{"id":939,"date":"2020-04-21T16:19:22","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T09:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiang-mai-orality.net\/?p=939"},"modified":"2024-01-31T16:23:39","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T09:23:39","slug":"orality-praxis-in-discipleship-and-church-planting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiang-mai-orality.net\/?p=939","title":{"rendered":"Orality Praxis in Discipleship and Church Planting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mission Round Table<\/em>\u00a0vol. 11 no. 1 (January 2016): 10-16<\/h4>\n

Download this edition of Mission Round Table (2.5 MB)<\/a><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/h3>\n

In 1993, after a dozen years of church planting and seminary teaching in Thailand, OMF leadership encouraged me to pursue a doctorate in inter-cultural education in order to advance my skills and give more credibility to the seminary program. The academic challenge was stimulating, yet my main desire was to use this opportunity to gain answers to recurring questions I had about the slow\u00a0growth\u00a0of the\u00a0church.\u00a0After\u00a0175\u00a0years of missionary presence in the country, Christians\u00a0still\u00a0made up less than 1% of the population. Seven years and more than 200 pages later I turned in my dissertation. I had hoped that my goal of adapting a Western teaching tool to the Thai context would be confirmed and adopted by the Thai. That dream never\u00a0materialized. Even so, I gained a major insight into the learning style of my target people group\u2014at their core the Thai were preferred oral learners.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

The weight of this discovery did not sink in until I attended a\u00a0full\u00a0five-day oral Bible story workshop in which no notes\u00a0could be taken.[2]<\/a>\u00a0An opportunity to receive a certificate for completion of the course was offered on the last day by presenting a model story to the participants. Suffice to say, my feeble attempt at telling and unpacking an orally-told Bible story failed miserably and the certificate was withheld from my grasp\u2014my literate paradigm was way too evident in my presentation. I took that workshop in 2006 and so, during the last decade, I have been on a quest to understand the world of the oral learner and just how best to incorporate oral strategies into discipleship and church planting in Thailand as well as broadly in Asia.<\/p>\n

Up to that point I had taught the Thai with highly analytical methods based on a literate text paradigm. The subsequent paradigm shift was wrenching at times and was so significant that I chronicled my journey\u00a0in an article entitled, \u201cMy Bumpy Road to Orality.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0What followed was a two-year span of time in which I traveled to nine Asian countries doing nothing but oral trainings. After such a broad exposure I can now echo the sentiments of Harry Box who concludes his book,\u00a0Don\u2019t Throw the Book at Them\u00a0<\/em>with these words:<\/p>\n

The great majority of the people in the world today are oral communicators. This number includes many who have received some kind of literacy training or formal education, but who prefer to be oral communicators and so have not maintained their literacy skills. In spite of the extensive literacy programs as well as the formal and informal education systems around the world the number of oral\u00a0communicators is steadily increasing. The highest percentage of oral communicators is in the developing countries of the world, which also have the highest percentage of people who have yet to receive a clear presentation of the Christian message.[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The great majority of\u00a0Asian\u00a0unreached people groups (UPGs) easily fit into the above description. With that in mind, the next question should be: How\u00a0can\u00a0we prepare disciplers and church planters who have been trained in highly literate methods to relate effectively\u00a0with\u00a0non-literate or preferred oral learners in cross-cultural\u00a0contexts?<\/p>\n

Primary and Secondary Orality<\/h3>\n

It\u00a0is not difficult to make a case for a\u00a0truly\u00a0oral approach when referring to non-literates in UPGs. Concrete-relational, event orientated people gravitate towards holistic and oral communication. Pure illiterates, who\u00a0can\u00a0neither read nor write, need to\u00a0start with\u00a0the concrete and move\u00a0to more abstract concepts. A minority of our world falls into this category and yet they should remain a priority target group as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission.<\/p>\n

A much larger slice of the globe falls into the category of preferred oral learners (POL). Though they have had some education and have the ability to read, a lack of usage or incentive means that they end up as either functionally non-literate or semi-non-literate. The Lausanne paper, \u201cMaking Disciples of Oral Learners,\u201d gives a helpful summary of the effects of such low literacy in the USA through an analysis of the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS).[5]<\/a>\u00a0If half of American adults are in the lowest levels of literacy, what should we expect in the developing nations of Asia where there are fewer opportunities for education?<\/p>\n

Harry Box highlights for us the differences in literate learners and oral learners, whether primary or preferred:<\/p>\n

There is a marked contrast between the worldview characteristics of oral communicators and literacy- oriented people. This is not simply at a superficial, surface level, but rather at a deep worldview level and is particularly significant in the whole area of communication. To move from an oral worldview position to a literacy-oriented worldview position, or vice versa, requires a major worldview shift.[6]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Such a shift is no less needed for a group which we increasingly encounter in our media saturated age\u2014secondary oral learners. With the advent of the internet and a multitude of readily accessible electronic devices we have ended up with a postmodern generation of browsers and scanners who spend most of their day viewing various screens replete with pull down menus, video clips with highly kinetic, visual as well as sensory graphics. This digit-oral generation is increasingly replacing the written word with audio clips, television,\u00a0virtual\u00a0reality, and social media. Media producers recognize that we are\u00a0all\u00a0hard-wired to stories, which is why you see a proliferation of narrative genre on\u00a0YouTube,\u00a0television sitcoms,\u00a0and the standard fare we find in movies. My daughter\u2019s college roommate well illustrates the connection between young people and screen-sourced narratives as she watched ninety movies during a ninety-day span over one summer.<\/p>\n

The cumulative effect of such massive doses of media is reflected in the declining reading habits of the American adult population of\u00a0which nearly a quarter had not even read one book during the past year.[7]<\/a>\u00a0If reading habits in the West are declining at such a rate, one can only imagine where developing nations will end up as this electronic media trend continues.<\/p>\n

Not a Silver Bullet<\/h3>\n

Orality, perceived as a new trend in missions, generates valid concerns which need to be addressed. There has been a tendency to hype the movement by making extravagant claims of its effectiveness. The result is that oral zealots end up being accused of denigrating the need for literacy.\u00a0Yet\u00a0being literate is of great advantage for any believer and we should long that quality literacy training and literature be made availabe for\u00a0all\u00a0the\u00a0UPGs of the world. However, the reality is that there remain four billion oral communicators in our world who can\u2019t, don\u2019t, or won\u2019t process new information by literate means.[8]<\/a>\u00a0We have done an admirable job in reaching the more literate populations of the world, which is why concentrating more effort in reaching the preferred oral learners is so\u00a0crucial.<\/p>\n

We should not view the use of literacy and orality as \u201ceither-or,\u201d but \u201cboth- and.\u201d A master carpenter needs a variety of tools in his tool belt. Traditionally, the communication tool belt of educators and trainers in Asia has been weighted with text-dominated literate tools emphasizing western theology, propositional truths, and linear\/logical thought processes. We will always need such tools, especially when we are covering the details and principles of the Word found in epistolary or more didactic genres. Different genres require different tools so that God\u2019s word can be interpreted, applied, and communicated properly. Paul was careful to teach \u201cthe whole counsel of God\u201d in various ways (Acts 20:27). His example reminds us that propositional truths and narrative stories need each other.<\/p>\n

Jesus modeled balance in his communication, using both sermonic discourses as well as numerous stories. There were times when he taught in a more direct propositional manner, yet the bulk of his teaching was parabolic as seen by the parables in the Gospel of Luke which make up more than half of the book.\u00a0J.\u00a0M. Price observes, \u201cUndoubtedly the distinctive method used by the Master was the parable or story.\u00a0It\u00a0stands out more prominently in his teaching than any\u00a0other.\u201d[9]<\/a>\u00a0Matthew\u2019s Gospel states, \u201cAll these things Jesus said to the crowds in parable, indeed he said nothing to them without a parable\u201d\u00a0(13:34).\u00a0Jesus was a master communicator and as such consistently packaged\u00a0truth\u00a0in a story form for use\u00a0with\u00a0non-literates as well as highly educated Jewish\u00a0leaders.<\/p>\n

Our strong suit as missionaries has always been literate tools and I expect them to predominate on into the future.\u00a0We\u00a0all\u00a0appreciate the massive effort expended over the\u00a0centuries to produce and preserve the printed Bible and\u00a0all\u00a0of the resources related to it.\u00a0Yet\u00a0in the process we seem to have depreciated the Bible in oral\u00a0forms and have failed to adequately meet the needs of the majority that do not prefer the printed page.<\/p>\n

Bringing Stories to Life<\/h3>\n

Oral cultures are experiential, sensory, and holistic in nature. Oral learners flesh out meaning, rather than\u00a0trying\u00a0to explain it abstractly or\u00a0logically. Different cultures gravitate to different art forms. Whatever the art form, it is important to make sure that they supplement and support the core of the teaching, which is the Bible story itself.<\/p>\n

Contextualized Songs, Poems, and Chants<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Songs have a phenomenal sticking power and can be retained over decades. Understandable and contextualized songs can work in tandem with the story to seal the message to both the heart and mind of the hearer. Avery Willis had his trainees tell the story, dialogue about it, act it out, and finally work on creating a song, since \u201cMusic touches the emotions. If you are involved in creating a song, you\u00a0will\u00a0likely remember the story better. If the song has a catchy tune, you\u00a0will\u00a0sing it during the following week, and it\u00a0will\u00a0help you\u00a0recall\u00a0the main point of the\u00a0story.\u201d[10]<\/a>\u00a0Certain\u00a0cultures are particularly touched by poetry.\u00a0An\u00a0example of this comes from Russia where I witnessed a young girl recite a very long\u00a0biblically-themed poem from the pulpit, totally from memory. In Thai culture chanting is a common form which I have made use of in church by having the whole congregation recite key phrases after me. Since this is a practice they have\u00a0all\u00a0utilized since childhood it is easy for them to transfer the practice to church.<\/p>\n

Drama and Dance<\/strong><\/h4>\n

John Davis portrays drama as the communication key for the Thai.\u00a0\u201cTo\u00a0effectively communicate the message it needs to be packaged in a medium that\u00a0will\u00a0be culturally acceptable.\u00a0For\u00a0Thai this medium is drama. There seems to be no other means of communication which makes such a powerful impact on Thai audiences as the dramatic arts.\u201d[11]<\/a>\u00a0The Thai use their innate acting talents in both drama and music in an entertainment form using extravagant costumes and improvisation called\u00a0Likay<\/em>.[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

This tendency to improvise extends to dramas performed in church, so that in our story training we have resorted to having a single narrator tell the story slowly as the drama troupe performs the story through a silent pantomime. In this way the story is clearly featured, rather than\u00a0trying\u00a0to have the actors memorize their lines, which\u00a0can\u00a0easily degenerate into a comedy routine that may blur the story line. The Thai are also graceful and expressive dancers, especially\u00a0with\u00a0their hands. Many churches use this natural\u00a0gifting\u00a0during festival times and special dates in the Christian\u00a0calendar.<\/p>\n

Proverbs and Cultural Stories<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Like most Asian cultures, Thailand is replete with proverbs and pithy sayings, many of which have similar meanings to biblical proverbs. Such succinct adages are easily remembered and can be easily incorporated into evangelism and discipleship. Since the majority of Thai are Buddhist, it is helpful to be familiar\u00a0with\u00a0a few religious stories, which\u00a0can\u00a0be used\u00a0as bridges in pre-evangelism. In the book,\u00a0From Buddha to Jesus<\/em>, Cioccolanti suggests familiarity with stories like \u201cThe Blind Turtle\u201d and others to show the relation of sin to karma.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n

Art and Object Lessons<\/strong><\/h4>\n

It has been said that \u201cA picture is worth a thousand words; a story is worth a thousand pictures.\u201d Stylistic drawings with Christian themes have been used effectively to build bridges of communication with Buddhists in Thailand. There are full sets of such drawings based on Bible story sets.[14]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 I personally like a more biblically accurate set developed by the Southern Baptists in the Philippines.[15]<\/a>\u00a0A missionary I know takes fellow\u00a0artists\u00a0to a university campus and as the\u00a0artists\u00a0set up their easels and draw biblical scenes, he tells the story being drawn to Thai onlookers. A creative use of object lessons\u00a0can\u00a0also\u00a0supplementa story. I have cut out of cardboard a simple four piece object lesson which I have used with over 1,000 people as I tell the paralytic story of Mark 2:1\u201312. The construction and a demonstration of how to use this tool can be found on the internet.[16]<\/a><\/p>\n

Media<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Creative approaches to oral communication are\u00a0virtually\u00a0endless in this age of apps, Bluetooth, micro SD cards, movie CDs,\u00a0VDO\u00a0clips, and easily accessible electronic devices. The\u00a0\u201cJesus\u201d\u00a0movie,\u00a0with\u00a0over six\u00a0 billion showings world-wide, is a prime example of the potential of media\u2019s global impact.[17]<\/a>\u00a0For\u00a0a fuller treatment of the broader redemptive meta-narrative, there are full-length eighty-minute videos like \u201cThe Hope\u201d[18]<\/a>\u00a0or \u201cGod\u2019s Story\u201d[19]<\/a>\u00a0which has been produced in 300 languages in eighty countries. In Thailand I purchase \u201cGod\u2019s Story\u201d cheaply in lots of a thousand in order to give them out to interested Thai during festivals like Christmas. Such meta-narratives lay out a sound redemptive story line into which the individual stories of the Bible\u00a0can\u00a0be\u00a0inserted.<\/p>\n

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A gospel poster formerly used widely in China.\u00a0China\u2019s Millions\u00a0<\/em>(July 1936): 131. Panel A: Neither the bald Buddhist priest, nor the Taoist can reach the sinner sinking in the mire. Panel B: The Confucian teacher cannot help him up. Panel C: Evangelist stoops down and lifts him out of the horrible pit and sets his feet upon the rock. Panel D: A new song is put into his mouth. \u201cMany shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.\u201d<\/h6>\n

Story Sets<\/strong><\/h4>\n

One needs wisdom when selecting stories, since there are around one thousand Bible stories to choose from. A comprehensive set covering key Old and New Testament stories could number upwards of two hundred, while a more manageable set of core stories\u00a0can\u00a0be reduced to around\u00a0thirty. Evangelizing and church planting in a culturally sensitive way means that story-set selection should take into account key world-view issues, bridges, and barriers.<\/p>\n

I have found that shorter stories of ten to fifteen verses\u00a0with\u00a0limited dialogue and action elements are best for initial training of\u00a0story-tellers. There is a place for crafting a story when summarizing longer sections or with Unengaged People Groups, a process championed by One Story training.[20]<\/a>\u00a0However, there is much to be said for learning a Bible story with content accuracy, yet allowing it to be expressed with natural wording, rather than rote memorizing of the text, a practice which slows the learning of a story.<\/p>\n

Story and Discipleship\/ Church Planting<\/h3>\n

Oral methods of communication play a vital role, not only in the initial planting of churches, but also in the ongoing nurture of church planting movements. We will see that it is possible to incorporate oral elements into most all aspects of evangelism and church life among oral peoples.<\/p>\n

Preaching<\/strong><\/h4>\n

C. Sproul is an unusually systematic and propositional pulpiteer, who sees the value of narrative preaching. \u201cI\u2019m big on preaching from the narratives because people will listen ten times as hard to a story as they will to an abstract lesson.\u201d[21]<\/a>Like Sproul, the ex- pat and national workers I encounter see the benefits of stories, but mainly with youth, in small groups, or in evangelism rather than with adults on Sunday morning. Homiletically they see stories primarily as illustrations for the major points in their sermons, rather than acting as the core subject of their message.<\/p>\n

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Describing an \u201coral sermon\u201d as a narrative sermon helps clarify the intent, but narrative sermons often maintain a heavy literate focus. To create an oral atmosphere, I typically rearrange the chairs into a semi-circle and then, stepping down from the pulpit, I give a short introduction to the story with a closed Bible and then, as I open the Bible, begin to tell the story accurately, yet in a natural\u00a0way.\u00a0As\u00a0I close the Bible I ask the congregation to get into pairs and repeat as much as they remember to their neighbor (in more seasoned congregations you\u00a0can\u00a0have one person\u00a0volunteer).\u00a0Next, I lead them through the story once more in a participatory\u00a0way,\u00a0which brings me to about the fifteen-minute mark in my sermon. The remaining time is the core of the sermon as I unpack the story using open-ended observational questions, which the congregation responds to. Near the conclusion of the message, I move to application questions based on the\u00a0biblical principles and lessons the congregation discovered as they made observations within the story. What you end up with is an engaging and often riveting inductive study of flesh and blood characters with the added benefit of placing a powerful narrative in the heart pocket for future retelling.<\/p>\n

Many audiences are very used to a literate paradigm and need to\u00a0be educated in such an oral approach.\u00a0For\u00a0this reason a preacher may want to read the story as well as tell it and instead of direct\u00a0questions to the congregation, may simply use rhetorical questions, which he can answer himself (at least the congregation has a moment to reflect on the question and form their own answer, albeit silently).<\/p>\n

Small Groups<\/strong><\/h4>\n

One of the best disciple-making environments and a key to spiritual maturity are small groups that incorporate the best practices of worship, \u201cone-anothering,\u201d and inductive Bible study with a view to obedience and outreach. Avery Willis believed strongly in preaching and taught it in seminary, yet he made this statement about the power of small groups:<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t make disciples through preaching. Trying to make disciples through\u00a0preaching is like spraying milk over a nursery full of screaming babies just hoping some of it falls into their mouths. That is about all you are doing when you are preaching. You make disciples as Jesus did\u2014in face- to-face relationships in small groups.[22]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Most people associate serious inductive Bible study with extensive note taking and a detailed focus on the printed text. There is usually one expert facilitator that everyone looks to as their authority. In an inductive\u00a0Bible study oral style, everyone is on a level playing field as they learn the story together and use observational questions to unpack the story, being\u00a0careful\u00a0not to stray outside the bounds of the narrative. Everyone\u00a0can\u00a0contribute to the discussion, which allows each member to have the joy of personal discovery of truth. Participants begin to identify deeply\u00a0with\u00a0these life and blood\u00a0characters\u00a0and end up making deeply penetrating observations of their lives and more importantly, gain new insight into the attributes and workings of God.<\/p>\n

Key components of such clusters is having each member identify both an obedience action step as well as identifying a person to tell the story to in the coming week. It is very satisfying to hear members describe\u00a0how they applied the story during the week and experiences they had as they shared it in the community. This\u00a0accountability aspect of obedience and sharing the story fills in a weak point that many have observed in traditional small groups. As the group grows and members learn quickly how to lead the group themselves, they are encouraged to start their own groups, thus passing on the DNA of the group in a replicable way.<\/p>\n

Church Camps<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I have had the privilege of speaking at Thai church camps where the messages were\u00a0all\u00a0orally told Bible stories.\u00a0An\u00a0added advantage of this approach is that children from around 10\u201312 years old and upwards\u00a0can\u00a0stay\u00a0with\u00a0their parents during the teaching sessions. The traditional church camp separates out the older children and often teaches them a curriculum unrelated to what the adults receive. One of my greatest joys is seeing families sitting together to both worship and unpack stories together, then at meal times\u00a0to\u00a0see that momentum is carried on as parts of the story are discussed around the table.<\/p>\n

Family Devotions\/Personal Quiet Times<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Deuteronomy 6 begins with the famous\u00a0Shema\u00a0<\/em>(verse\u00a04)\u00a0and continues\u00a0with\u00a0an admonition for families to meditate on God\u2019s\u00a0Word\u00a0as a life style (verses 7\u20139). In verses 20\u201324 a father is told what to do when his son asks the meaning of the 613 commands found in the Torah.\u00a0To\u00a0grasp even a portion of those commands is a daunting task for priests, much less children. The answer is not to explain the\u00a0meaning of individual verses, but in effect to tell one\u2019s son the epic stories of the exodus, wilderness wanderings, and conquest of Canaan. As a child grows the details of God\u2019s law will need further explanation, but a parent\u2019s first priority is to make sure his or her child is well versed in the redemptive stories of the Bible.<\/p>\n

Once a home schooling couple asked me if they could bring their two Junior High aged children to our five-day Simply the Story training. I readily agreed and was not surprised when these sharp\u00a0MKs\u00a0exceeded many adults in their grasp of the\u00a0process.\u00a0On the last day the father thanked me for the church planting applications he had gleaned during the week, but was most enthusiastic about the potential he had already seen for family devotions. Instead of dominating the devotional times and relying on printed materials, the parents could allow their two children to lead the devotions in an oral style using stories relevant to their family needs. A Bible professor confided in me that in the past he had difficulty discussing the Bible with his wife because of her perceived inadequacies against his vast theological knowledge. However, when they concentrated on inductive study of stories, they found it very natural to discuss God\u2019s word together as\u00a0they sat at home, in a restaurant, or even on trips in the car.<\/p>\n

Counseling<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Harriet Hill, working among traumatized Africans, found that one of the most effective ways to counsel these oral people was through sharing stories of abuse and trauma\u00a0 that they could readily identify\u00a0with.[23]<\/a>\u00a0The nature of our world means that wounds of the heart from war,\u00a0ethnic tensions, natural disasters, and abuse will only increase. Bible stories address the full gamut of human needs and many are brutally honest accounts of the problems and traumas that mankind faces on a daily basis. The field of counseling is quite broad and complex and there is always a need for professionally trained counselors. However, most oral populations do not have the\u00a0luxury\u00a0of licensed counselors and must rely on pastoral counselors. A lay counselor\u00a0with\u00a0a database of biblical stories that address felt needs\u00a0can\u00a0discern the need being presented and share a story that addresses that need.<\/p>\n

Short Term Mission Trips<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Most fields accept a large number of short term mission trips each year. I\u00a0try\u00a0to make sure that each member of the groups I receive or prepare for such trips is ready to share at least one Bible story orally. I\u00a0try\u00a0to select\u00a0a\u00a0good cross section of stories that have a good potential for use on the trip. A team of nine visited me for two weeks and because each one was prepared to tell their story in English, I was able to size up the\u00a0ministry\u00a0situation and use a number of their stories. Those who never told their stories on\u00a0the\u00a0field were at least able to gain personal benefit, plus the ability to use their story at a future time.<\/p>\n

Seminary and Christian Schools<\/strong><\/h4>\n

All of my academic training through the PhD level occurred in the literature-saturated west, so it was no surprise that I taught as I had been taught. I never seriously considered narrative or oral communication techniques due to my propositional bias. I unconsciously believed that \u201creal truth\u201d was best packaged in a propositional package and\u00a0that somehow using Bible stories would miss the main point that I was trying to make.<\/p>\n

Presently I am experimenting with teaching seminary classes in a much more oral manner by stressing stories and characters along with doctrine. This approach has been well received by a number of seminaries in both Asia and the States. In Thailand, my desire for this approach has been fueled by the realization that most of my graduate students are effectively biblically illiterate, having missed an exposure to many foundational stories that I learned as a child in Sunday School.<\/p>\n

By modeling what I\u00a0call\u00a0\u201coral andragogy\u201d[24]<\/a>\u00a0in the classroom and designing oral exams, projects, and presentations for the students, I am seeing a positive absorption of class content, but also a noticeably higher engagement and enjoyment of God\u2019s\u00a0Word\u00a0on the\u00a0part\u00a0of\u00a0the students. Such an innovative approach, however, often ends up being a concern to other faculty leaders.\u00a0To\u00a0at least partially ease the fears of these \u201cgatekeepers\u201d of institutions, I wrote an article entitled \u201cObjections and Benefits to an Oral Strategy for Bible Study and Teaching.\u201d[25]<\/a> It is important to prove through qualitative research, demonstrable results, and transformational impact the validity of any perceived new training approach. That is why more practice and evaluation of oral\u00a0approaches in academia is needed before any measurable influence\u00a0will\u00a0be seen in traditional theological\u00a0education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As the Taiwan Field Literature Representative, Siegfried Glaw used a bookmobile to sell Bibles and other Christian literature in the 1970s.\u00a0East Asia\u2019s Millions<\/em>\u00a0(June 1974): 56.<\/h6>\n
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Bible Memory<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Most every Christian has benefitted from memorizing a verse pack of key Scriptures. The advantages of such a discipline are readily seen, yet most would admit that they have forgotten many of the verses they memorized for want of a disciplined review system. I have found that the requirement of saying the verse word perfect and repeating the precise chapter and verse to be daunting for many. I first took up this formidable task in seminary when a fellow student challenged me to memorize two key verses from each book of the Bible, a total of 132 verses. I\u2019ve benefited greatly from this exercise and have no need to review many of them, however,\u00a0certain\u00a0verses need constant review after even forty\u00a0years.<\/p>\n

You\u00a0can\u00a0imagine my amazement after a fairly short exposure to learning and absorbing Bible stories, to see the number of verses in my heart pocket far exceed the 132 individual verses\u00a0in<\/p>\n

my verse pack. Up to that point I could not have told you even one content accurate Bible story. (I could have summarized a number, but unlike my verse pack, my value system for stories did not include content accuracy.)<\/p>\n

Since only a few of the stories I\u2019m working on exceed the ten to fifteen verse limit, I find that simple repetitions coupled with picturing the story with a drawn storyboard places a high percentage of the story into my long term memory. The added benefit over time and practice means that many stories need virtually no review, a luxury I never had with my verse pack. Just working on ten stories of ten verses each means that you have potential ownership of one hundred verses, a figure that any church planter or pastor would love to claim for his congregation.<\/p>\n

English Teaching<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The ten members of the Association of Southeast\u00a0Asian\u00a0Nations\u00a0(ASEAN)\u00a0have agreed to use English as the medium for business.[26]<\/a>\u00a0As\u00a0in other\u00a0Asian\u00a0nations, church planters are finding that the teaching of English is becoming an increasingly effective bridge builder in relationships and sharing the gospel.\u00a0Gary\u00a0and Evelyn Harthcock found this to be\u00a0the case in their\u00a0ministry\u00a0in Cambodia to Buddhist monks and ended up producing a number of resources for ESL teaching.[27]<\/a>\u00a0Recently our team of story-tellers in Chiang Mai was asked to teach medical\u00a0students conversational English in a story form. Following the Harthcock\u2019s examples, simple, short Bible stories will be used as the basis for the lessons. The students\u00a0will\u00a0first learn the story in\u00a0 a group context and then dialogue about the characters and events\u00a0as they respond to open-ended questions along with an emphasis on difficult vocabulary and wording.<\/p>\n

Oral Bible Schools<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The nature of Bible education on the field has always been geared to literate learners, which means\u00a0primary\u00a0oral learners have had great\u00a0difficulty in getting the training they\u00a0need.\u00a0For\u00a0instance, usually literacy is a minimum requirement for the role of\u00a0elder.\u00a0However, the requirement in 1 Timothy 3:2 states that one be \u201capt to teach,\u201d a stipulation that\u00a0can\u00a0be met if the elder gains a good grasp of the Bible in oral form and knows how\u00a0to communicate it orally. An encouraging trend in training such leaders has been the development of Oral Bible Schools (OBS), which have been started in places like India, Africa, and the Philippines.<\/p>\n

One effective model is to have the students meet for a two week period as they learn fifteen to twenty stories which they practice and then take back to their villages for the next two weeks where they share the stories and work at their occupation.[28]<\/a>\u00a0This process continues for six months\u00a0and gives students a good grasp of over 200 Bible stories. The goal is to\u00a0encourage these students to continue learning and gain as much literacy as they\u00a0can\u00a0so that they\u00a0can\u00a0accurately handle the more propositional genres of the Word. However, the reality is that many\u00a0will\u00a0remain non-literate or functionally\u00a0so.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

Like most of my missionary peers, I am a \u201chigh end user\u201d of the Bible and am used to processing God\u2019s word with highly literate tools. At the same time, like my peers, I find myself working among \u201clow end users\u201d who, as preferred oral learners, process information much differently than myself. Missiologically we have done an admirable job in reaching the relatively small percentage of the world\u2019s population that are strongly literate, but that leaves billions both in the majority world as well\u00a0as the secondarily oral West who respond best to an oral approach.<\/p>\n

Recognizing and accepting the major differences in literate and oral communication\/learning styles\u00a0is a necessary first step in addressing this issue. One should expect some discomfort as adjustments are made and cherished literate paradigms are challenged. Missiologically the oral movement is relatively new and is still developing as various trainers seek to find best practices in orality. More qualitative research and longitudinal studies of the impact of such training needs to be done. Also, the biblical and academic validity of an oral approach needs to be confirmed and barriers need to be surmounted if the \u201cgatekeepers\u201d (educators, denominational, and mission agency leaders) are to be affected.[29]<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u00a0seems fitting to end this article\u00a0with\u00a0the challenge that pastor Andy Stanley gives to\u00a0those\u00a0who\u00a0seek to preach effectively to this present generation in a style that is\u00a0quite different than his famous father, Charles Stanley. Andy\u2019s appeal is specifically to preachers in western contexts, yet a similar challenge could be given to missionaries ministering to oral populations:<\/p>\n

Are\u00a0you\u00a0willing\u00a0to abandon a style, an approach, a system that was designed in another era for a culture that no longer exists?\u00a0Are\u00a0you\u00a0willing\u00a0to step out of your comfort zone in order to step into the lives God has placed in your care?\u00a0Are\u00a0you\u00a0willing\u00a0to make the adjustment? Will you consider letting go of your alliterations and acrostics and three point outlines and\u00a0talk\u00a0to people in terms they understand? Will you communicate for life\u00a0change?[30]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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[1]<\/a>\u00a0John Davis,\u00a0Poles Apart? Contextualizing the Gospel\u00a0<\/em>(Bangkok: Kanok Bannasan, 1993), 143.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0Simply the Story is a story training organization based in Hemet, California with the distinctive of training storytellers to dig deeply and inductively into Bible stories in an oral style. STS offers workshops in six major regions of the world and has been used in over 100 countries with the \u201cGod\u2019s Story\u201d DVD being translated into 335 languages.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0Larry Dinkins, \u201cMy Bumpy Road to Orality,\u201d\u00a0http:\/\/www.<\/a>simplythestory.org\/downloads\/PDFs\/ MyBumpyRoadToOrality.pdf\/ (accessed 4 December 2015).<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0Harry Box,\u00a0Don\u2019t Throw the Book at Them\u00a0<\/em>(Pasadena: William Carey, 2014), 189.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a>\u00a0\u201cMaking Disciples of Oral Learners,\u201d Lausanne Occasional Paper 54 (October 2004), 18, https:\/\/www.lausanne.org\/<\/a>\u00a0docs\/2004forum\/LOP54_IG25.pdf (accessed 8 December 2015).<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0Harry Box, \u201cCommunicating Christianity to Oral, Event-Oriented People\u201d (DMiss diss., Fuller Theological Seminary, 1992), 59.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0\u201cThe Decline of the\u00a0American\u00a0Book Lover,\u201d\u00a0http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/<\/a>business\/archive\/2014\/01\/the-decline-of-the-american-book-lover\/283222\/ (accessed 4 December\u00a02015).<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a>\u00a0\u201cMaking Disciples of Oral Learners,\u201d 3.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a>\u00a0J.\u00a0M. Price,\u00a0Jesus the Teacher\u00a0<\/em>(Nashville: Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention,\u00a01946),\u00a099.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a>\u00a0Avery\u00a0Willis\u00a0and Mark Snowden,\u00a0Truth\u00a0that Sticks: How to Communicate Velcro\u00a0Truth\u00a0in a\u00a0Teflon World\u00a0<\/em>(Colorado Springs: NavPress,\u00a02010),\u00a095.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a>\u00a0Davis,\u00a0Poles Apart?<\/em>, 114.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a>\u00a0\u201cLikay<\/em>,\u201d https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Likay\/ (accessed 4 December 2015).<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a>\u00a0Steve Cioccolanti,\u00a0From Buddha to Jesus\u00a0<\/em>(Oxford: Monarch, 2007), 123\u201332.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a>\u00a0Sawai Chinnawong and Paul H. Deneui,\u00a0The Man Who Came to Us\u00a0<\/em>(Pasadena:\u00a0William\u00a0Carey,\u00a02010).<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a>\u00a0Caloy Gabuco,\u00a0Telling the Story:Chronological Bible Story Pictures\u00a0<\/em>(Paranaque City, Philippines: Church Strengthening Ministry, 2003).<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a>\u00a0See\u00a0http:\/\/www.chiang-mai-orality.net<\/a>\u00a0(accessed 11 December 2015).<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a>\u00a0See http:\/\u00a0www.jesusfilm.org\/aboutus\/<\/a>history (accessed 11 December 2015).<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a>\u00a0See\u00a0http:\/\/www.thehopeproject.com\/en<\/a>\u00a0(accessed 11 December\u00a02015).<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a>\u00a0See\u00a0http:\/\/www.gods-story.org<\/a>\u00a0(accessed 11 December\u00a02015).<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a>\u00a0See\u00a0http:\/\/onestory.org\u00a0<\/a>(accessed 11\u00a0December 2015).<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a>\u00a0Steven Matthewson,\u00a0The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative\u00a0<\/em>(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 20.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a>\u00a0Willis\u00a0and Snowden,\u00a0Truth\u00a0that Sticks<\/em>,\u201d\u00a087.<\/p>\n

[23]<\/a>\u00a0Harriet Hill, \u201cHealing the Wounds of Trauma: How the Church Can Help,\u201d Podcast recorded on Story4All, http: \/\/ story4all.libsyn.com\/s4a048-healing-wounds-through-storying (accessed 8 December 2015).<\/p>\n

[24]<\/a>\u00a0Andragogy<\/em>, takes the Greek word\u00a0andra<\/em>\u00a0meaning \u201cman\u201d and combines it with\u00a0agogus<\/em>\u00a0meaning \u201cleader of\u201d to stress the teaching of adults. This is an important distinction, since many people think of telling stories as an approach most suited for children.<\/p>\n

[25]<\/a>\u00a0Larry Dinkins, \u201cObjections and Benefits to an Oral Strategy for Bible Study and Teaching,\u201d\u00a0William Carey International Development Journal\u00a0<\/em>2 (Spring 2013): 11-17.<\/p>\n

[26]<\/a>\u00a0\u201cWall Street English Prepares You to Get Ready for AEC 2015,\u201d http:\/\/www.<\/a>wallstreetenglish.in.th\/wall-street-english\/aec\/?lang=en\/ (accessed 4 December 2015).<\/p>\n

[27]<\/a>\u00a0See\u00a0http:\/\/pages.suddenlink.net\/<\/a>eslbiblestories\/index.htm (accessed 11\u00a0December 2015).<\/p>\n

[28]<\/a>\u00a0\u201cOral Bible Schools,\u201d http:\/\/simplythestory.org\/oralbiblestories\/index.php\/oral-schools.html (accessed 4\u00a0December 2015).<\/p>\n

[29]<\/a>\u00a0Larry\u00a0Dinkins, \u201cObjections and Benefits to an Oral Strategy,\u201d\u00a011\u201317.<\/p>\n

[30]<\/a>\u00a0Andy Stanley,\u00a0Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to\u00a0Irresistible Communication\u00a0<\/em>(Portland: Multnomah, 2006), 90.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mission Round Table\u00a0vol. 11 no. 1 (January 2016): 10-16 Download this edition of Mission Round Table (2.5 MB) Introduction In 1993, after a dozen years of church planting and seminary teaching in Thailand, OMF leadership encouraged me to pursue a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiang-mai-orality.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiang-mai-orality.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiang-mai-orality.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiang-mai-orality.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiang-mai-orality.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chiang-mai-orality.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":942,"href":"https:\/\/chiang-mai-orality.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions\/942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiang-mai-orality.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiang-mai-orality.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiang-mai-orality.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}