MANY people accept the idea that an oral approach like chronological Bible storying may be appropriate to initial evangelism, but they wonder whether a storying approach is viable for a sustained, indigenous-led church planting movement. Is it adequate for sustained discipleship among second, third and successive generations and for leadership development in the church? Those working in storying in face-to-face, relational societies assert that not only is it a viable approach to meet these needs-it is the preferred approach to ensure reproducibility and thus sustainability in an emerging, indigenous-led church.

For a spiritual movement to be engaged, we must consciously choose strategies that oral learners can easily reproduce. We must constantly evaluate whether we are modeling the kind of disciples we want the learners to become. This is the most powerful form of discipling. Oral communicators learn best when they pattern themselves after those who led them to Christ. From our first contact with non-Christians, we are modeling how a Christian relates to non-Christians and seeks to introduce them to Jesus Christ. Thus even our evangelism is in this sense a part of discipling.

The first and most basic aspect of ensuring reproducibility in a storying approach is crafting and telling stories in a way that the hearers are able to readily learn and tell themselves and thus effect a reproducing evangelism. This is why we place great importance on the live, natural telling of stories by mother tongue storyers in the common situations where people communicate with one another. When the gospel is communicated to an oral learner in a way that shows dependence on a written or recorded presentation, it inhibits this reproducibility.

A storyer from Senegal reported:

Recently one of the oral learners told all of us the story of Cain and Abel. She was very accurate, animated, and told all of it from memory. She also led the discussion time with questions. The truly amazing part is that she had missed the previous week's lesson and had learned the story at midweek prayer meeting from another woman who had been present for the training. This oral learner had learned the story from one who had herself just learned the story and had learned to tell it. Some of their children who attend the study with them have prayed: 'Thank You that our mother is now able to teach us the Bible.' 25

A similar case is reported among the Santal people of South Asia.26 Village literacy among this people group was found to be 0.08%. The Santal people have no written history and do not rely on written documents for evidence or for credibility. They rely on what the elders have decided or what the elders say. A Christian outreach effort went to a Santal village and met Marandi, a man who had never been to school. They presented the gospel using oral methods, including stories, visual aids, dramas, songs, dances, and testimonies. Marandi trusted Christ and shared his testimony with his family, who also believed and were baptized. He then went to other relatives and shared his new faith with them, using many of the same oral methods. They also believed and were baptized. He then formed a team of believers, all oral communicators, who went to neighbouring villages using the same combination of stories, dramas, songs, etc. People in those villages accepted Christ, too. Those new believers formed their own teams and they went to yet other villages, still using the same basic strategies that had been introduced in the beginning. Many Santal people believed and they then formed their own outreach teams. The movement continues today among the Santal people.

25 From http://www.chronologicalbiblestorying.com/news/newsletters, Oct 2001, Vol. 8, No 4.

26 This account is provided by S. D. Ponraj and Sheila Ponraj