May 2008

The Spanish do public transport right. Shiny buses run on time. Underground Metro rail connects city edges and center. High-speed trains cover the country. Nearly anyone can get almost anywhere whenever they choose. So, why should MAF go to Spain? After all, we do remote ministry — fly over roadless wastes, radio across phone-less wilderness, bring internet and Christian education where none exists.

Spain’s cities, on the other hand, pack millions of people into thousands of apartment buildings. Approaching Madrid, for example, open country stops suddenly and high-rise towers begin. No subtle transition from rural to suburb. Just a myriad of folks bundled together in clean, prosperous efficiency. No wonder so much of North Africa yearns to cross the Straights of Gibraltar.

Which is why MAF Learning Technologies went to Spain in partnership with The God’s Story Project. This May we conducted two orality workshops - one in Barcelona and the other in Madrid. We taught church leaders who work with North African immigrants to open a Bible story’s depths and then pass the skill on. They learn to listen, remember, repeat and listen again — without printed material.

With a small application of appropriate technology to ensure accuracy, these residents of the Mediterranean’s south side return home with God’s Word written not on paper, but on their hearts. That offends neither contrary custom regulation nor zealous agent. Instead it lies hidden, waiting, until inspiration prompts the bearer to ask, “Would you like to hear a story?”