Gaps, Obstacles & Barriers
Throughout the ages, the most enduring form of communication has been the telling of stories. Think of the last conference you went to – do you remember the three points of the talks or the principles illustrated by stories? What is the pastime at gatherings over the winter holidays – telling stories about the family and past Christmases? What do kids say before going to bed as a stall tactic – “Tell me a story (for the five hundredth time)?” How did Jesus most often teach? Stories.
Recently, Cindy and I went on a support trip to Michigan to share about our ministry. We started by asking a question: "
If there was nothing written down and you had no way to write anything, how would you learn and pass on information to others?"
The majority of the world's unreached people groups are made up of oral preference learners. Often ministry strategies are very western, literate, or three-point linear thinking based. People from oral cultures (even those that are literate) can be left behind because they think and learn differently .
Name these:
Oral Communicators name geometric patterns by what they resemble or how they function : a ball, a box, a piece of pie…
Those with even a small amount of education, though, name them as circle, square, triangle: all learned conceptual ideas!
If we are going to see every person have a chance to know Jesus, then we need to re-think how we do evangelism, discipleship, and church planting for these people groups. We have to communicate the gospel in the way they learn, communicate, and live.