Storytelling in a Biblically illiterate world

I often take for granted knowing the basic stories of the Bible because they were all I ever knew growing up. What missionaries are finding, and even US pastors these days, is that many people do not have a general knowledge of the Bible. What used to work for evangelism in the 70’s with proclaiming Jesus as Savior of sins now receives puzzled looks and slammed doors. Understanding salvation happens by the Holy Spirit, but it also happens by explanation of the Scriptures. We can no longer recommend a read through John and expect people to understand the content.

Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship introduced me to these concepts, but when I was on the field, I really saw the need to teach the stories of the Bible. God’s Word is a meta-narrative (one big story) of His love for us and how He is redeeming a people for His name. When one understands this, one can see God’s plan through Jesus’ death on the cross to pay for our sins. 

One of my first assignments in the Amazon was helping to teach at a Bible institute for Ticuna indians. The Ticunas have had the gospel for 50 years or so and have had plans for reaching other villages. We were teaching them basic theology classes, but they were not quite getting it. After stepping back and receiving advice from other missionaries, we decided on a Bible storytelling approach in which we just told Bible stories. Classes doubled in size and frequency in attendance greatly improved. 

We learned that in oral cultures, storytelling is very important. Actually, most of the world prefers storytelling. Think about when you are in church tuning the sermon out, thinking about your tasks for the week. When do you re-enter the sermon? Something clicks when the preacher starts telling a story. Think of all the stories Jesus told! 

So what we have found is that chronological Bible storytelling is a great tool for both evangelism and discipleship. Start with creation, the fall, flood and babel and move on through the OT as you see God work through Abraham and the Patriarchs and Moses in Egypt and onto the Promised Land. See the different leaders, promises, prophets and the hope of a Satan conqueror/Messiah/Deliverer that would reign forever! 

ABWE has developed great tools for adults and children alike in their Good Soil program. Check it out! There are also other resources all over that are using this popular old method of declaring the gospel.