Bible Storying
"The occasion in Yali culture which became the natural opportunity for initial and continued transmission of Scripture — basically in the form of Bible stories — was in the evening hours which traditionally were given to nunung and dindil ale story telling. Here was a time when the community was used to gathering, and ready and eager to hear a new story."
This paper highlights some of the assumptions about Scripture that can limit or hinder its communication in an oral culture. The author examines orality (as opposed to non-literacy) with a view to demonstrating the capacity and capability of oral media (stories and songs) for the effective transmission of Scripture. [more...]
Scriptures In Use (SIU) exists to provide church planters in-country training opportunities to reach the unreached in oral cultures. They guide and mentor each church planter to develop a grass roots church planting ministry through simple Bible storytelling and other traditional oral communication media.
Most frontier Bible translators would agree that one of the major goals of their role in the total mission task is that the receptor language community would gain access to adequate Scriptures. Scriptures may be defined as being "adequate" when they include (1) a selection of portions from the Old and New Testaments sufficient to address the basic spiritual needs of that community; (2) in a language that serves them well; and (3) in usable, appropriate media such that motivated members of their community are able to use them for personal growth and church planting.
In this paper, Rick Brown seeks to answer the following questions regarding the adequacy and accessibility of translated Scriptures: [more...]
Experiencing Scripture through discussion.
STS is for Literate Teachers of God's Word who train literate and non-literate learners.
The design of Simply the Story encourages presenters of Bible information to use the whole story as God gave it, and then to go back and find the spiritual information the story contains. As well, the presenter learns how to form questions for a discussion forum that will lead listeners to that information.
 | Link: http://www.story4all.com Weekly podcast on orality and storying. story4all is based in Ireland and is part of a growing network of believers throughout the world who are committed to bringing the Story of God to all peoples ... orally. |
The Storying Scarf is a cotton scarf designed to put an inexpensive set of durable pictures representing God’s Word in the hands of people who could use it to independently share God’s Word where missionaries cannot go. It is designed to be used in conjunction with a series of 21 Chronological Bible stories.
StoryRunners, a mission of Campus Crusade for Christ, uses the power of spoken Bible stories to convey the transforming truth of the gospel to people for whom stories are a foundational part of their lives. This innovative storying approach employs people’s heart language and learning style providing them with an oral set of the Scriptures — in the same way Jesus did when he walked the earth (Matthew 13:34).
Oral communicators still compose 50% of the United States and other Western nations such as Canada, France and the United Kingdom. They are those who communicate primarily through oral narrative instead of reading or writing. Learn how to reach this population effectively with the gospel using this workbook inluding CD. [more...]
From the book description on the Publisher's website:
"This is a complete and practical introduction to storying, especially for people who want to learn about using biblical storytelling in cross-cultural contexts and who want to train others to become storytellers. It includes many fascinating accounts of the responses of tribal people to the first proclamation of the gospel through storytelling.
"The result of years of research and field testing, Telling God's Stories with Power is a product of the author's own journey as he confronted the challenges of teaching the Bible in parts of the world where people are unaccustomed to a Western style of learning. Full of innovative and groundbreaking insights, this study is packed with ideas, explanations, and constructive suggestions stated in clear and simple language.
"Throughout the book there are extensive examples from the storytellers' own experiences. Tracing the movement of the biblical stories across multiple generations of tellers and listeners, storytelling is found to be superior for knowledge transfer and for bypassing resistance to the gospel in oral contexts, thus presenting clear evidence of the effectiveness of biblical narrative among oral learners." [more...]
A Scripture-based, narrative approach for grassroots church planters, this DVD provides a brief overview of how members of traditional oral cultures learn and communicate information. This resource introduces strategies that complement traditional communication methods such as storytelling, drama, music, recitation, and oratory. You will observe scripture storytellers and church planting teams in action and walk briefly through 10 bridges of communication to oral cultures that are taught in the BRIDGES training workshops. [more...]