CHRONOLOGICAL PRACTICES AND POSSIBILITIES
IN THE URBAN WORLD
Tom Steffen[1]
Professor of Intercultural Studies and Director, DMiss program
Cook School of Intercultural Studies, Biola University
Published at www.GlobalMissiology.org, July 2013
ABSTRACT
This two-part article documents a modern-day missions movement that began in the early 1980s in the Philippines and continues globally to the present. Part 1 lays out the beginning of the movement under the leadership of Trevor McIlwain of New Tribes Mission on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. The Chronological Bible Teaching program, a seven-phase program that moves seamlessly from evangelism to church multiplication, was birthed. Many other agencies soon began to pick up the model.
But this Bible story based curricula would not remain solely in the countryside among illiterate and semi-literate tribal peoples for long. Part 2, available on “Missiology on-line,” continues the fast-paced development of the movement. The Southern Baptist’s Foreign Mission Board (presently International Mission Board) soon picked up the curricula for use in tribal and rural areas but eventually found herself facilitating its use among those residing in the city. These two articles document the movement as the chronological communication of the gospel moves from the country to the city.
Editor’s Note: Part 1 of this piece was published in Evangelical Missiological Society, Southwest. March 18, 2011, under the title “Chronological Communication of the Gospel Goes from Country to City”.
INTRODUCTION
The recent emphasis on orality in the U.S. has caught many by surprise. Orality is something for preliterate, as M. T. Clanchy assumes in this statement, “The most difficult initial problem in the history of literacy is appreciating what preceded it” (1993:41). The passage of time, however, calls for a restatement of Clanchy’s quote. We must not only appreciate what preceded it, but also what followed it! It soon becomes evident that we have moved beyond print to the verbal and the visual; we have moved beyond linear to relational, to multi-dimensional, to non-sequential, to simultaneous conversations, to images.
MOVE FROM PRIMARY ORALITY TO SECONDARY ORALITY
We will now explore the move from primary orality to secondary orality as CBT /CBS continues its unfettered march to the city.
Viv Grigg, Urban Poor, 1975, 2010
Viv Grigg serves as an outlier who became an inlier. Grigg (1984) began telling basically memorized Bible stories in broken Tagalog among the urban poor in Manila in 1975. The stories were translated by Filipinos who not only expanded them but became Bible storytellers in process because they did it in natural ways. After hearing of CBT, he felt that long stylized storytelling process from Genesis to Revelation did not fit the ad hoc nature of slum life. The key to Grigg in an urban setting was not the chronological storytelling but the story-to-story conversations. In 2010, Grigg embraced Bruce Graham’s very simplified chronological approach into the training (see <http://www.urbanleaders.org/transrevival/2Transformational%20Conversations.htm>).
Tom Boomershine, Network of Biblical Storytellers, 1979
Another outlier is Tom Boomershine who began the Network of Biblical Storytellers (NBS) in 1979, going international in 1988. Their focus began with telling NT Bible stories with the goal of 75 percent word accuracy and 90 percent content accuracy. Boomershine wrote the still well-used Story Journey: An Invitation to the Gospel as Storytelling in 1988. NBS also produces the journal The Biblical Storyteller.
Bill and Bobbie Boggess, Paris, France, 1989
Bill and Bobbie Boggess, TEAM missionaries working in the suburbs of Paris, France, discovered that a post-Christian nation such as France where the majority of the Catholics rarely practiced their faith required a firm foundation for the gospel. It would take some time for the secularized French people to grasp a true understanding of God, sin, and salvation. They came across McIlwain’s Building on Firm Foundations series and began teaching through them. This resulted in a new church planted in 1989 with some 35 attending weekly.
Dallas Theological Seminary, 1989, 1992
Trevor McIlwain visited Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) on two separate weekends, November 14-17, 1989 and September 18-19, 1992, to present his developing chronological approach to evangelism and church planting. The sessions were videotaped and copies made available in the DTS library. He spoke in seven classes.
Many of the faculty had first heard of CBT through an audiotape by George Walker and Bob Kennell of the Bisorio tribe in Papua New Guinea in 1983, circulated by Dottie Connor, a former NTM missionary to the Philippines. With interest sparked they later heard the Mouk Salvation Story in 1984 (also audiotape). Many would eventually view the EE-Taow! video. After watching it, then Chancellor John F. Walvoord commented, “Makes a lot of sense! They know the release [forgiveness of sins]; we don’t sense it that much!”
Around 60 students attended each week-end seminar, many of whom were already working in evangelism. By word of mouth, the interest grew to the point that many of the students graduated with Firm Foundations as part of their library arsenal.
Michael Pocock, present department chair of World Missions and Intercultural Studies, estimates that half of the DTS faculty is aware of CBT today. Many students have seen EE-Taow! or one of the follow-up versions. Pocock advocates the use of CBT as the best possibility for achieving worldview change in a traditional people with little or no exposure to Scripture.
While at DTS, McIlwain made a side trip to speak to a group working in an inner city ministry called Little Asia. This resulted in many of the workers there using CBT.
Jack and Dottie Connor, The Mystery Man, 1984
Jack and Dottie Connors served among the Tagbanwa in the Philippines from 1972-1977 on the island of Tara with NTM. When they returned to the U.S., Jack pursued a Th.M at Dallas Theological Seminary while Dottie served as secretary to the then-president, John F. Walvoord. It was during this time that cancer began to take its toll on Jack’s body but could not stop him from telling God’s story of grace chronologically.
Jack first used the term “Mystery Man” in Plano, Texas, as he told the message of grace, beginning in the OT, to a troubled/suicidal group of youth (ten suicides were reported that year). Jack emphasized that the "punch line" should not be told until the listeners understood their lost condition before God and His redemptive plan of grace. According to the U.S. News & World Report (Feb. 24, 1986), suicides ceased in May of 1984 in Plano, the same month that Jack concluded his chronological lessons with several youth believing in the “Mystery Man”—Jesus! He went to be with the Lord three months later. Reflecting back on those life-changing Bible studies, Marcia Baxter (now Gortney) wrote in an email (3/26/11): “My best memory is Jack in his PJs, mike in his hand so that we could hear him, and all of us sitting on the floor. I truly felt like I was setting at the feet of Jesus. We all did.”
Inter-City Ministry, New York, 1992
The following quote was included in a letter written by Trevor and Fran McIlwain to Dottie Connor dated December 10, 1992: “I was absolutely astounded to discover how a book written about reaching the Palawanos, would be so relevant to inner-city ministry here in New York. For years (20 of them) we have wrestled with the question as to why so many drug addicts go back to their old way of life after an initial experience of getting off drugs, and seemingly excited about their new-found relationship with Christ…Your book contains the key to the problem.”
Trevor McIlwain, Firm Foundations: Creation to Christ, 1991
As NTM missionaries returned on home assignment, many used CBT in small groups and Sunday Schools. A problem arose. More focused lessons for a North American audience were needed. So to meet this growing demand, McIlwain, with the tireless efforts of Nancy Everson burdened to reach the U.S. churches as well as tribal peoples, published in a fifty-lesson volume to be taught in a year. Firm Foundations: Creation to Christ was published in 1991. CBT had officially moved from the country to the city within NTM.
Bill Perry, International University Students, 1992
Bill Perry, Director of Training Materials of InterFACE Ministries, wrote the Storyteller’s Bible Study for Internationals in 1992 to reach international university students. This 12-story study (nine OT lessons and three NT lessons) captures the storyline of Scripture from creation to Christ from a crosscultural perspective. Because the book was found to be useful beyond the U.S. and international students, Perry revised and expanded a second edition in 2003, removing “for Internationals” from the title.
Chronological Bible Teaching for Children, 1993
In 1993, Trevor McIlwain, again with the help of Nancy Everson, published a five-volume child’s edition of CBT. Designed especially but not exclusively for third and fourth graders, the 50 lessons provide children an overall understanding of the metanarrative of Scripture.
A Team, Teaching English in Bangkok, Mid-1990s
In the mid-1990s, the A Team of the Southern Baptist Mission began deliberate use of Bible storying in the urban centers of Bangkok, Thailand, under the Bangkok Urban Strategy (BUS). They used Phases 1 and 2 from McIlwain's The Chronological Approach to Evangelism and Church Planting (1981) that the team obtained from the NTM office in Bangkok. The A Team center near Bangkok International Airport attracted students and professionals to their English language evening classes that included a bonus English time of Bible stories. Other Southern Baptist teams taught English as a Second Language (TESOL) in other urban settings in Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Singapore, and Taiwan during this time period.
John Cross, The Stranger On the Road to Emmaus, 1996
John Cross, a former NTM missionary, began GoodSeed to provide tools and training to fit the many pieces of the Bible into a cohesive whole, understand worldview, be able to present a clear gospel, and be able to pass it on in ways that make sense to the audience. In 1996, he wrote The Stranger On the Road to Emmaus that creatively ties the Bible together chronologically. In 2007, Cross wrote The Lamb for children four years old and above. The full color, 186-page volume covers the core message of the Bible chronologically.
Deaf Outreach, 1997
While sign language is not universal it is heavily based in orality. That is why many Deaf find it difficult to attend church, even those with signers. The speaker jumps all over the Bible, assuming listeners understand more than they do, thereby making it difficult to follow. Deaf prefer things be told chronologically, leaving out no detail.
While still at Southwestern, leadership in Deaf Outreach asked Grant Lovejoy to make a presentation on Bible Storying to their U.S. staff in 1997. After the presentation someone commented, “This is it!”
With Lovejoy’s help, a Bible story curriculum of 110 Bible stories was chosen. The evangelism track consists of 32 stories in chronological order. The discipleship track consists of 78 stories that repeated the 32 evangelism stories. A Believers Series consists of 33 stories, beginning at Acts 2 and concluding beyond Acts. For teasers, some Deaf tell the story from creation to the church in ten minutes.
Blair and Becky Faulk, Storying Scarf, 1999
In 1999, Blair and Becky Faulk designed a scarf (22”x44”) to tell 21 Bible stories chronologically for use in West Africa in evangelism. Their goal was to keep the number of pictures to a minimum so that the stories could be put to memory easily and implemented rapidly. The individual 5”x4” picture story provides a “mental Bible” for listeners. The scarf comes in a variety of colors and can be folded to highlight the story being told, or a series of stories, e.g., two to three pictures at a time.
Faulk self-published Word in Narrative: A Tool to Effectively and Efficiently Build God’s Kingdom in 2006 to provide storytellers a practical and proven system to work their way through the S-shaped path of God’s story. The international version begins on the top right and goes downward to the bottom, continues upward in column two to the top, and again downward in column three. The reverse is true for the western version. A helpful explanatory version is available in 20 languages.
Several years later, in 2001, Lifeway, through the help of Dale McCleskey and clearing it through the Faulks, designed another scarf with a different story set more appropriate for other audiences. The multicolor scarf is now available through <www.storyingscarf.com>.
Since 1999, over 43,000 scarves have been sent out. The story set is also available on tee shirts. All copyrighted materials are offered for donations to defray costs (see also: <www.astoryforall.com>).
The HOPE, 2002
The HOPE (DVD) is an 80-minute dramatic presentation of God’s epic story of redemption from Genesis to Revelation <http://www.thehopeproject.com/>. Produced by Mars Hill Productions, The HOPE is geared towards multiple media-sophisticated audiences with evangelism and discipleship in mind. It has now been translated into multiple languages with cultural adaptations. An on-line study guide is also available <www.thehopeproject.com>.
John Walsh, The Art of Storytelling, 2003
John Walsh, a professional storyteller, writes curriculum for Christian schools and home school families <www.christianstorytelling.com>. Moody Publishers published his book The Art of Storytelling in 2003. The same year he studied CBS with Grant Lovejoy and J.O. Terry. Beginning in 2005, Walsh began publishing a series entitled BibleTelling <www.BibleTelling.org>. The series includes 36 key Old Testament stories (four volumes with nine lessons each), 36 Life of Christ stories, and 36 Book of Acts stories (which includes the epistles written during the time of the book of Acts, and the last two chapters of Revelation). Each lesson provides activity ideas that encourage students to personalize the stories. Walsh calls this multi-dimensional learning. He includes 36 stories to fit the academic school year.
In 2005, Walsh began to travel internationally to train missionaries and nationals in the use of BibleTelling. In 2009, the Navigators asked him to partner with them in the development of a story-based discipleship program. Part of that program takes place in the Angola Prison in Louisiana where prisoners learn all 108 BibleTelling stories. The instructors are the inmates Walsh trained. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary offers credit to successful inmates. Also in 2009, Walsh started a BibleTelling video podcast called “BibleTelling - Story of the Week,” which is available free. In 2012, Walsh completed a list of 255 select Bible stories: Beginnings (1-52); Building a Nation (53-113); The Path to Captivity (114-161); Beauty from Ashes (162-219); Work of the Holy Spirit (220-255). He has made the stories available on the web as a free download.
Carol Green, StoryTapestry, 2003
Arriving in a war-torn, predominately Muslim country in the Middle East in 2003, Carol Green found herself reevaluating her ministry strategies after meeting the widows she hoped to reach with the gospel. As relationships built, the veils came off, literally and figuratively. Their eyes revealed hopelessness, and not without reason. Once their husbands died, they and their children were destined to a life of slavery. In that the government forbade most women from attending school, illiteracy brought another form of captivity. The Bibles she had brought to give them, the Four Spiritual Laws booklets, and other literature were worthless. How could she reach these widows with the gospel?
Out of this confusion StoryTapestry was born, a way to empower women to tell God’s stories of love and hope orally. If women could listen, she reasoned, they could learn to tell God’s stories. No reading required. StoryTapestry could turn hopelessness into hope. StoryTapestry often partners storying with vocational training to deeply impact the culture and create sustainability of the work.
The StoryTapestry manual, completed in 2009 by a number of contributors led by Carol Green and produced by StoryRunners, consists of 31 lessons. Each lesson includes a list of the Scripture references used, Scripture from New Living Translation, words/phrases to consider, worldview connections, inter-story cohesion, story crafting, and principles. Unlike many story sets, it begins with a panorama from Creation to Christ, something significant for those who process information from whole to part. The manual concludes with a glossary, lists of women in the Bible—mothers, those who suffered, stories of comfort, wisdom, the loved, the barren, negative moral examples, followers, and concludes with a 17-session story training template (see <http://storytapestry.org/> and <http://www.scribd.com/doc/39136146/Story-Tapestry-Manual>).
In many remote people groups and among highly resistant countries, a common request began to surface. The request was for development of a series of radio broadcasts that would weave a set of Bible stories along with discussion groups to explore the stories over radio. TWR and StoryRunners worked together to develop a series of 52 radio programs utilizing a set of Bible stories for evangelism and discipleship. The project continues to develop with a dozen countries chosen as possible field-test locations.
Roberta King, Storytelling and Song Course, 2004
Roberta King has taught throughout Africa since 1978. Much of that teaching surrounded the integration of oral communication and music. One of her textbooks, A Time to Sing: A Manual for the African Church (1999) was developed over a span of 10 years working with the Nyarafolo (Baptist) Believers in Ferkessedougou, Côte d'Ivoire. Other King publications include Music in the Life of the African Church (2008) in collaboration with Jean Kidula, James Krabill, and Thomas Oduro, and Pathways in Christian Music Communication: The Case of the Senufo of Cote D'Ivoire (2009). King first taught the course Communicating Christ through Oral Performance: Storytelling & Song at the School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary, in 2004.
Persian Oral Bible Project, 2004
The Persian Oral Bible Project (POB) was developed in cooperation with the IMB, TWR, and FCBH in 2004. Three years in the making, POB incorporated research in refugee camps, broadcast writers, translators, recording teams, and serious fundraising to cover expensive airtime. The project was the first to build on the “Following Jesus” audio series and integrate “The Radio Bible Project,” an initiative established between TWR and FCBH. Testimonials from Shi’a Muslim Background Believers provided first-hand insights into what it means to follow Jesus, influencing program design. POB produced 130 fifteen-minute programs, 65 for evangelism and 65 for discipleship, running Monday through Friday for six months.
Each program contained a testimonial, the Bible Story, and then an excerpt from dramatized audio Scriptures. The program host then asked discussion questions for individual or small group reflection. POB distributed audio CDs among Persians containing the programs. The storyer told a narrative that could easily be reproducible by Persians who because of security issues found it difficult to carry Bibles. The word-for-word audio Scriptures helped reinforce accuracy. The approximately two-dozen believers who participated in this project will remain unnamed for security reasons (see <www.oralitystrategies.org/media_detail.cfm?ResourceID=327>).
Good Soil Evangelism & Discipleship, The Way of Joy, 2005
After several years of research lead by Wayne Haston, Good Soil E & D (evangelism and discipleship), a department of ABWE (Association of Baptists for World Evangelization), was formed to motivate, train and resource people in worldview-relevant E & D. In 2005, they produced The Way of Joy. The Bible study booklet is designed for leaders to follow up on evangelism and disciple new believers. Unlike CBT designed for a group, The Way of Joy is designed primarily for one-on-one discipleship.
In 2007, the ABWE team produced the booklet The Story of Hope comprised of 20 OT events and 20 NT events. This evangelistic tool is also designed primarily for one-on-one or small group evangelism, but also instructive for believers unfamiliar with the metanarrative of Scripture. Presenters can shrink the message to 15 minutes or expand it to 15 hours or more. The goal of the Good Soil E&D is to make the gospel clear so that people will genuinely embrace it, and cling to it over time <www.GoodSoil.com>.
By writing the discipleship volume first, the evangelism stories are assured of repetition, and built upon. Metaphorically, the good news becomes two chapters of a single book rather than two separate books. This helps assure that God’s message is seen as an ongoing story.
The ABWE team believes that the original versions of The Story of Hope and The Way to Joy are sufficiently culturally neutral that they can work in many cultures around the globe. To become more focused on the major non-Christian religions, however, they plan to produce at least four generic booklets for such religions as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Animism (tribal peoples).
The Roots of Faith—Exploring the Bible from Beginning to End came out in 2010. The study covers the Bible in 100 events, 50 OT and 50 NT. Each event is illustrated with an image <http://www.goodsoil.com/projects/100-images-progress/>. Seemingly premised on biblical theology, this volume can be used individually as a read-thru-the-Bible or used in small or large study groups.
Gil Thomas wrote Gaining Ground with Good Soil in 2010. The Good Soil principles (worldview, CBT, etc.) rise out of an engaging narrative. It is basically a seminar in a book <www.GoodSoil.com/gainingground>. Leader’s Guides, flash card visuals, and powerpoints are available for all of the above publications.
Bill Jackson, Nothinsgonnastopit!, 2006
Based on the nothing can hinder motif (akōlytōs) found in Acts, Bill Jackson published Nothinsgonnastopit! (NGSI) in 2006. This book traces the storyline of the Bible making God’s word an exciting, historical story of hope. But Jackson’s journey, however, had begun years prior to its publication. Influenced by Walter Kaiser’s promise theology and Dan Fuller’s Unity of the Bible syllabus from Fuller Theological Seminary, Jackson began asking big picture questions of the Bible in the late 1970s. While in seminary in 1979 he identified six over-arching themes of the Bible that describe what God is doing in history and how he does it.
The first time Jackson taught NGSI publically was when John Wimber asked him to do a series of Bible studies on the biblical basis for world missions at a Vineyard’s pastor’s conference held in Denver in 1990. After the presentation, Wimber announced that he wanted Jackson to conduct this seminar all across the Vineyard churches. NGSI was launched. NGSI is also available in Mandarin (see <www.nothinsgonnastopit.com/blog>).
M.E. and A.T., Henna, 2006
In October of 2006, M.E. and her teammate A.T. moved to East Africa to work among a Muslim African people group. Things changed, however, as God opened doors to build relationships with the Indian population. This led to learning how to draw henna from a Hindu henna artist even though neither had an art background. Henna is a temporary tattoo made from the dye of a flower drawn on hands and other parts of the body. Many women from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East see it as a form of beauty. After a month, the teammates felt the Lord leading them to use this art form to illustrate Bible stories. With the help of the artist, they took the next six months to develop a story set. They were able to utilize the drawings/stories at a henna party for a wedding, sharing the stories with several women.
After their term ended in October of 2008, A.T. returned to the States and M.E. moved to another part of East Africa. There she joined a team focusing on the South Asian population. After a few months M.E. met another henna artist. She decided to study under her with the goal of beginning a study group in her home. As she painted the drawings she storied the artwork. During her training the artist invited other women to her apartment to let M.E. practice what she was learning. This provided opportunity for Bible storying at the end of every class!
It was time to improve the drawings done in East Africa so she emailed A.T. A.T. agreed. As M.E. worked through the drawings, she shared the gospel with the women. The ladies loved it and would share it with their friends and families. One lady opened her home, made a decision for Christ, and started her own henna group. M.E. began training the Christian, and also had henna parties in her home. Her friends invited her to their homes to do henna and were open to the stories. They would then share with whoever asked them about the drawing on their hand. God was doing something amazing!
M.E. unexpectedly moved to South Asia in March of 2010. She soon had four henna groups started, mostly among Muslim women. One group of Hindu women made decisions to follow Christ after around four months and was baptized. M.E. ended her term training believers in another part of South Asia. The goal the Lord gave the team was well underway—henna would be used worldwide and would outlast the team’s time on the field. For resources, see <www.africastories.org/gospel-art/henna-and-the-gospel/ www.imbresources.org/index.cfm/product/detail/prodID/3210/page/1>.
Jim Putman, Post Falls, Idaho, 2006
At the request of two couples from Post Falls, Idaho, the Jim Putman family joined them in 1998. Real Life Ministries was born. Today, more than 8,500 in a town of 26,000 meet for worship. Not only do the small groups produce disciples who can multiply themselves, they also provide finances for social needs in the surrounding counties that surpass government assistance (Sells 2011:7). To date, six other churches were born at home, and released to be on their own. The churches, however, network together to plant new churches. Other churches were born in other nations as well.
Avery Willis eventually convinced the leadership team of the power of story in making disciples. Leadership bought the idea in 2006, requiring that all pastors and small group leaders use Bible Storying in disciple making. Experience compelled Putman to conclude, ‘Bible storying works here and overseas. We discovered that what we had done in our small groups prepared us to minister in Ethiopia’ (Willis and Snowden 2010:187). And other countries as well (see <www.RealLifeMinistries.com/immersion-one>).
Carla Clements, Bible Quilt, 2006
God put the idea of a Bible quilt on Carla Clements’ heart in 2004. She began creating squares with designs, deciding on 25 Bible stories, thus 25 squares. In selecting a story set, Clements wanted stories that pointed to Jesus (Luke 24:27), e.g., Noah's Ark (only one door or way to safety from the judgment); Jacob's Ladder (only one ladder or one way to heaven); Joseph (all nations came to him to receive bread for life); Passover (substitute sacrifice of an innocent lamb whose blood was applied so that the destroyer of life would pass over). Clements intentionally placed the Passover square in the center of the quilt. She also wanted to incorporate God's appointed times: Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles and dwelt among us; the Lamb of God was crucified during Passover; buried during the Feast of Unleavened Bread; raised from the dead and presented as the Firstfruits offering; the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost.
A friend bought bright colored fabric for her and the adventure of the Bible Quit Square project began. After each square was designed and completed, Clements then gathered young girls and helped each to make their own Bible storying square as she told the story. When they gathered the next time, they performed a drama with costumes and props about the last story. Then they would start on the next square in the chronological Bible storyline.
In 2005, Clements persuaded another friend to help her sew the Bible story designed squares on fabric to make a quilt. They used the same patterns and color schemes that she had used when designing the felt Bible storying squares. In that each individual square was a standalone piece, many other adult women helped to stitch each of the different squares. Sitting and sewing the squares together was fun and provided lots of time to discuss the story. Eventually, all the quilted squares were sewed together. The first Bible storying quilt project was completed in 2006.
Clements entered the quilt in the Dallas Quilt Show in 2007. Although she did not win, the judge was very impressed with their choices of fabric, and the quilters knew that they had the best content! Clements stood beside the quilt during the show, pointing to each Bible Storying Square, telling his Story boldly and unhindered! Many heard the story and then went on line to freely download the quilt patterns and hear God’s story again <www.BibleQuilt.org>. In 2007, the Bible Storying set was incorporated and officially named Bible Stories of Appointed Times...A Visual Story Bible <www.VisualStoryBible.org>.
Stephen Stringer, S-T4T, 2007
Ying and Grace Kai began a new ministry in November of 2000 to reach 20 million people residing in the cities of Asia. They called it Training for Trainers (T4T). T4T is a facilitator model, that is, expatriates training national believers to win the lost and disciple them so that reproduction results in new communities of faith as well as leadership development. T4T trains obedient trainers to train obedient trainers through a practical process that includes need-oriented Bible studies and life-on-life discipleship so that generations of church planting movements multiply (2 Ti 2:2). Basic themes include: 1) assurance of salvation, 2) prayer, 3) devotional life, 4) church, 5) the character and nature of God, and 6) widespread gospel presentation.
But there is a major weakness with T4T, at least for 60 percent of the world. T4T is primarily a literate model. To reach the oral world, IMB missionary Stephen Stringer, general editor of S-T4T: Intentional Evangelism Utilizing Stories from God’s Word Resulting in Multiplying House Churches, n.d. (2008?), and a number of others added story to evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. They renamed it S-T4T in January of 2007. S-T4T is the oral counterpart of T4T, wedding oral communication to T4T. While not chronological Bible storying, S-T4T uses Bible storying to convey truth. It demands “intentionality, accountability and immediacy” (ibid., 10). The authors want S-T4T to be easy for people to use, adapt, and reproduce.
The evangelism strategy begins with listening to their story, telling your story, telling the possessed man Bible story (a changed man who went home to tell others), followed by God’s story from creation to Christ. A discipleship core of some twenty plus Bible stories follows, covering discipleship basics found in T4T. The church formation core takes new believers through the stories of Acts. Subsequent church planting components could include other story sets from the prophets, Acts, the Epistles, as well as those addressing special needs (see: <http://storyingt4t.ning.com/>).
Each story within a story set is, 1) crafted to fill in missing background information and break up scenes appropriately, 2) considers worldview issues, 3) covers T4T principles, 4) demands thematic themes maintain inter-story cohesion, and 5) includes key biblical terms to consider. Three questions follow each story: 1) How are you going to remember this story? 2) Who will you tell the story to? 3) What in the story must be obeyed? (ibid., 12). Team members have developed other-language story sets as well.
3Story, Youth For Christ, 2007
Here is another outlier. Youth For Christ (YFC) sees 3Story (Your story, My Story, God’s story) as an integrative operational system that seamlessly connects others to the God who naturally seeks to infiltrate his lordship to all of life (see Figure 1 below). 3Story is a relational paradigm designed to connect our relationship with God to other people in a natural, freeing, nonthreatening way. The model relies on stories more than steps; honesty more than perfecting; the Spirit more than a agenda; lifestyle rather than a tool; authenticity rather than a performance; them more than you; questions more than answers; love more than knowledge; three stories rather than three steps. How long does all this take to lead someone to Christ? As long as it takes. See: <www.yfc.net/3story/about/>.
Figure 1: 3Story Connections
Oklahoma Baptist University, Orality Minor, 2007
Through the assistance of Avery Willis and Grant Lovejoy, Bob Dawson set up an orality minor at Oklahoma Baptist University in 2007. The minor includes two courses in CBS plus a practicum <www.okbu.edu/go/academic/oralminor.html>.
Debbie Topliff, Painting Scripture, 2007
Remembering the difficulty of trying to understand the book of Revelation at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Debbie Topliff set out to bring clarity to a very confusing book. She did this through the paintbrush. Using a single 5’x7’ canvas, Topliff began painting a visual story of the entire book through 100 scenes. The story of Revelation comes alive as Topliff tells the story behind each of the individual scenes. The visual scenes make the sacred written text become verbal. The 45-minute DVD of Painting Revelation (2007) is available through Amazon. See: <http://debbytopliff.com/>.
Topliff has done the same to capture the story of Mark and the 25 years of linear history of Acts, both in 100 scenes. Digital images are available as are paintings on durable cloth to carry from one location to another. She is in discussions with ION as to how her art may be used to tell God’s story in various contexts.
Caesar Kalinowski, Story of God, 2007-08
Caesar Kalinowski, an elder in the Hilltop Expression of Soma Communities Church in Tacoma, Washington (which he helped launch), is involved in planting storying communities (10-20 people) in western settings and travels extensively to provide missions training in international settings. But this was not always so. On one of those visits to a foreign country his ministry would change forever. Kalinowski met John Witte, an IMB missionary working in south Sudan. While comparing notes, Witte told him about the success he was having in using the The Story of God (35 stories, The Redemptive Arc). He challenged Kalinowski to create a story set for westerners.
Months later while on home assignment, Witte told a group of leaders from Soma the Story of God from memory in around four hours, including dialogue. Kalinowski was embarrassed of what he did not know about Scripture, angry that he had never been taught this, and overjoyed with the bigness of God’s word. Witte then trained the group to tell simple Bible stories combined with powerful dialogue (series of questions for post-Christian American audience).
Out of this exercise would come, among other things, Story of God Training: Using Narrative and Dialogue in Making Disciples (2007-08), a reworking of Witte’s materials. Credit for this document goes to John Witte, Michael Novelli, Grant Lovejoy, J.O. Terry, Avery Willis and the elders of Soma Communities in Tacoma <www.gcmcollective.com/ mediafiles/story-of-god-training.pdf>. This document would become the foundation for ongoing church planting at home and abroad, and discipleship. All their communities begin with a dialogical story set of 25-35 Bible stories, followed by The Story Formed Way (10 weeks) that consist of 35-40 major discipleship themes, all of which emerge out of the metanarrative of Scripture already covered.
Paul DeNeui, Communicating Christ Through Story and Song, 2008
Communicating Christ Through Story and Song, edited by Paul DeNeui, is the fifth volume published by Southeast Asian Network (SEANET), which is a collection of papers presented in Chang Mai, Thailand, in January 2007. The fifth volume in the Buddhist World series presents models and case studies of communication of the Gospel through oral means in Southeast Asia. While focused on the Buddhist world, the principles found in this book easily cross over easily to the wider oral world in both urban and rural settings.
Clyde Taber, Visual Story Network, 2008
In 2006, a number of leaders from OneHope, the JESUS Film Project, Bearing Fruit Communications (“The End of the Sphere”), and the Caleb Group met in Orlando. From that outlier meeting Visual Story Network would emerge in 2008 under the capable leadership of Clyde Taber. Their goal? Leverage visual media (films, webisodes, television, viral videos) and story for the gospel. Images tell stories. They desired to move beyond 1,500 years of preaching and 500 years of printing, to add portraying. The 21st century world communicates predominately through the language of visual story.
During Christmas 2010, I came across “The Digital Story of Nativity” on YouTube. I enjoyed it so much I forwarded it to a colleague teaching in another college. His response, “Thank you! The Christmas story finally told in my language.” We live in a digital world. See: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZrf0PbAGSk&feature=youtube_gdata_player>.
Kurt Jarvis, Chronological Bible Storying for Kids, 2008
Assisted by J.O. Terry, Kurt Jarvis began Chronological Bible Storying for Kids (cbs4kids) in 2008. Designed for four and five year olds, cbs4kids walks children chronologically through 60 Bible stories cast in 5 sets of 12 lessons. Each of the four age-graded set fills in more and more of the gaps and expands the sequence of the first set of 12 lessons. Cbs4kids not only teaches children Bible stories, the sequential story series is also designed to teach them how to tell God’s plan for the world through stories. Numerous resources are available, including two story symbol fabric panels (4’x6’ or 20”x26”) in black print on white cloth. See: <www.cbs4kids.org/>.
Michael Novelli, Post-Modern Youth, 2008
Michael Novelli thought he had tried everything over a 13-year period to help postmodern youth connect to Scripture. A visit with a missionary using CBS would change his experiential teaching approach to a learner-centered approach. Novelli learned to tell Bible stories sequentially, take time for the creative retelling of the stories, and conclude with in-depth dialogue. Shaped by Story: Helping Students Encounter God in a New Way (2008), Enter the Story: 7 Experiences to Unlock the Bible (2010), and The Story Teen Curriculum (2011), capture the pedagogical change and the accompanying transformational results among postmodern youth within megachurch groups (e.g., Willow Creek [where he was Executive Director of Student Ministries], Christ Community Church), as well as smaller youth groups. Novelli also founded Echo <www.echothestory.com>, an organization that helps people discover the art of "Storying," a dialogical approach to Bible learning. See: <www.echothestory.com>.
Promoters of Story Sermons
If pastors are to communicate effectively to a postmodern generation setting in the pews, those teaching homiletics will have a responsible role to play. And that is happening. Grant Lovejoy, formerly of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, focused on the use of narrative in preaching. The same is true of Don Sunukjian and Kent Edwards of Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, and Vic Anderson of Dallas Theological Seminary. In November of 2007, Anderson presented a first-person drama of the Bible story from Genesis to Revelation for a DTS chapel.
A Sign Bible for Deaf, 2009
Recently, Deaf have been categorized as an UPG. With some 200 different sign languages among 70 million Deaf scattered around the world, print Bibles will not provide this people group with what they need. With only one sign New Testament, another New Testament, several Old Testament books, and not one complete sign Bible, Wycliffe and DOOR <www.doorinternational.com> partnered to translate the Bible into sign languages in 2009. See: <www.deafmissions.com/?PageID=62>.
Bill Bjoraker, Ezekiel Network, Jewish Storytelling, 2009
I have ministered to highly literate, intellectually astute Jewish people for nearly 30 years. I believed that effective Jewish evangelism required gladiatorial apologetics. But in 2007, I met Larry Dinkins, and OMF missionary to Thailand, who offered a different perspective. Larry had experienced a paradigm shift from highly academic theological teaching to orality-based storytelling, revolutionizing his ministry. My response: “That’s great Larry, but the people I work with are highly literate. This would not work for me.”
But it did not take long to discover that storytelling is Jewish-friendly. The storytelling tradition in Judaism has continued to the present, and is experiencing a resurgence. See: <http://www.jewishstorytelling.org/>.
I have used storying in a weekly Jewish Seeker’s Study for about two years in the Los Angeles area. Around 20 attend weekly, one-third Jewish. Storytelling provides a context for evangelism, discipleship, and leadership training. I coach Jewish believers to lead the storytelling, and they are growing in leadership skills. One Jewish man has embraced Yeshua as Messiah. Three or four Jewish seekers have continued attending for months. While not yet embracing the Messiah, they participate in the stories and bond to the group. We have storied our way from Exodus through to 2 Samuel, the marvelous David stories. A Jewish believer led the story of David and Goliath one week, bringing his young son to play David, with football shoulder pads as Saul’s armor. His dad used Aragorn’s sword as he played the Philistine. Humorous and fun, but also seriously discussing honor and shame, victory, faith, courage, closing with prayer for facing our own “Goliaths."
I have held open meetings to date, but plan to invite selected Jewish believers to training sessions of 30 hours. I envision training Jewish believers with more accountability and more intentional focus on using storytelling from the Hebrew Bible in Jewish evangelism and discipleship.
Missiology: An International Review Focuses on Orality, 2010
Missiology: An International Review, 38:2, 2010, dedicated the entire issue to the theme of orality. Eight writers cover an array of issues related to orality.
Paul Koehler, Telling God’s Stories with Power, 2010
With over a decade of training hundreds of Bible storytellers, Paul Koehler’s Telling God’s Story with Power (2010) offers novices and experienced Bible story trainers alike a treasure trove of insights. In his Oral Bible Project, storytellers learned 101 Bible stories in chronological order from creation to the ascension. As they told these stories in the villages (from rural to urban, oral to literate), more than 200 new churches were planted. Research showed that some stories went out to five successive generations of listeners. He concludes that storytelling is superior for transferring understanding in oral contexts.
Koehler is an expert in training local literate Christian pastors who serve illiterate congregations in Asia. His training has resulted in the revitalization of scores of existing churches, and the planting of new churches, all from a Full Gospel Fellowship perspective.
Avery Willis and Mark Snowden, Truth that Sticks, 2010
When over half of the people in U.S. will not or do not prefer to read, disciplemaking efforts must change. Truth that Sticks: How to Communicate Velcro Truth in a Teflon World (2010) takes on the challenge through Avery Willis and Mark Snowden. The authors go back to first century disciplemaking, arguing for the use of stories, dialogue, drama, and songs. The book serves as an apologetic primer for the use of oral communication in a postmodern world. This is the first book to familiarize readers with what is happening with Bible Storying in the U.S.
Biola’s CSICS, Starts MA Concentration in Orality, 2011
The Cook School of Intercultural Studies (CSICS), Biola University offers a concentration of courses on oral communication to those preparing to serve among peoples who prefer to communicate through oral channels. This concentration will address both primary and secondary orality. CSICS’s goal is to equip students with both the theory and researched-based practices associated with understanding the special demands of communication in oral cultures, and with the techniques for using a wide variety of oral communication strategies.
Whether the audience consists of literates, semi-literates, illiterates, or some combination of each, this concentration is designed to help prepare students to effectively reach a variety of oral learners. It is also designed to be applicable in multiple venues: presenting the gospel, discipling, training leaders, training followers, teaching community development, working with youth, counseling, conducting business, working with Deaf, translating the Bible, participating in short-term missions.
Walk Thru the Bible, Story Thru the Bible, 2011
Walk Thru the Bible published Story Thru the Bible: An Interactive Way to Connect with God’s Word in 2011. This 336-page volume for adults provides an old, yet engaging way, to teach new ideas—oral communication. The book uses 52 Bible stories that are adaptable for any culture or age group. The authors provide summaries, questions, and practical applications.
Waves of Hope Project, 2011
TWR, JESUS Film Project, and StoryRunners partnered together to develop a storying radio project that connects storying, discussion, and small groups with women’s radio programming. The radio program includes weekly content for 100 radio programs.
Bryan Thompson, story4all, 2006
With all that is happening in the orality movement today it is very difficult to keep abreast of the players and new innovations. Here is where Bryan Thompson, founder of Story4all, comes in. Based in Ireland, Story4all, founded in 2006, is committed to bringing the story of God to all peoples orally. Winner of the Christian New Media Awards and Conference 2010, Story4all accomplishes this by keeping one up to date with the latest through podcasts, show notes, resources, and links <www.story4all.com/index.shtml>.
SOME REFLECTIONS
Chronological Bible Teaching emerged some three decades ago, not because of orality, not because of UPGs, not because of CPMs, not because of pedagogy or andragogy, but because of syncretism resulting from well intentioned, but missiologically uninformed crosscultural evangelism. CBT has moved far from beyond those first initiatives. I will now make a few observations before raising some questions for further discussion as the movement surges from the country to the city.
Audience
The orality movement has moved beyond reaching tribal villages to one-on-one, children, small groups, students in the classrooms (Oral Bible Schools, home schools, Christian schools, secular universities), undergraduates, graduates, postmodern youth, people in the pews, women, Christian families, post-Christians, short-termers, leadership, drug addicts, a recently defined new unreached people group—Deaf, the masses via radio, TV, internet.
It has moved beyond reaching the lost and maturing followers of Christ to include such venues as counseling, business, leadership, story-based textbooks (see: Steffen 1999; 2011).
It has also changed from primarily a tool for church planting to evangelism, to discipleship, to meeting specific felt-needs, all as standalones.
Practice
The orality movement has moved far beyond verbal stories to include genealogies, song, art, symbols, drama, pictures, audiovisual, audio players, radio, film, television, webisodes.
It has moved beyond written Bible stories printed in lesson format to help one become a better storyteller to oral Bible stories that can be heard, experienced, and practiced.
It has also moved beyond telling stories with strong exposition to include focused questions, dialogue/conversation, retelling the story, drawing pictures, composing songs, drama, dance. Those within the movement now display a deeper appreciation for the power of the visual to portray, and offer participation.
The orality movement has moved beyond beginning Bible translation in the NT to the OT. Genesis has replaced Mark as a translation startpoint.
It no longer addresses solely spiritual needs but includes social needs as well. Various story sets now focus on the immediate social needs of an audience, not just soul needs.
It has moved beyond telling Bible stories formally to groups to telling Bible stories informally in contexts such as quilting, henna, or in one-on-one conversations as in 3Story.
It has moved beyond a long-term incarnational ministry model to include a situational model for shorter visits.
Research and Training
Worldview studies within the movement first emerged within NTM who followed an adaptation of George Murdock’s cultural universals. Other participant groups that followed usually offered shorter studies. Some totally bypassed them entirely. The deconstruction of a person’s worldview should be part of the storytelling process in that this will help mitigate syncretism and legalism. Leighton Ford is correct when he concludes that, “Conversion, in the truest sense, is a collision of narratives” (1994:14). Good storytelling demands deconstructing every one’s worldview with a critically contextualized rival story, the gospel. Such an endeavor assumes that the audience’s worldview is understood on more than a superficial level. Communicating Bible stories in the country or city must go beyond just telling stories; it also requires missiological astuteness capable of deconstructing the listener’s worldview.
While most Christian workers are well versed in systematic theology, fewer are familiar with biblical theology, and for most, narrative theology, which Gabriel Fackre defines as “discourse about God in the setting of story” (1983:343), remains a total unknown. In that the Bible is a Sacred Storybook or Sacred Drama with narrative as the predominant genre of choice of the Holy Spirit, it is time to resurrect a narrative theology that respects history.
The orality movement has moved beyond non-formal seminars and conferences to courses and concentrations offered for credit through the academy.
Models
The orality movement has moved beyond extensive evangelism presentations (McIlwain’s 68 lessons) taking months or over a year to complete to fast-tracking. Fast-tracking provides Bible storytellers opportunity to provide a backstory for the gospel as well as the gospel when time is short. It provides opportunity for listeners to hear the metanarrative of Scripture, something considered important for the majority of the world’s population who think from whole to part, not to mention those living in a post-Christian context.
Participants within the orality movement have moved beyond CBT (Trevor McIlwain)—Bible stories told chronologically with heavy exposition to CBS (J.O. Terry)—Bible stories told chronologically with minimum exposition to Bible Storying (J.O. Terry)—stories that surround a specific topic, BibleTelling (John Walsh)—Bible stories told along with listener-appropriate learning activities, Simply the Story (Dorothy Miller)—inductive Bible study oral style to Biblical Storytellers (Tom Boomershine)—Bible stories told with minimal deviation from the text.
Players
Building upon the shoulders of NTM, IMB personnel have played a major role in the expansion and depth of the orality movement in the country and the city through research, training, conferences, consulting, and curricula. A growing appreciation and application of the role of missiology has accompanied IMB’s journey.
Some questions I would raise for future discussion within the modern-day orality movement to help assure that authentic Christianity results would include:
Shortcut enticements
Will the ready availability of various curricula encourage storytellers to by-pass the process of considering worldview implications in story selection related to both biblical truths and contextual issues? Will fast-tracking? Will ABWE’s generic (glocal) curriculum for the major religions play a future role in rural and urban settings? Are transferred (global) standardized story sets sufficient? What role should transformed (local) story sets play? Why is it that few want to take the time to create context-specific curricula? Why do storytellers prefer to buy into an existing program rather than into a people?
Will storytellers take the time necessary to discover how the host audiences tell stories and use symbols? Who can tell stories and use symbols? Where? When? Which?
Will the West’s zest for speed and efficiency reduce the total number of stories within evangelism story sets so that the foundation laid for the gospel is compromised? The metanarrative of Scripture lost or compromised? Should evangelism contain more than the headline of the story? Are some westerners in more of a hurry than the God behind his-story?
Ministry implications
Does a strong OT introduction to the life of Christ provide not only a firm foundation, but also adequate time for listeners to sort out and discuss worldview implications should they decide to follow Christ? Does it also provide some follow-up foundations in advance?
In that not all within the movement have bought into holistic ministry, Bryant Myers levels this challenge to CBT (with implications to CBS/BS) advocates, “…this method focuses solely on the issue of personal salvation and the Bible as the story of God's salvific work in history. While this is certainly true it is not enough. Part of the story is left out. After all, God's story is about more than saving souls...the biblical account has a more holistic view of salvation, seeking the restoration by grace alone of our relationships with God, with each other, and with God's creation….The Bible lies trapped in Sunday Schools, churches, and Bible study groups, where Christians use it for spiritual development. Our first challenge is to free the Bible from its spiritual captivity and allow it to engage and speak to the whole of human life” (1991:234, 227). Should long-term acts of kindness to meet individual and communal social needs, such as found in Scriptures In Use above, accompany the cognitive teaching found in need-oriented story sets?
What can be done to increase communication between personnel ministering abroad with those ministering on the home front so that both can influence the other in a timely manner?
What role should character theology (using some of the 2900 plus Bible characters to teach doctrine, values, ethics, leadership, followership, missions, and so forth) play in primary and secondary oral contexts?16 Textbooks written in story?
Which Bible characters (character theology) relate well to the culture of postmodern children? Youth? Adults? Post-Christian children? Youth? Adults? How can character theology be tied to CBT / CBS / BS?
In light of the fact that God not only spoke his word, but also had it written, what challenges does this bring for an oral Bible? Do advocates of an oral Bible promote no text? Less text? More than text?
Does the audience initially place more importance in the worth of the messenger than the worth of the message? Which societies demand that relationship precede verbal communication of the message?
Contextualization issues
How ethno is the art used within chronological models? How ethno is the music? Can western music introduced from the outside become indigenous?
Do all cultures prefer things presented in chronological order? How do different time orientations (e.g., linear, events, circular) impact a chronological presentation of the Bible? Do some prefer an eventline over a timeline? Seeing-things-together (themes) rather than one-thing-after-another (chronology)? Seeing history presented in clusters of events or circles14 with the meaning centered in the middle rather than a chronological historical path?
Should there be other startpoints besides Genesis? Must a hearing be first earned through some other portion of Scripture, such as proverbs for Muslims and other populations, before beginning with Genesis? Should a collection of different start stories for specific contexts be compiled?
In evangelism and ongoing discipleship, which audiences require that stories be told from a shame-honor perspective rather than guilt-innocence?
Future directions
Will more preevangelism / evangelism story sets be needed for child soldiers, children of war, human traffic victims, victims of property grapping, those jailed and tortured, those trapped in various addictions, those experiencing health issues, family conflict, others?
What research is needed to verify the authenticity and sustainability of CPMs in primary oral societies? In secondary oral contexts? At what level are the CPMs sustainable? Evangelism? Discipleship? Leadership development? Holism (as defined within context)? How successful are CPMs in moving beyond their own people group?
How will those who advocate preevangelism and evangelism Bible story models noted above assist young followers of Christ so that the metanarrative of Sacred Storybook is not sacrificed? So that they end up in new or existing communities of faith?
How would the introduction of narrative theology (or “literary theology” so more of God’s genres are included (proverbs, poetry, epistles, etc.) than just story15) into our training/educational institutions and churches facilitate the training of emerging oral-learner-leaders and digital-oral-learner-leaders in the country? In the city?
In that the West has moved from oral, to print, to digital, how has the digital world influenced those living in the oral world in the countryside? What are the communicational implications?
What role should experiential apologetics (in contrast to evidential apologetics) play in evangelism in the country? In the city? What roles should story and symbol play in this?
Will trainers of western pastors be able to convince themselves that story serves more than an illustration to back up a major propositional point of a sermon or lesson? That the story can be the sermon or the lesson? Will present pastors and teachers?
What can Oral Bible Schools teach western seminaries about curricula and qualifications for graduation?
Which roads that CBT / CBS / BS have traveled require research review? What are the next roads they should travel? Who will take the lead in the modern day orality movement of God?
CONCLUSION
The use of story, symbol, and song in missions in World A (where Christ, the gospel, and Christianity are not known) has a long, evolutionary history, and a continual cycle of rediscovery. As I tracked the modern orality movement it soon became evident that reaching oral learners finds the geographical lines between country and city quickly blurred. Primary orality soon morphs into secondary orality, and vice versa, across the world and across time. That is because, as Charles West observes, “Truth is concrete and historical, now as then” (1999:49).
As seen above, the primary players are many with multiple and varied contributions to reaching a predominately oral world, from illiterates to postmoderns. Each participant noted above, along with the numerous not mentioned, is involved in a modern-day global movement of God. May many more join their ranks so that God’s story of grace gets told and retold, shown and reshown, resulting in new God-worshipper communities of faith that multiply and mature. May all present and future participants become more missiologically astute so that authentic Christianity results.
NOTES
1. An abbreviated version of this paper was presented at the Evangelical Missiological Society, Southwest at Biola University on March 18, 2011. Special thanks goes to J.O. Terry, Mark Snowden, and Dottie (Connor) Bingham for their informative contributions.
2. For a brief history of missionaries who taught the Bible in some chronological order that precedes where this article begins, see: Steffen and Terry, “The Sweeping Story of Scripture Taught Through Time.” Missiology: An International Review (2007) 35(3): 315-335.
3 See http://oralbible.net/about/history and Harriet Hill, “Conversations About Orality,” Missiology: An International Review 38(2) 2010:215.
4. View the story of syncretism and solution experienced by Tim and Bunny Cain as they serve among the Puinave that reside along the frontier boarders of Colombia and Venezuela through NTM’s DVD Now We See Clearly.
In Seeing the Church in the Philippines (1972:120), authors Tuggy and Tolivar argue that the problem with the Palawano people movement was a lack of shepherding and teaching. McIlwain would argue that the evangelist’s lack of using the receptor language and culture, and the failure to provide a solid foundation for the gospel to offset a tribal worldview, including the myth that claimed that a white person would come with a black book and that the Palawanos should do whatever he says, baptism included, would lead to widespread syncretism. McIlwain believed that the real issue was on the front end, an inadequate presentation of the gospel, not on the back end, follow up.
5. See: Steffen, Passing the Baton, 1997:133-34.
6. For more details on what happened within NTM in relationship to CBT, see: Steffen and Terry, “The Sweeping Story of Scripture Taught Through Time.” Missiology: An International Review (2007) 35(3): 329-332.
7. I have often wondered who and/or what influenced McIlwain to begin with Genesis and progress to Christ chronologically. Was it Bob Gustafson, then Field Director, who when he heard about the syncretism while visiting in Palawan told McIlwain that he has got to start all over, he’s got to start from the beginning (paraphrase)? Were some of the authors McIlwain cited in those early mimeographed notes in 1981 influential in a Genesis through Christ presentation? These included: J.C. Ryle, Leland Ryken (“The Bible: God’s Storybook”), C. H. Spurgeon, Edmund P. Clowney, Robert D. Brimsmead, Eldon Ladd, J. Sidlow Baxter, Dean Alford. No book or article titles accompanied the author’s name except for Ryken. No publication dates were tied to the authors. Biblical theology seems to drive CBT.
Was McIlwain aware of Jack Connor's thinking and practice to tell the story of grace chronologically by beginning with the creation story, working through the Old Testament, and concluding with the story of Christ. Connor had picked up this approach from his mentor, Lance (Doc) Latham (who attended the 1975 SEA Leadership conference when McIlwain spoke on “The Gospel”). Other influencers on Latham included William R. Newell, F.B. Meyer, and C. H. Mackintosch. Jack and Dottie served among the Tagbanwa in the Philippines from 1972-1977 on the island of Tara, northeast of Palawan where Trevor and Fran McIlwain served.
I was finally able to connect with McIlwain through email (6/26/11). Here is his response to my question: “The reason I developed the CBT was because I was frustrated trying to teach the NT to people (Palawanos) who had no background in the OT. As I tried to teach the NT by continually filling the gaps in the knowledge from the OT I thought this is crazy. I should begin where the story begins and lay the foundations before trying to teach the NT. It had absolutely nothing to do with anyone else or any book. It was the Lord answering my prayer to show me how to teach the Palawan churches.”
8. McIlwain’s seven phases of Chronological Bible Teaching would now overlap Steffen’s (1997:234) five stages of church planting driven by exit strategy which had débuted outside the Philippines at the NTM, SEA Leadership conference held in Papua New Guinea in 1979.
9. For other IMB worldview studies see: Terry, “Bible Storying Toolbox” in Basic Bible Storying, 2008:131-151; Sanchez, et. al., “Discovering Worldview Issues and Processing Worldview Information” in Bible Storying for Church Planting, 2008:195-198; Hayward, et al., “Discover How Worldview Shapes Our Lives” in Tell the Story: A Primer on Chronological Bible Storying, 2003:32-35. See: <www.oralitystrategies.org/media_detail.cfm?ResourceID=550>.
10. See: Steffen, "Storying the Storybook to Tribals: A Philippine Perspective of the Chronological Teaching Model." International Journal of Frontiers Mission, 1995:99-104; "Paradigm Changes for Effective Evangelism." Evangelism: A Lausanne Cooperating Periodical, 1995:136-140; "A Narrative Approach to Communicating the Bible, Part 1." Christian Education Journal, 1994:86-97; "A Narrative Approach to Communicating the Bible, Part 2." Christian Education Journal, 1994:98-109.
11. See: Steffen, "Don't Show the JESUS Film..." Evangelical Missions Quarterly, 1993, 29(3): 272-275.
12. A more recent model is The Kairos Oral Bible (2010) initiated by Rick and Laura Leatherwood <http://oralbibles.org/system/files/The%20Kairos%20Oral%20Bible_2.pdf>. Geared towards providing preliminary Bible translation for unreached people groups, this model works from English to the trade language to the local language. Sixty-six condensed stories from Genesis to Revelation highlight the themes of redemption and reconciliation. Tribal teams who know the trade language record the stories, edit them, and make them available free through various formats.
13. J.O. Terry was the first to use the term “oral Bible” back in 1992 or 1993. Jim Slack later popularized the term in an paper entitled “Giving People an Oral Bible.”
14. In Thinking in Circles: An Essay on Ring Composition, 2007, Mary Douglas argues that “…in a ring composition the meaning is located in the middle. A reader who reads a ring as if it were a straight linear composition will miss the meaning. Surely that matters!” (2007:x).
15. See Fields, “The Gospel is More than A Story” where she argues, “It’s time, then, to replace the term ‘narrative theology’ with ‘literary theology’ to include all the literary genres God chose to speak through,” (2012:43).
16. See Koehler, Telling God’s Stories with Power, 2010:41,110, and Steffen, The Facilitator Era, 2011:145-150.
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