This terminology, "making disciples" and "oral learners," is a mix of the familiar and unfamiliar. By "making disciples" we mean enabling people to respond in faith to Jesus Christ and to grow in relationship with Him and others with the goal of obeying everything that Jesus commanded (Mt. 28:20). Or as Paul described it in more detail, making disciples involves bringing people to be

…filled with the knowledge of [God's] will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that [they] will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:9b 12, NASB).

Normally discipling takes place in the context of churches that make disciples and plant other churches. By "oral learners" we mean those people who learn best and whose lives are most likely to be transformed when instruction comes in oral forms. Many groups transmit their beliefs, heritage, values and other important information by means of stories, proverbs, poetry, chants, music, dances, ceremonies and rites of passage. The spoken, sung, or chanted word associated with these activities often consists of ornate and elaborate ways to communicate. Those who use these art forms well are highly regarded among their people. Cultures which use these forms of communication are sometimes called "oral cultures."

The members of these societies are referred to as "oral learners" or "oral communicators." In this discussion, we use the terms "oral learner" and "oral communicator" interchangeably at times. With the phrase oral "learner" the focus is more on the receiving act hearing an oral communication. With the phrase oral "communicator" the focus is more on the act of telling. These societies are relational, group oriented, face to-face cultures. Most of the members of these societies learn best through aural means.

Those who have grown up in highly literate societies tend to think of literacy as the norm and oral communication as a deviation. That is not so. All societies, including those having a highly literate segment, have oral communication at their core. Oral communication is the basic function on which writing and literacy is based. When literacy persists in a culture for generations, it begins to change the way people think, act and communicate so much so that the members of that literate society may not even realize how their communication styles are different from those of the majority of the world who are oral communicators. These members of a literate society then tend to communicate the gospel in the literate style that speaks to them.

But oral learners find it difficult to follow literate styled presentations, even if they are made orally. It is not enough to take materials created for literates and simply read them onto a recorded format. Making something audible does not necessarily make it an "oral" style of communication. Not everything on a CD or audiotape is "oral." Some of it is clearly literate in its style even though it is spoken or audible. The same thing is true of other media products created for literate audiences. They may have literate stylistic features that confuse oral learners.