significant contribution to both expats and Thai alike.

2. English Teaching

Evan Tarver gives the impression that you can communicate easily in English throughout Thailand, which is a misnomer. The Thai are taught basic English in school but are sadly lacking in conversational skills. With entry into the ASEAN community, there has been a major stress on acquiring English skills, which means that retirees can begin to input into these very eager Thai from the first day they arrive.

3. Volunteer Ministries

There are many opportunities to plug into different ministries – church planting, home school tutor, handicrafts, worship/music, prayer, mission home host, office finance and admin. A retired friend I meet with weekly has a very effective ministry of driving patients to the hospital and filling in at a retirement/care facility. Once I brought in a team to build a Habitat for Humanity house for a poor Thai family. The most diligent workers on the project were a couple well into their 70s!

4. International Churches

The international church I attend is one of 10 in the greater Chiang Mai area. There are around 300 that attend my church, coming from a large assortment of countries and some 30 denominations. Such churches have long lists of opportunities and ministries to be involved with, both within the church and to the Thai/tribal community.

5. Central Location for Ministry to East Asia

Evan Tarver stressed the location of Thailand as beneficial to tourist travel. Thailand is certainly a key hub for the airlines, but as an open country in the midst of many creative access countries, it also serves as a springboard into most of East Asia. In a recent two year period I was able to travel quite cheaply to 9 different Asian countries to do ministry. A retiree on a vacation to one of these countries could easily gain exposure to ministry opportunities as well.

6. Influence on Family

With four grandchildren, I know the pull that family ties can make on grandparents. Today, however, it is easy to keep regular communication and connections with family members. The added benefit of living here is the chance to have family members visit and gain a first-hand exposure to the mission field. Such an exposure can leave a lasting impression on young people and may be the catalyst for some of them to actually consider overseas ministry themselves.

7. Witness to other Expats from Around the World

There are over 20 million foreign visitors who travel to Thailand each year and they are a fertile harvest field for evangelism. A number of them are seekers who have not found what they desired in their own country and believe that exotic Thailand may hold the answer. Many are longing for good connections with other expats, which paves the way for profitable friendships that open the door to deeper spiritual discussions.

Thailand and all of Asia was shocked by the huge blast in Tianjin, China on August 12, but then Thailand’s attention was diverted a few days later by the joy of setting a world record for bicycle riders with 150,000 participating in Bangkok to mark the 83rd birthday of Queen Sirikit.

This made headlines for just one day, for on August 13 the heart of the tourist district near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok was rocked by a horrific explosion which killed 20 (including foreign tourists) and injured 125 people. The Erawan Shrine is familiar to all missionaries, because as you approach that intersection, taxi drivers routinely take their hands off the wheel to “wai” the spirit within this shrine. The influence of this Hindu shrine to Brahma is so powerful that some call it “the Shrine of Bangkok”.

As the news broke, I immediately thought of an incident that happened to me in Yala, South Thailand in October 2011. I had just finished speaking at a regional camp and was relaxing with six local pastors at a local restaurant. Suddenly a large blast on the street outside interrupted our meal. I remember how people were screaming and running frantically around the hotel lobby. When the commotion calmed down, being the typical American-tourist type, I grabbed my camera and started for the door to capture whatever had just happened on film. One of the pastors said to me, “Ajarn Rawi, I wouldn’t do that if I was you. Here in Yala, the first bomb is to draw people into the street, so they can trigger a bigger blast when people gather.”

That night there was a total blackout in this large city with a total of 16 bombs planted. A number were killed and many more wounded. The next morning my host took me to breakfast, and we passed some carnage including a Karaoke restaurant, which had numerous burned out motorcycles in its parking lot. As I stood there, a Thai woman arrived at the scene, her jaw dropped and she became pale. The woman was staring at her charred motorcycle. She had been at the restaurant the evening before and at the last minute decided to spend the night at a friend’s house and so left her motorcycle at the restaurant. She realized at that moment how close she had come to death.

As missionaries, we constantly pray 1 Timothy 2:2 for Thailand, “Pray for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.” Yet when that peace is disrupted by natural and man-made disasters, I often think how God may be using these incidents to allow the Thai (as well as my fellow Americans) to see that whatever they have relied upon, be it shrines or material wealth … all of these are bankrupt when it comes to finding security in life. My prayer is that they would see that the only true security and hope of peace in life is through a personal relationship with the Prince of Peace, Jesus.

Photo source: pbibler@flickr.com

On my first day in a small village in Mukdahan province of Northeast Thailand, I was sitting in my host’s house and noticed an eight year old girl who seemed to be leaning over a fence. When I observed her for a couple of more moments I realized she had fallen into a barb wire fence! I rushed out and picked her up, but her clothes were caught on the barb wire. The whole time she didn’t utter a word, which I thought odd. Then I noticed that she had a large cut on her knee.. Yet still no sound from her mouth. Finally her mother walked up slowly and explained that her daughter, Mint, had epilepsy. I was struck with how causual the mother was about helping her daughter. I also noticed that the girl was filthy and unkempt. A day later she was still wearing the same clothes and the cut on her knee had gone untreated. Since our team was doing story training in the village, I decided to prepare the story of the man whose son had seizures from Mark 9. I chose this story because just as the demon was trying to destroy the boy by throwing him into water and fire, it seemed that something was trying to destroy Mint by throwing her into barb wire.  The next day I visited Mint’s house and noticed that her Grandma was having to watch a number of children as well as a young teenager who was holding a small baby. I told the Mark 9 story to them all and made a few comments before praying for them and then left.

Soon afterwards at the story training for some 80 participants we featured the story of the bent over woman from Luke 13. After telling the story and then doing a drama about it, a young man suddenly began to moan and groan in a very loud voice. People tried to console him, but the young man was inconsolable. This went on for a couple of minutes, making the whole congregation feel that some sort of demon oppression was taking place. I immediately went up to the young man, Seri, and asked what the problem was.  Seri said, “You don’t know me at all.” I responded, “True, I don’t know you that well, but I need to find out what is wrong. Please tell me.” Seri described how he had, at 17 years old, decided to become a male prostitute and had travelled to Phuket where he worked for a couple of years. Then, seeking to fill a void in his heart, he even travelled to New Zealand, thinking that a foreign country would be the answer. Finally, at 21, he returned to Thailand and by God’s grace Seri met Jesus. Now, at 25, he had walked with Jesus for four years and was attending our story training to know the Bible better. Seri told me, “When I heard and saw the story of the bent over woman being told, I began to reflect on how “crooked” my life had been before Christ and how He had straightened out my crooked and demonic lifestyle. Just now, I was not in any pain, but I was just processing at a very deep level all of the hurt that I had come out of and it came out through the moaning you heard.

I asked Seri if I could record his testimony and he agreed.  We needed a quiet place to do it and so I started walking to my host’s house, and we passed Mint’s house and as I pointed at the house I casually mentioned how I had told a story to the grandma of a girl with epilepsy and a teenage mother.  Seri suddenly became animated and asked, “Which house?”  and I pointed again to the house with the barb wire around it. Seri then said, “That grandma is actually my mother and Mint is my niece! My older sister was driving a motorcycle with Mint on the back when she was 3 years old. Mint fell off the back of my sister’s motorcycle and hit her head. She was in a coma for a week and they thought she would die. After she came out of the coma she had epilepsy. She had gone to the local clinic and was taking daily pills, but she still had seizures.” I then asked, “What about the teenage girl with the baby?” Seri said, “Oh, that is my younger sister. She got pregnant last year at 14 years old.”

I have told this story many times, because it demonstrates the power of the word of God shared in an oral fashion. Seri had heard many propositional sermons in his four years as a believer and was impacted cognitively. But somehow hearing this story and seeing it performed in a drama struck not just his head, but also his heart, as well as his gut (his core). For many years, if someone cried after one of my Thai sermons, it probably was not due to my oratory, but most likely due to my poor Thai language! Now, however, I find that when I tell a seemingly simple Bible story in an animated yet accurate way, plus have the congregation review it together and then unpack it with observations and applications, I often see Thai touched at a deep emotional level.

Pray for the Bible story training that is taking place in various parts of Thailand, that we would learn how to communicate the word of God in a way that truly fits the learning style of Thai people. Pray also that the scriptures in story form would be used like a sharp knife to cut to the core of Thai hearts (Hebrews 4:12).