I caught the vision for oral Bible storytelling on a bicycle. My good friend, Janet Stahl, and I often ride together, and in 2012 I was Janet’s willing audience as she honed her storytelling skills. I quickly realized that listening to her tell Bible stories drew me into a refreshing new way of engaging with scripture.
The ongoing Evangelical discussion of orality relates to engaging all peoples with the word, especially those with a high orality reliance (HOR). It is first a discussion—an interaction of scholars and practitioners trying to unlock doors that reveal ways and means of communication and learning.
I was always the kid who avoided art class at any cost. Who would have guessed that now I would be known as the “Picture Drawing Lady?”
A woman in the small group that I led couldn’t wait to tell her hyperactive four-year-old nephew about Samson’s strength. She had just learned the Bible story and began telling it before she remembered the ending. Her nephew was just recovering from a very serious eye injury, but the woman skidded right into the conclusion, including how Samson had his eyes gouged out.
A STORYTELLING EVENT IS HAPPENING. The news of it has been shared from person to person and interest has multiplied. Now a crowd has gathered outside the shelter where the stories will be told.
Being the master of storytelling, Jesus presents his stories in various ways. So do other storytellers in the Bible. They offer simple ways to transition a normal conversation to Bible storytelling as soon as possible.
While many, especially in the West, are just now hearing about orality, it is in fact a significant breakthrough in the global mission movement.
Of the estimated seven thousand extant languages in the world, less than one percent have well-developed written traditions.
by Jackson Wu How might we craft stories from an honor-shame perspective in order to challenge cultural values that are contrary to the gospel?1 Since honor and shame are
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