A careful study of an unreached people group's worldview will reveal common ground, bridges between their worldview and the Bible. On these matters the discipler may simply reinforce existing beliefs and practices. Worldview study also will disclose matters on which the people group's worldview is contrary to the biblical ideal; these contrary matters are barriers.24 In those instances, the discipler guides converts to replace the existing belief or practice with the biblical one. In addition, the study may reveal issues in which the existing practices and beliefs can be revised into the way of Christ. This approach to discipling aims to minimize the syncretism that comes when people just adopt Christian rituals or practices, but keep intact the mythology that underlies the traditional religion. When their core stories are not challenged and replaced, the traditional mythology will continue and may over time infuse the Christian practices with meanings from the traditional religion.
A fourth key element in order to avoid syncretism is to provide a recorded "oral Bible" for each people group in their language. This is a recorded set of stories, biblically accurate and told in the worldview context. At this point the "oral Bible" may be the only scriptural resource available to oral learners. At some future time when written Bible translation is completed, then it could be recorded to provide a standard point of reference.
In an "oral Bible," the stories are communicated in natural, live situations by mother tongue "storyers" from the people group, using the mannerisms and storytelling techniques which are appropriate to that people group. The Bible stories are checked to ensure biblical accuracy before recording takes place. By utilizing this system that checks the stories as they are told, it will ensure that this recorded "oral Bible" is a plumb line for oral methods such as stories, song, etc.
By telling Bible stories in a straightforward way, we give new converts an opportunity to engage biblical truth directly and discover its message for themselves. This approach is significantly different from the approach that has people read numerous individual verses sequenced according to the curriculum writer's sense of importance and logic and largely divorced from their biblical context. Telling a biblical story in an interesting and accurate way is a simple but powerful manner of freeing disciples to process Scripture. They can do it with a minimum of filtering and interpretive baggage coming from the discipler's culture and experience of Christianity. This is especially true when we tell the stories in chronological order, thus putting them in a biblical context.
The practice of keeping the story pure (separate from our own comments and interpretive remarks) protects the oral learners from the syncretism that might come from embracing a polished system of ethics, theology or pastoral philosophy that has a significant dose of European, North American, Korean, Brazilian or Chinese cultural baggage. Instead they synthesize a biblical theology from the stories and can apply it in all kinds of practical situations with courage.
In summary, those of us who seek to make disciples of oral learners will want them to understand biblical truth and live obedient lives as free from syncretism as possible. We can increase the likelihood of that happening when we disciple in the mother tongue, use worldviewspecific approaches instead of generic ones, utilize biblical stories extensively and work with mother-tongue speakers to produce an "oral Bible" that provides a reliable repository of biblical truth.
24 Detailed examples and training resources on how to conduct a worldview study can be found on the website www.chronologicalbiblestorying.com