Update on Oral Methods

Telling stories is one of mankind's oldest activities. God has revealed himself through a series of narratives that amaze, inform, and shape us. Our view of the world is largely determined by the stories we listen to the most.

Since taking part in the storying seminar in May we have been encouraged by reports of people using Bible stories to reach out to those who don't know the Lord. The videographer has almost finished editing the videos he took of the training sessions. These will enable us and all the participants to train others in telling stories effectively. We hope that eventually a Bible story movement will spread through the entire country.

All three teams with The Alliance in Mali are using Bible stories. We tell them in a variety of contexts to many different kinds of people. That's what we love about this "method". It adapts to almost any situation because it's how people naturally communicate.

At Go Global Mali, we began a story class over the summer. It started well with about six participants but dwindled down to only one young man. However his enthusiasm for the stories and the insights he found in them encouraged us. Now he is away studying in a university in France so we pray that someone else can continue to disciple him or that God will bring him back to Mali still with an open heart.

This trimester we are going to do the Seven Signs study again, but instead of reading the texts, we are going to take a more oral approach. We also want to have Bible story sessions in basic English one evening a week.