Sunday, March 18, 2012

Orality

This past year we've been doing chronological Bible storying.  I got a set of 37 stories from Creation to Christ--summaries of the main Biblical stories--and had them translated into our language here. 

As we started to use them I found out that these stories are WAY too long to be done orally.  Whoever wrote them can't possibly be using them in an oral story-telling approach.  The only way they could be using these stories is to read them out of the book they've printed them in.  This is even more evident when you consider the introductions, the questions and commentary printed along with each story.  All it is is a simplified Bible commentary. 

So I have been "re-crafting" each of the stories so that they can be used orally.  It is a lot of work.  But the idea is that we can all teach and learn the story without having to look in a book.

The results have been amazing.  In the format we use, the story is repeated at least 6-7 times in one setting.  The narrative is ingrained in the memory of the participants.  I have seen them refer to these stories while sharing the gospel with other people.  Nothing has helped them to better retain the message of the Bible than working through these stories.

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