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Sylvia Rodgers
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1 IN DEFENSE OF "STORYING" Everybody is storying these days, so it seems. As Bible storyers we've been challenged a few times on the legitimacy of using the term "storying." It is a coined term that describes what we do when we intentionally tell the Bible stories which are discrete, that is unified in one place or at least easily identifiable as a story, or which have a narrative quality even though pulled together from several component Scripture references. To "story" is to tell as a story. This was primarily to highlight the deliberate effort to maximize the essential story which could be told as a story, remembered as a story, recalled as a story, and retold as a story. In short, it was to maximize the oral culture aspect of the Bible message. The Bible is estimated to be at least 60% narrative or oral culture in form, meaning it was written to be read or recited. The reason for the emphasis upon the story is to keep the Bible message in a format that oral culture people can handle. There are theological reasons beyond this. One is that storying implies a basic and simple trust in God's Word to be and do what it says it can do. It is powerful. It is Spirit inspired and Spirit illuminated. This doesn't rule out the Spirit's use of a storyer to present the Bible story lesson in an oral community compatible manner and to allow for discussion and teaching to occur. It just keeps the focus upon the story and its truth and not upon the theological knowledge of the storyer which the hearers are not likely to have. However, there are some interesting dynamics at work. Many of those who hear the stories may be in a better position to correctly interpret or at least to perceive the elements in the story than the storyer. Many of these listeners live in a surviving Old Testament world culture. Don't underestimate their ability to perceive things Western storyers may miss entirely. Storying was rediscovered (or recovered) by a number of people since biblical times. As early as 1620 Paul Hsü s daughter trained professional storytellers to take the gospel to the villages of China and supported them from her father s money. 1 It is reported that the early Moravian missionaries to the Caribbean island of St. Thomas used Bible stories with the slaves in the cane fields beginning in the 1730 s. Zinzendorf, their sponsor, urged: Talk about Jesus and this will lead naturally to a discussion of God and to the whole unfolding narrative of the history of salvation. 2 Johannes Warneck wrote of the powerful effect that stories had upon the peoples of Nias Island and Sumatra. 3 And, lo, the teller of Bible stories discovers that a new religious world is dawning upon the heathen through the simple narration of what God has done for men; that these stories are better fitted than any well-thought-out address for making blinded idolaters acquainted with the living God It is the Bible stories that transform the religious thought of the Animist. John Nevius wrote of activities that were a part of weekly meetings and worship in China: "We have the Scripture story exercise. Someone previously appointed tells the 1 Ruth A. Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, Academie Books, Zondervan Publishing House: 1983, P , Christian History, Vol 1, No. 1, Box 540, Worcester, PA 19490, p Johannes G. Warneck, The Living Christ and Dying Heathenism, Baker Book House: 1973, p. 225.

2 story; the leader of the meeting then calls on different persons one after another to reproduce it in consecutive parts, and afterward all present take part in drawing practical lessons and duties from it. There is never time for more than one story, and often that one has to be divided and has two Sundays given to it." 4 Around 1907 G. F. Vicedom, wrote about use of Bible stories in Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea by missionary Christian Keysser: Part of this teaching consisted of about forty stories from the Old and New Testaments. Candidates were required to learn these by heart, in order to ensure that those illiterate people should have a basic understanding of the Word of God. For the Papuan hearers, and I believe for others, too, the Bible stories which they learned prove their value in three ways. They tell men what God does for them in a quite definite situation, and what he requires of them. They explain more fully the relationship in which men stand to God. They make plain the response of God to the action of men. In this way they make it easier for the seeker after God to reach the decision which is required of him. Many of the people of the Bible became for the Papuans patterns of the way in which they themselves are expected to behave. 5 Hans Rudi Weber had come to the realization that illiterate people learn and communicate differently than highly literate people. His work in Luwuk-Banggai, Indonesia, during the 1950's chronicled his observations: One way of communication has at all times been used when presenting the biblical message to illiterates: illiterates are able to hear, and usually they hear much better than literates But the most common method of communication is that of story-telling. If you tell a story well, illiterates will listen all night long. But Weber cautions: A communication which has been merely told cannot be firmly anchored in the mind of the illiterate. He may hear the Bible stories, but in time he will forget them or he will transform and confuse them with wellknown myths, because he cannot read the Bible, the text of those stories. 6 About the same time in Panama, Central America, missionaries discovered the value of chronological Bible stories to evangelize whole villages. Jacob Loewen writes: Early in our missionary experience we found ourselves frustrated for want of a suitable medium to give the message to Spanish Speaking Negroes in South America. Preaching was out of the question and with more than ninety percent being illiterate we could not read and discuss So we began to tell the Old and New Testament stories in a chronological sequence over a period lasting many months. Loewen shared the account of what happened when New Tribes missionary Glenn Prunty in Panama used a set of 26 Bible stories translated for the Choco people. One hearing of this story convinced an extended family group of the relevance of the message, and on a succeeding visit Mr. Prunty found them ready to give God the hand, and to begin walking on God s road. 7 Loewen also mentioned that Harold Fehderau, then working in the Republic of Congo, suggested that guidelines for the choice of stories for a story set should come from a list of questions designed to discover the basic world outlook and philosophy of a people. 8 4 John Nevius, The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches, 1886, p G. F. Vicedom, Church and People in New Guinea, World Christian Handbooks, No. 38 (London: Lutterworth Press, Hans Rudi Weber, The Communication of the Gospel to Illiterates, SCM Press: 1957, pp 39, Jacob A. Loewen, Bible Stories: Message and Matrix, Culture and Human Values, William Carey Library: 1975, p Op. cit., p. 374.

3 There have been reports of use of stories among the Masai in Africa, in Nepal by a medical doctor Katherine Harbord, in Bangladesh both by former missionaries and itinerant Bengali storytellers, and even Saudi Arabia by an American doctor during the 1950's and 60's. Unfortunately only fragments of records remain to tell how the stories were chosen, used and with what effect. Language Recordings Inc. (Gospel Recordings) was already moving in this direction with their Good News flipchart which featured a chronological presentation of redemption followed by simple discipling lessons. This led to the Look, Listen and Live flipchart series with its expanded chronological presentation and accompanying Bible story scripts prepared on levels suitable for new readers or for more accomplished readers. 9 Kanok Bannasan (OMF) in Thailand published a preaching poster flipchart titled The Origin and Destiny of Man which presented the Bible story and could be used to give a visual chronological presentation. 10 Timeline charts had been around since their popularity and demise after the 1940's because of the dispensational flavor. Newer editions are again proving useful for teaching chronologically to professionals in urban areas. A debt of gratitude is owed to Trevor McIlwain and his former New Tribes Mission colleagues in the Philippines. Trevor had rediscovered chronological teaching during the mid-1970's in an effort to overcome an incomplete evangelization of Palaweno seekers in the Philippines. His published work on chronological Bible teaching has served to popularize Bible teaching in strategies of evangelizing, church planting and discipling. Others not so well known are Jay Jackson, Les Plett, Tom Steffen and Dell Schultze, also of New Tribes Mission Philippines, who developed 27 Old Testament and 27 New Testament stories in English. Bryan and Diane Thomas, also of New Tribes Mission on Mindanao developed a set of 54 Bible story lessons in the Cebuano language. 11 Dell and Rachel Schultze saw that their people, the Ilongots, needed stories as they were oral culture people. So their use of chronological teaching gave birth to God and Man, a story set first in Ilongot language and then translated into English and popularly circulated as a model set. 12 Tom Steffen, former New Tribes missionary in the Philippines, shared his own personal discovery of the value of using Bible stories to evangelize and plant churches among the Antipolo Ifugao. Tom valued this approach as a formidable exit strategy for empowering a people. 13 Tom shared: After several weeks of teaching lessons about God from a topical study approach, I made a startling discovery. I noticed the Ifugao s interest level jump dramatically when I inadvertently added an Old Testament story Changing teaching styles resulted in increased comprehension, instant evangelists and a new appreciation of the effectiveness of stories in evangelism. (p. 27) , Language Recordings Inc., Private Mail Bag 19, Castle Hill, N.S.W. 2154, Australia. 10, OMF Publishers (Kanok Bannasan), 1694/1 Prachasongkhro Road, Huay Kwang, Bangkok Thailand. 11 Jeff and Regina Palmer, Chronological Storytelling: Telling the Bible Story, Church Strengthening Ministry, Manila: Dell and Sue Schultze, God and Man, Church Strengthening Ministry, Manila: Tom A. Steffen, Passing the Baton: Church Planting That empowers, Center for Organizational & Ministry Development, La Habra:

4 The "Ee-Taow!" videos by New Tribes chronicling the experience of Mark and Gloria Zook among the Mouks of Papua New Guinea have had enormous effect in popularizing and capturing the excitement of seeing a people come to faith in Christ through chronological teaching of Bible stories. Another lesser known experience was that of George Walker and Bob Kennell in the April River area of Papua New Guinea among the Bisorio people. 14 During five weeks Kennell and Walker were able to teach the 'old, old story' about 55 times, while the Bisorio believers shared and retaught the stories at night around the fires. So those who had come out of the mountains were hearing for the first time, in their Bisorio tongue, that there is a God who knows all things, who made all things, who has all power, and that he is holy and will not tolerate sin. As they heard all these stories, the conviction of sin began to weigh heavily upon different ones. In the U.S. recovery of Bible storytelling was coming along nicely with impetus given by Tom Boomershine. 15 Boomershine stated the purpose of his book was to recover the gospel as storytelling. In telling and listening to the stories of Jesus, early Christians made connections with their own lives that made clear to them how God was present. (p. 19) The Network of Biblical Storytellers (NOBS) today continues to foster the development and use of biblical storytelling as a valid witnessing tool, instructional method and worship aid in post-modern America. In reaching post-moderns Donald T. Williams says: This may mean that a more narrative presentation, not in the hermeneutical or heuristic but in the communicational sense of "narrative," will have to be the beginning of the conversation, to enable us to cross the bridge 16 Back to the original premise Why storying? Chronological teaching recovered the value of building a strong Old Testament foundation before introducing the Gospel. It has been proven over and over that unless hearers understand the basis of man's situation and accountability before God, they cannot fully appreciate the salvation offered in Christ. Storying then has recovered the value of using oral tradition to present that story in an integrated form that is easily remembered and passed along within a culture. Unconnected or isolated stories do not have the strength of chronologically linked stories which serve to interlock or fix the truth in any one story. The form is compatible with many of the world cultures and is supremely compatible with the literacy status in much of the world. However, storying is not limited to illiterates. Skilful storying speaks to everyone because our lives are in reality a story composed of many stories chronologically and thematically connected. Storying is now being used in a variety of tasks from marketing and managing to education and personal development. Pick most any internet search engine and type storying. The two streams and variants between chronological Bible teaching (biblical narrative interrupted with explanation or exposition, and chronologically arranged exposition of 14 R. Dale Palmer, unpublished report, New Tribes Mission, Thomas E. Boomershine, Story Journey: An Invitation to the Gospel as Storytelling, Abingdon: Donald T. Williams, Apologetic Responses to Post-Moderns,

5 Scripture) and chronological Bible storying (or Bible Storying) each have their value. If worldview and cultural relevancy, literacy competency, and field reproducibility are prime issues beyond evangelizing and planting a church and discipling a people, then my choice is Bible Storying. Most of the people where I have gone to teach, if they have a Bible, have no study helps of any kind. Many do not even have a Bible in their own mother language. Many cannot read or read poorly at only a very elementary level. But all appreciate stories and can retell them. One last thought. Christianity is now pushing more and more into hostile territory for witness. There are many peoples who have been historically resistant to traditional Christian witness which is often construed as preaching. Some are simply resistant to Western teaching which is thought to be imperialistic, disdained as a foreign religion. Use of stories has demonstrated again and again the ability to disarm many of these defenses raised against the gospel by speaking to them in the context of real life experiences in story form. Use of worldview information helps to make better choice of the most appropriate Bible stories and to sharpen the focus on listeners barriers to the Gospel while taking advantage of God-given bridges to communicate salvation truths. --J. O. Terry Pioneer, Chronological Bible Storying Emeritus, International Mission Board, SBC Rev: Mar 09, 2004

Tom Steffen and J.O. Terry

The Sweeping Story of Scripture Taught Through Time Tom Steffen and J.O. Terry The Chronological Bible Teaching (CBT) model introduced by Trevor McIlwain began slowly in the Philippines, but soon gained