ASPECTS of the storying approach are still under development and orality is still a relatively young academic discipline. Even so, there is enough confidence in the effectiveness of oral approaches to making disciples that reputable organizations are investing resources in an ever-growing engagement of the approach. Following are several examples reflecting this growing movement.45

The International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest denominational international mission agency, is heavily engaged in this approach. IMB has hundreds of field teams using storying as a primary strategy in dozens of countries. In Suriname a storying strategy in one people group enabled Christianity to spread from a handful of known believers to the point of having believers living in every village in that people group in less than five years. Most villages also have a house church.

Scripture In Use (SIU) and local partners, such as Bihar Outreach Network in India and many others around the globe, have trained over 7000 grassroots workers in 50 countries in Communication Bridges to Oral Cultures. This short course equips non-Western workers to understand their own oral cultures and to develop Scripture storying skills and strategies such as storytelling-drama, cultural adaptations of Scripture in song, memorization, and recitation. SIU focuses on mentoring other agencies through the process of adopting oral methods into their missions programs in order to address orality and the needs of oral cultures within their regions of influence. In one area 75 churches have been planted with 1450 believers, in another area 30 churches were planted in two years; and in another difficult area 22 churches were planted in three years.

Over the past six years, an alliance of international agencies which has come to be known as the International Orality Network has sponsored consultations aimed at sharing insights and experiences in orality and storying and promoting the approach. Sponsoring agencies are Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC), Faith Comes by Hearing, IMB, God's Story, Progressive Vision, Scripture In Use, Wycliffe International, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Trans World Radio (TWR).

Table 71, a partnership growing out of Amsterdam 2000, involving the leadership of CCC, Discipling A Whole Nation (DAWN), IMB, WorldTeach, Wycliffe and YWAM (Youth With A Mission), has adopted chronological Bible storying as a primary strategy of cooperative efforts.

Progressive Vision has recently produced Following Jesus: Making Disciples of Oral Learners, (2002) an orally-based discipleship resource. Following Jesus models the practice of identifying a biblical truth that should be taught, inquiring how the people group would perceive that truth through their worldview, and then selecting biblical stories that could be used to teach that truth in light of that worldview. It consists of seven modules of 53 audio CDs that teach how to communicate to oral learners. The modules give the format and tell over 400 Bible stories that enable the oral learner to go from being a new Christian to becoming a senior pastor or cross-cultural missionary without having to read.

45 Many of these ministries produce training and ministry resources. See the Resources section for more information about them and for contact information.