Storying & Linguistics among Oral Cultures

Over 70 percent of the world's least reached people are part of oral tradition cultures, groups that use stories, songs and other forms of narrative to communicate their most significant messages. These cultures do not pass on information in our Western literate forms so we bring them the message of the Bible in a form they can understand and pass on to others, storytelling. Bible Storying among Oral Cultures is a mission to compile a set of Bible stories designed to communicate the gospel orally to those who have never heard it. It is a two year adventure in delivering the gospel to those who have never had the Bible in their own language.

As part of the Storying track you will produce a set of Bible stories, which will form a panorama from Creation to the resurrection, which can be used effectively for evangelism, discipleship and multiplying churches. It becomes an oral Bible for the people.  The vision of the Storying-Linguistics track is to initiate indigenous “Church Planting Movements” in these unreached people groups using non-literate, oral strategies.  Learn more about Storying by watching the short video below.

What would I do? What does a typical day look like?

• You will be a part of a two or three person team.
• You will live among an “Unreached People Group” and learn its culture, language and worldview.
• Your job is to make friends! You may be the first to bring the Word of God to this people group in their own language.
• You will use a cutting-edge cross cultural communications strategy called “Chronological Bible Storying” to give the people an oral storytelling panorama of the Bible that can easily spread throughout the people group.
• You will help your national friends become storytellers to their own people in their own language.
• You will work with your storytellers and with translation experts, accurately crafting 20 to 30 stories from the Bible into the heart language of the people.
• You will be a miniature recording studio putting the stories on CD, cassette and radio.
• You will be trained and mentored throughout your two-year project so that you can do it!
• Your goal will be to help initiate the beginnings of an indigenous church planting movement.

What we’re looking for in Bible Storying among Oral Cultures volunteers:

• Adventurous and flexible
• Willing to live with the people and learn their language and culture
• Multi-tasking individuals that can integrate, relationship building, language learning, cultural study, training, media, and evangelism and discipleship.