Dr. Hector Tamez
As Steven mentioned in an earlier blog, we held a Narrative Bible-Orality Conference at the Cd. Valles church on August 6th through 8th. Dr. Hector Tamaz, Sr. and his son Hector Tamez II, along with team member Chema, of International Leadership Advancement Ministries and ECO International from Puebla, Mexico were the presenters for the three-day conference.
According to their website, www.ilamin.org – “Today, 61.7% of the population in Latin America possesses an oral communication learning preference and lifestyle”.
Although literacy has developed and spread around the world, majorities of people still live day to day by the spoken word – by orality. Either they cannot read; they do not read; or they will not read.1
Studies have been done in the U. S. that show that one in seven adults (30 million people) have below average literacy skills. Some countries have better averages and others worse than that, naturally, but the point is that even in countries where public education is free and school attendance is compulsory, sizable portions of the population function primarily by oral means because their skills with literacy are limited. They would much rather gather with friends to swap stories or make music than to read alone, in silent isolation. Many people who can read quite well will choose to watch a movie or television program, play a video game, or talk on the telephone rather than read a book or magazine.2
Ironically, an estimated 90% of the world’s Christian workers presenting the Gospel use highly literate 
communication styles. They use the printed page or expositional, analytical and logical presentations of God’s word. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, for oral learners to hear and understand the message and communicate it to others.
One straightforward way to communicate to oral learners in a way they will understand is for them to hear the stories of the Bible in an oral, sequential pattern that they can absorb and remember. The communication of stories in this way has come to be referred to as “chronological Bible storying.” It is a proclamation of God’s word in a culturally relevant way that oral learners can understand and respond to.
This does not mean that we discourage literacy, or neglect literates. Experience shows that once oral learners accept the Gospel, some will have the desire and persistence to become literate in order to read the Bible for themselves.
Today, missionaries worldwide are rediscovering the effectiveness of sharing the Gospel by utilizing the same chronological Bible story telling presentation used by Jesus on the Emmaus road. In fact, no matter how primitive or sophisticated a society may be, the best way to communicate ideas is still through the avenue of story telling.3
Student retelling story to class
New Tribes Missions has moved from the traditional missionary approach of topical teaching to chronological Bible story telling. Teachers begin in the Old Testament using Bible stories that point to the lost condition of all people, and of God’s promise that one day, a Savior would come to provide salvation for all humankind. After several months, the teaching of the New Testament stories of Jesus begin.
At that point, even previously unreached people-groups easily recognize Jesus as the promised Savior from God. These missionaries who use chronological Bible story telling report that instead of waiting 20 years for their first convert among unreached people groups, they now see an 80% conversion rate in only a few months—with evidence of changed lives! 4
The Mexican culture is very relational – they closely share their lives with one another. They love to communicate through loud songs and stories. Even their announcements are orally blared from vehicles driving along the streets! Steven and I have noticed that the church does not hand out bulletins on Sunday mornings. This could be to save the environment, but most likely it is because the congregation prefers to hear the announcements of upcoming events rather than read about them.
My job during this weekend was to provide baked goods for all the coffee breaks and help prepare the lunch meal on 
Saturday.
Of the 30 people who attended this conference, the general consensus was that using oral methods of teaching the Bible is a wonderful way to reach their neighbors for Christ. It is non confrontational, very relational and culturally appropriate. Everyone loves a good story, and the Bible is full of the best ones!
The training program that ECO offers is a full eight-module course – each module being a full four days of training. Following completion of all of the modules, a diploma is presented in Bible Narration.
All of the participants were very excited to have the ECO team return over the next several months in order to complete the full course in Biblical Narration (Orality).
We believe that this will be a new, and wonderful tool in the hands of the local Body of Christ as they learn how to tell the Gospel in story form.
For more information on the Orality movement in evangelism today, please go to www.oralitystrategies.org. This site is full of information and resources.
