Communicating the Gospel or Communicating Literate Worldview?

Why is it that 90% of the Christians sent to Bible school DO NOT RETURN to live among their people after completing training? Some may be tempted from their call by the lure of an easier lifestyle in the city. But can this account for every one?…most of whom were sent because they demonstrated both talent and passion for preaching the Gospel? Is it possible that part of the problem is actually caused by the educational system?

            Let’s look at a typical scenario. In order to be successful in Bible school, the Christian student must learn to communicate as a highly literate person. This means mastery of preaching/teaching using expositional, analytical and logical discourse to persuade. But these students return to their villages made up of oral communicators. How do oral communicators learn? They prefer indirect methods of teaching such as observation followed by practice, and correction via proverbs. Values are transferred through stories, songs, ceremonies and rites of passage. The Bible students return and experience mounting frustration in their ministry, in part, due to the way they have been taught to preach and teach.

           Literates have largely overlooked the fact that the way they communicate the Gospel is difficult for an oral learner to understand; it’s like a different dialect. These successful Bible students have now learned a form that MIScommunicates to the oral learners of their home town. It is ironic that the adaptability that enabled these students to succeed in Bible school - learning literate communication styles - leads to an INABILITY to communicate the Gospel to their own people. 

             There’s good news. Storying, a method of telling Bible stories followed by interactive group dialogue, is being “rediscovered” as a effective way to communicate the Gospel to oral learners. Consider the comments made by an Ethiopian leader after attending a 4-day Bible storying workshop. This man had two doctorates, one in theology, and had resigned from his position in the UN and moved back to Ethiopia to reach his people. He asked the workshop director, “Young man, I have one question. Can you tell me why it is that I had to go through all that pain of study only to come here and find out this simple way of reaching my people is what I need to do?”

This does not mean eliminating Bible school, but it does challenge every literate instructor to consider “repackaging” their courses so they can be communicated in the way that the target audience learn. Let’s not make oral learners ineffective “literate communicators” of the Gospel! Let’s incorporate storying. Storying is a powerful way to communicate the Gospel to oral learners.