In addition to the choice of communication form, the choice of what language to use is crucial. The most effective ministry strategies among oral cultures occur when the communication is done in the heart language, the mother tongue. It is often easy to overlook the fact that people speaking over 4,000 different languages are still awaiting God's word in their heart language. Many of these groups have a long history of being a minority people in their own country. When the Bible has come to them in the past, it has often been in a printed form that they cannot read or in a language which does not speak to their heart. In fact, it might be in the language of the very people who they feel have oppressed them for many years.

However, when they hear the stories from God's word in their own language, they are often amazed and have an immediate heart response and cultural identification with that message. They may respond that indeed God has remembered them and He is for them! When they hear the message in their heart language, the words speak to them in an indescribable way. Because it is their own language, it captivates them and they want to hear more.

Stories heard in the mother tongue are easily memorized and retold to others. Oral learners can often recite large portions of scripture when they hear these passages in their mother tongue and packaged in the stories that they can easily learn and reproduce.

Effective ministries among oral cultures should be worldview sensitive in order to build bridges of understanding and confront barriers to the gospel message. Because stories possess the power to actually change how people think, feel, and behave, and to change the way they see the world, it is important to have a sequential, step-by-step process that leads them to a new, biblical worldview. What is effective in such situations is the oral communication of a set of chronological Bible stories that involve points of similarity between a culture's worldview and a biblical worldview. This incorporates "bridges" from its worldview to the biblical story. It simultaneously confronts "barriers" to the gospel, those elements of the worldview that hinder understanding and acceptance. Over time, confronting worldview barriers with stories of the Bible can lead them to accept a more compelling story than the stories associated with their own worldview.

An example of this account comes from the Asheninka people group in Peru:

Alejandro, the leader, is doing great in chronological Bible storying and the people understand. He told the story of Jesus calming the waters during the storm and Cladis softly told me that she used to believe that the Owner of the Winds could be stopped by placing your axe in the ground with the blade cutting the wind, but now she knows it is God that created the winds and He is God. Also, she told me that she is not scared of the rainbows anymore because they do not kill you when you walk under them. God created the rainbow to make a promise with us. Alejandro himself came to the understanding that he can baptize the people and the people understand that they can be baptized after simply believing. So, Alejandro baptized twelve believers last week. It was a week of fiestas. Trip after trip Alejandro tells the stories, then, it hits them. It is such an awesome thing to be part of.16

Choosing stories that address worldview bridges and barriers of a specific people group or segment of society improves the likelihood that their worldview will be brought into conformity with the biblical pattern, the kingdom of God.

Understanding orality and oral cultures gives us the basis for adopting effective oral communications strategies. These understandings enable us to realize the importance of the word being shared in the mother tongue and in ways that enable the people to embrace the message from God.

16 This account comes from Pam Ammons, and can be found, along with other examples at: http://www.chronologicalbiblestorying.com/news/newsletters_index.htm.