Please tell me a story!
PISA studies, dyslexia, Attention Deficit Syndrome and other learning difficulties, the masses of
soap operas in the media, the combination of syncretism with the logical,
linear 'Greek' spirit, the world's quest for holism, the boom in cinema
sagas; everyone's looking for a good story! To prevent the best story of
all - the Gospel - becoming just a 'good lecture', the message of this
week's Friday Fax is:
Jesus was a storyteller!
Why is storytelling so important for world mission?
Here are some reasons, collected by Jim Bowman, Director of 'Scriptures in Use':
- over two thirds of the world population receive most of their information orally;
- for over one third of the world's population (more than 2 billion people), oral communication is the only source of information;
- 95% of women in the Islamic world can only be reached through oral
communication;
- over 75% of the Bible consists of stories. Adding poetry and proverbs leaves probably less than 10% abstract 'intellectual' content;
- traditional Western forms of communication only reach the 10% intellectual elite in unreached people groups, storytelling the rest;
- storytelling turns discouraged, marginalized, semi-literate believers into powerful evangelists and disciplers with great impact, a sense of fulfillment, personal value and new hope.
Here's a comparison of the most important differences between typically
Western 'book cultures' and typically non-Western 'oral cultures'
increasingly influencing the West, in which the story is of major
importance:
Book Cultures
- Learn by reading, studying, examining, classifying, comparing, and
analyzing
- Think and talk about concepts and principles.
- Manage knowledge in abstract, complicated, scientific categories.
- Seek to discover new information.
- Value innovative solutions.
- Understand things abstractly like the pieces of a puzzle.
- See things in parts.
- Ask and answer direct questions.
- Feel the need to define words and concepts.
- Do not like repetition since material missed can be reread.
- Like brevity (few words can say much)
- Use charts, diagrams,and lists to explain the message.
- Learn and retain knowledge as general principles.
- Make lists but recite few geneologies.
- Speak and write about their own feelings.
- Arrive at conclusions by logic.
- Organize the sermon or oratory with a logical progression of thoughts.
- Tend to communicate one-to-one.
- Learn mostly alone.
- Can think about something for a long time while making notes about it.
- Tend to use a subtle verbal style.
- Prefer realistic characters and the struggle to reach a goal.
- Use their hands little since gestures are not written or read.
- Use informal, casual, or spontaneous verbal exchange.
- Value style and clarity of reasoning.
- Are affected by the content of what they read.
- Have talents in written forms of language and literature.
- Do not participate in verbal contests but perhaps write well-worded letters to the newspaper or a politician.
Oral Cultures
- Learn by observing, imitating, listening, repeating and memorizing. They learn through proverbs, saying, stories, songs and expressions.
- Think and talk about events.
- Use stories of human action to store, organize and communicate information.
- Value and learn information handed down from the past.
- Value traditional solutions.
- Understand things in their context and according to the people involved.
- See things as a whole, in their totality.
- Avoid asking and answering direct questions.
- Are uninterested in definitions since the context brings the meaning.
- Appreciate repetition in case something was missed the first time.
- Like to use lots of words (many words to say little).
- Use symbols and stories to explain a message.
- Learn and retain knowledge in relation to real and imagined events of life.
- May recite geneologies but make few lists.
- Think and talk about people and events they know.
- Make decisions base on experience.
- Illustrate sermons, exhortations and oratory with events.
- Tend to communicate in groups.
- Learn mostly in interaction with other people.
- Cannot think about someting very long without dialogue.
- Have a verbal style that can be dramatic and exagerated.
- Tend to use strong or heavy characters and tend to emphasize a struggle against an enemy.
- Express themselves with their hands.
- Use ritual and formal verbal exchange.
- Value the style of speech, clarity, and poetic forms of language.
- Are affected by the sound of what they hear.
- Are talented in oral art for example song and poetry.
- Participate in verbal contests excelling in praise, insults, riddles, jokes and flowery language.
Source: www.peopleteams.org/miao/storying.htm
"I organise parties and tell stories!"
That is post-modern church consultant Andrew Jones' answer to the question
"What's your job?"
Visit Andrew Jones at http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com
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