We want to make sure the Bibles and Bible portions
we produce are acceptable to the audience and in an appropriate format. Often
we find ourselves working with people who are not very literate, who speak two
languages (their mother tongue, and a trade language), and who are used to oral
means of communication. This means that it is good to produce short audio
recordings or videos that will have a large impact. Once someone has become a
believer they are much more likely to start devouring scripture—before that we
need to think creatively of different ways of getting Bible stories into
people’s hands (ears and eyes). One very popular method these days is called
Oral Storying or Chronological Storying. This is where a believer tells a small
group a story straight from the Bible. He or she tells it three or four times
and asks some questions to see if they have understood it. The group all go
home and retell the story (by now they have memorised it), and so the message
is passed on. The interesting thing is that it is much better not to ask
analytical questions such as, ‘What do you think the story means?’ or ‘What
good example can we follow?’ The questions all need to be about characters and
events in the story—oral learners drink in the meaning of the story without
analysing it in the way we might. The stories start with Adam & Eve and go
on through the Bible.
'Tell as a story!'
