The Lausanne Global Conversation is on the World Wide Open Network
Author: Ron Green
Date: 20.08.2010
Category: Orality
Editor’s Note: This Cape Town 2010 Advance Paper has been written by Ron Green as an overview of the topic to be discussed at the Multiplex session on “Crafting an Oral Bible Story.” Responses to this paper through the Lausanne Global Conversation will be fed back to the author and others to help shape their final presentations at the Congress.
Introduction
We stand at a unique moment in history! We can look back at the progress of the Gospel and see that the Lord has blessed. At the same time, we’re burdened and challenged by the enormous task facing the global Church today. We’re reminded of the task that remains among thousands of Unreached People Groups speaking languages with no translated Scripture. Almost half the world lives with a Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim faith. And, everywhere there is a need for deeper discipleship. Recognition of these critical needs compels us to focus our prayer and ministry as never before. The Great Commission can seem overwhelming. But the Church is beginning to work together and new creative strategies are opening some of the greatest opportunities in history.
The purpose of this paper is to draw our attention to one very measurable need. Throughout history, literacy was a protected privilege reserved solely for the elite—usually the leaders of government, commerce, military and religion. For several millennia, leaders often counted on this privilege to control the masses whom they ruled. We cherish our education and literacy––and we should, after all of the effort invested. However, we’re reminded that the majority of the unreached people of our world are primarily oral learners who learn much differently from those who are literate. This is a critical moment to review all of our methods and strategies of ministry so that we’re prepared to face this challenge with creativity and God’s heart of compassion for the lost.
The Remaining Task
Two thousand years ago Jesus entrusted His followers with a special commission, a mandate to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. We are told repeatedly throughout Scripture of God’s heart for every language, tribe and people group to hear the Good News. We are commanded to go and tell everyone the Gospel and disciple those who choose to follow Christ.
There is much discussion regarding the depth of our Gospel presentations and our discipleship activities. But the breadth seems clearly measurable––every people group, tribe and language should have the Gospel message. Yet in the 21st century there are still many groups where the Gospel has not penetrated. Research reveals that there are still thousands of unreached people groups with nearly half of them not yet engaged by evangelism and church planting efforts.
Today, nearly one-third of the earth’s languages still await the first verse of Scripture in their own language. Hundreds of languages have just a few chapters available to them. Without translated Scripture, we are unlikely to find any Gospel message present. Often, there are no believers and no indigenous multiplying churches—because how do we evangelize and disciple without God’s Word? It seems there should be a minimal level of effort in every language, tribe, and people group. Perhaps giving them access to God’s Word in their own language and in their own learning style could be the first step of taking the Gospel to every people group.
A Challenge for the Global Church
A question often arises regarding the first steps of work among an unreached people group. The initial stage of engaging an unreached people group begins with providing the first Scripture in their language. Many of our organizations partner closely with Bible translation agencies. Those involved in such partnerships might agree that linguists and Bible translators are uniquely called and gifted to understand and engineer language. All of us who have a Bible today owe a great debt of gratitude to translators who sacrificed greatly to bring us access to God’s Word. Because of their vision and sacrifice, the translation of Scripture has accelerated at an unprecedented pace in recent decades. Despite such acceleration, we’re reminded that most of the remaining languages are unwritten languages that present incredible and continuing challenges.
In a world of specialization, it’s easy for us to look to those who are called to be translators to own that task for the whole world. However, if we believe that Scripture access could be an important step in world evangelization, could this be a burden that all believers should carry together? Our desire would be to encourage, honor, pray for, resource and join hands with those gifted servants who are already engaged in Scripture translation. Research shows us that there are 2,252 language groups with a population of 350 million people who have no Scripture in their language. There are hundreds more languages with just a few chapters of Scripture. There are millions who presently have no access to Old Testament passages that can be essential to building bridges of understanding about Jesus, especially among Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims.
The Dream for EVERY…
If more of us “owned” the task of Scripture access and worked together toward a break-through, what could happen? Could this be the first generation in history to ensure that at least some of God’s Word is available to every people group on the planet? How can the Great Commission be completed if we have failed even to begin the work in thousands of languages and people groups? Could we commit ourselves afresh to starting the Great Commission effort in every group? With that dream and vision, a number of ministries began working together to see what could happen in our generation. We began with some core beliefs:
A. All people groups need access to the Gospel
A core value that pervades all other values is that of reaching all peoples. This means that the proclamation of God’s Word will not be limited by the size of a people group, the level of literacy, or the geographic or political context.
B. God’s Word in their mother tongue is always best in order to penetrate the heart
The first language we hear in our mother’s arms is usually our mother tongue (or heart language). Making Scripture available in the heart languages of unreached people groups facilitates the growth of viable, reproducing and indigenously led churches. We desire for the gospel message found in God’s Word to flow freely at the heart level of every individual, with everyone having the opportunity to receive, understand, respond and reproduce the Gospel within their own culture.
C. Cultural learning style should be honored (including stories, music, drama and art)
We attempt to honor the communication style, learning preference and oral traditions of each distinct people group. With thousands of languages yet unwritten, learning how these cultures have retained and passed along their culture, language, history, music, poetry and values for thousands of years is critical. These “heart issues” are always packaged in a heart learning style (usually oral and highly cultural). God’s Word is full of stories that reveal to us His character, His plan of redemption and His loving relationship with man. The Bible preserves these stories in a written record, but many of them were originally communicated orally—as was the primary means of communicating them over the millennia.
D. Strategic partnering is essential with a task this enormous
An effective cross-cultural partnership model will bear witness to God’s grace to the world and will bring glory to God. We are committed to partnering with local churches and to encouraging and facilitating their success in being on mission with God and working together to fulfill the Great Commission. We also believe in close partnership with national teams, national churches or local agencies for building sustainable models. Sometimes the most fruitful model is a partnership with humanitarian groups to develop a more holistic ministry impact.
E. National storying movements should be sought
The result of this movement is the planting and growing of healthy house churches that respond to the unique, God-given culture of each people group while staying firmly grounded in God’s Word. Church planting becomes a spiritual movement as members of each local church plant new churches within their own people group and beyond. As God’s Word flows freely, we believe changed lives will result and God’s stories will multiply into other nearby people groups, resulting in a local storying movement.
F. Oral Scripture is an initial impact, not the final goal
While providing oral stories from Scripture, it’s also important to note that we work in partnership with Bible translators to protect the integrity of Scripture at every stage of each project. We value the finished and recorded stories as important foundation blocks to providing additional scripture resources within each people group.
As often as possible, our goal is to see both oral Scripture and printed Scripture available to every group. The basis of this is Deuteronomy 31 and 32 where God tells Moses at the end of his life that he should write down God’s promises and laws and place them in the Ark of the Covenant to be read every seven years. Then God told Moses to teach the people God’s Word through song so that His Word would be on the lips and ears of all the people. God even gave Moses and Joshua the song to teach His people.
A Breakthrough Strategy
In partnership with Bible translators and church planters, we searched for a way to provide oral Scripture in a culturally appropriate way among unreached and unengaged people groups where no Gospel message existed. This new strategy calls for pioneering teams of two or three people (often national teams or from nearby cultures) to engage an unreached group. Within two to three years, they are able to develop a set of Bible stories that span the Scriptures from Creation to the life of Christ, and then to the establishments of the early house churches in Acts.
The training is usually spread over a two-year period so that these “rapid response teams” can be coached and mentored throughout their ministry project. During a two-year period, the teams are brought together every four to six months for several weeks of training. The trainers provide a step-by-step process to:
As the teams go deeper, they begin to tell Old Testament stories from Creation to the fall of man to Abraham, David, Elijah, and Isaiah. Soon, the teams learn to weave a theme of redemption from Creation to Jesus. The training helps the teams with word choices and basic translation issues. Over time, they are coached to develop a set of twenty or more stories ranging from Creation to Christ to the establishment of early house churches in Acts.
Once the story set is developed, some of the stories are recorded so a story consultant can check for comprehension and biblical accuracy. After necessary changes have been made, the entire story set is recorded as an “oral text” of Scripture. These recordings protect the stories until written Scripture can be provided. Audio recordings can also involve drama, music and other cultural methodologies. They can be broadly distributed as it fits the church planting strategy.
The Process
New recruits are taught to craft the biblical stories so they are easily told orally. A local storyteller is recruited to help connect with the target language group. Small story groups are formed. Audio recordings of the stories are checked by an outside consultant to test for accuracy and comprehension so the stories can serve as an “oral text.” After approval, the audio recordings are shared in homes and small groups, and even broadcast by digital players for broad sowing (radio in some locations).
Story sets contain 20 or more Bible stories from Creation to Christ’s return (Old Testament, the Gospels and Acts).
Desired Outcomes
Field Testimonies
“When western missionaries came to our country 100 years ago to share the gospel, they shared it in the same way they probably had learned it. Had they stopped to ask our local people how to share the most important message of all time, they would have learned that all of our most treasured information (history, culture, heritage, values, beliefs, and even law) is contained in stories and songs. Normally, it was government propaganda that was in printed form, so, unfortunately, the Bible was viewed as foreign propaganda.
“As I sat in this story training, I thought, ‘Finally, this is the way that the gospel should have always been shared in my country.’ This is God’s Word in its purest form, spoken or sung naturally and in the local language. Why not share the most treasured story of all time in a way that multiplies so quickly!! It takes people seven or eight years here with multiple methods to lead them to Christ, but with Bible stories, we’re seeing decisions and discipleship within the first two years! So simple, but so very effective…” National leader in a secure Middle East country
“After sitting in a week of story training, I woke up early this morning from a disturbing dream that gripped my heart. In the dream, I was standing in the midst of fruit trees that were laden with ripe fruit, so ripe that it was falling from the trees right into our baskets. We were so excited with the harvest until I looked at my basket and saw all the fruit falling through and rotting on the ground. God spoke to my heart and said that our baskets are broken and He added that He had revealed to me this week how to get them mended and fixed.
“For years, we’ve blamed our poor discipleship on the people—that they just don’t care enough to truly follow Jesus. What if we were wrong? What if we weren’t communicating to their heart and in a way that they can learn and reproduce it? We can’t afford to lose God’s Harvest! Please come back and help us fix our baskets by giving them God’s Word in the way that Africans learn best—by stories!!” George – A West African Mission leader
“My husband and I are trainers for our organization here in East Asia. Besides that, we are also involved directly in working among an unreached people group. During the past couple of years, we’ve tried all the strategies that we knew to reach this group, but the task is nearly impossible with no Scripture, no JESUS Film, and no believers in this language. We attended the training with little confidence that this would work, but we were desperate for a breakthrough. After the initial training, we returned to our unreached group and began using this Bible story strategy. We formed a small group and started developing our first stories with them. Can you imagine my surprise when we saw 15 people come to Christ? These were our very first converts. This happened during our first few months using this strategy. We’re now seeing the power of God’s Word shared in a cultural way in the local language and the outcome is incredible.” Yun - East Asia
Final Thoughts
In just the last six years, partner ministries have worked together and seen over 200 unreached people groups in more than 40 countries hear God’s Word in their own language and cultural learning style. Hundreds of small story groups have started and thousands of new believers are following Christ because they now have access to His Word (in their own language & cultural learning style)!
We dream of the day when every language, tribe, and people group will have access to the Gospel and we dream of it happening in our generation! Could we dream and plan and pray and work together so that every language hears in this decade? Until then, they’re still waiting…350 million people waiting for us to begin the Great Commission where they live. We think they’ve waited long enough!
© The Lausanne Movement 2010
Keywords: Oral Story Bible, oral Bible, oral, gospel, Scripture, language, unreached, translation, access, mother tongue, learning style, communication, partnership, storying, storyteller, story
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Views: 61827
Comments: 28
Recommendations: 5
Conversation Post Comment
United States
Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no
end...for the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this". Isa
9:7 The government of God is manifest on earth through the visible kingdom of
God operating in our lives. Kingdom businesses will experience this because it
is God’s divine purpose for his mature sons and daughters in this age. We come
into spiritual maturity through the operation of the 5-fold offices given in
this government. The two important gifts apostles and prophets provide a
powerful covering and direction for this economic power. Remember the true
5-fold gifts provide the edification and perfection "of the saints
unto the work of the ministry." according to Eph. 4:11. Prophets
give us direction and protection as God reveals to them coming economic storms
and events that affect the marketplace. Apostles give us wisdom, correction and
government oversite. Apostles help establish and maintain the work. Satan has
spent a great deal of time discrediting these gifts through false prophets and
apostles. This has been true from the beginning of the chruch in
the first century. But as God reveals and confirms true apostles and
prophets, those that have ears to hear and eyes to see in the Spirit will
greatly benefit. The real issue is trust. When we come to
the place of laying the money at the apostel’s feet for distriubtion, this trust
will have been established. But first the apostles must be known as men of
integrity, accountability and responsibility. Kingdom businesses will come to
understand that they don’t have ownership because that is limiting, dividing,
decreasing and dimishes growth. Ownership implies containment and
protection. Stewardship is
increasing, liberating and experiences growth and multiplication. As Mom
Taylor, an old friend who had a ministry called , "Pass it On" and a huge
homeless distribution warehouse in Pacadena, Ca.and owned two trucks just to
give it all away told me. "Jerry, your ability to give is not based on
what you have, but on God’s ability to supply". She always reminded me
that the only reason we should stop giving is because God is broke. (please
watch this video "Is God
Broke") God will not only supply, but abundantly supply for every good
work. We have been trained to think in this world system to have a spirit of
independence, self-actualization, self-worth, self-trust and self-love. We must
repent to come under a kingdom mentality and learn submission to authority
(Christ’s), dependence daily on His presence, faith for daily filling of His
Holy Spirit, and identity of who we are in Christ. We are servants, sons,
ambassadors and submit to His authority. The problem of focusing on self is we
are then limited to our capacity. When we focus on Jesus and His CAPACITY, we
are limitless
31.08.2012
United States
This is a fascinating approach to spreading the gospel. Though I don’t spend much of my time or energy in active evangelization, I do spend quite a lot of it in translating. I feel that I am quite well aware of the issues that go along with the translational process. This whole ordeal of moving the Scriptures between languages and cultures is certainly a messy process, even for those of us with relatively sophisticated educational backgrounds. Coming up with smooth translations and explaining complicated theological concepts to those who have no background in such things seems a huge undertaking to me.
This proposal, though it may not be perfect, certainly seems like an excellent way to begin. In many places, our Scriptures read like theological treatises; in others, like stories. We would definitely be well served to present the story parts first. We would be especially well served to present the stories first if we are attempting to connect with people for whom storytelling is a meaningful way of life. Just like the principle of making sense of the receptor language prevails when I translate, there is good sense here in suggesting that the receptor culture should prevail when transmitting the scriptural tradition.
06.04.2011
United States
I enjoyed this paper immensely because it touched on literacy. Education has been my life for many years and I identify with the literacy issue. I was reminded of how education was limited to certain groups and to some degree we have done the same with communicating the great commission to the nations. According to Mr. Green if we are going to reach all people regardless of size of the unreached group, the level of literacy or the geographic or political context we have to step up our game. Can we call leaving out the illiterate unintentional discrimination or showing partiality when in fact it is the last thing we want to do? This would go against our belief that the gospel is for all nations. What can I do about this issue? I can begin to talk or promote the topic or tool of orality to bridge the gap. I would be interested in working with ministries to incorporate this as a vital part of discipleship training and reaching the unreached. I especially liked the approach of honoring the culture’s learning style because one size does not fit all. Storytelling has been around for many years. It is an excellent way to present the gospel in an informal yet meaningful manner. Story telling lends itself to drama, music and art. I would be glad to support a move in this direction. The stories have already been written. God has done that for us. Jesus often told stories about things common to his audience environment. I realize that His stories were told not as Bible stories but, we can draw from that example and use it today to fulfill our common goal of reaching the unreached. I believe He knew we would need this tool to help fill the “scripture literacy gap.”
25.02.2011
Switzerland
We are living in exciting times. Thank you for this inspiring paper, Ron. Just a little remark: Can you think of possible negative side-effects in launching the Oral Story Bible and pre-emptive measures?
Blessings
Michael H
06.10.2010
South Africa
@ Michael_H:
To my mind there is one very dangerous "side-effect" and that is simply deception, the preaching of "another gospel". While this is always a danger, in the context where we have the written Bible, you can always check to see if any message is in agreement with what the Spirit of God has revealed in His Word. This is much more difficult in an oral culture (and was one of the driving forces of the reformation).
One will need to teach new believers how to "test the spirits" without have access to the written word of God.
21.10.2010
South Africa
By prayer and mission calling I work along the Congo River and its tributaries. Deep rural and isolated villages often have not met with "outside" visitors. Technology and cultural aspects such as dress and table manners can easily confuse the focus of a message of Creation, Salvation and Sanctification. Orality (storying) and choirs seem quite capable of capturing the basic Gospel Truths in a meaningful and lasting depth - for continued repitition around evening cooking fires of festive occassions. Follow up or continuous church inter-action are unfortunately not practical for villages spread along 14 000 km of riverbanks.
19.10.2010
South Africa
By prayer and mission calling I work along the Congo River and its tributaries. Deep rural and isolated villages often have not met with "outside" visitors. Technology and cultural aspects such as dress and table manners can easily confuse the focus of a message of Creation, Salvation and Sanctification. Orality (storying) and choirs seem quite capable of capturing the basic Gospel Truths in a meaningful and lasting depth - for continued repitition around evening cooking fires of festive occassions. Follow up or continuous church inter-action are unfortunately not practical for villages spread along 14 000 km of riverbanks.
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19.10.2010
United States
Orality is something I believe is not only a positive direction for evangelism in the places where there is no written language but also for the churches in America. There are many churches where “teaching” is a primary focus yet the people have not heard or know Jesus in their own love language, and don’t fully understand the life transforming power of the Gospel and what that means for them in their life.
If you think about it, Didn’t Jesus teach through stories? His primary teaching was not the rules of religion but the exact opposite. The pharisees were really good at teaching rules and regulations of a Religion. Jesus used parables to share the good news of the Kingdom. The thing was he didn’t just tell stories, he lived it out and showed us all how to live.
In my own context a couple of years ago we found people in our church had heard about Jesus but all the evangelism tools that were out there fell short. The people wanted share their faith but it was unnatural and awkward when the majority of people in our context had heard about Jesus. We had a bunch of smart people in our church that knew something about the Bible, but had no clue what it looked like to be a disciple of Jesus.
We as a church moved from a “exposition” small group format to a “oral/incarnational” life group format. We have a set of stories from the Old testament through the New Testament that we use to show the Redemptive plan that God has put into place for his people. Through us using these stories to share God’s plan, they were able to share the stories with the people around them. It created exactly what the author of the paper was hoping would happen in these places where there were no written language. We have seen people sharing their faith, through stories of what God did in the Bible as well as what God is doing in their own life.
We still require training for our leaders of these life group with exposition training so that they are able to guide the conversation with Biblical truth and not let stories run in opposite direction of God’s word. Our leaders are also trained to be ministers/missionaries to their community of people.
So right on, I am for Orality as a method of evangelism and Discipleship, it has proved to be very effective for us and our context.
19.10.2010
South Africa
Orality, is a method that I believe will have great persuasive influence in the community whereby it is presented. However, how does one marry orality and exposition? For me it will be difficult not to quote verses from other books of the bible. How do we marry orality with exposition? or do we do away with exposition?
18.10.2010
South Africa
for me i think this method of storry telling its a good and fast way of evangelism, because what i like about it you dont need to be a good preacher in order for you to deliver a massage. i really thank the Lord for opening so many ways so that His people can know Him and what i like anyone can do we it, for me i dont have a question but i just want to thank the Lord for opening our minds for evangelism through you God bless you keep up the good work.
17.10.2010
South Africa
I have noticed that this method of telling-story is a very good strategy in sharing the gospel especially in Africa conext where we love story so much.
My concern: How do you develop a "Christology" (as mission strategy) through tellig-story for presenting the gospel in a simple way to African Initiated Churches?
16.10.2010
United States
Thanks Ron for sharing the excitement of this crucial issue and one of the strategies for addressing it.
The West, as a largely post-literate culture, would benefit greatly from this as well.
God chose to reveal Himself largely through narratives, songs, proverbs and designed us to respond to His story. Even the epistles are responses to stories unfolding in the lives of God’s people - though we only hear one side of them and don’t know the endings!
Paul indicated in Colossians 1:16 that the gospel story has a self-propogating power. Unleashing it creatively is sound strategy anywhere, anytime.
16.10.2010
United States
Thanks Ron for sharing this exciting ministry.
It really is shocking for most of us to know that about 2/3 of the world prefer to learn orally - that they are transformed by those who communicate in this, their heart and life language. It is important for us in the West to recognize that we are in a post-literate culture and many of the strategies for oral cultures would be fruitful for us.
God is a God who chose to tell us of Himself and His plans though a series of stories and designed us to respond to narratives. Even the epistles are snapshots of stories going on in the early church; though we hear only one side of the conversation, Paul is addressing stories of real people. (And I wish I knew how they all turned out!) Making biblical narratives live and breathe, aware of its self-propogating power and releasing it would indeed be a powerful strategy anywhere, anytime.
16.10.2010
United Kingdom
My favourite paragraph was:
In a world of specialization, it’s easy for us to look to those who are called to be translators to own that task for the whole world. However, if we believe that Scripture access could be an important step in world evangelization, could this be a burden that all believers should carry together? Our desire would be to encourage, honor, pray for, resource and join hands with those gifted servants who are already engaged in Scripture translation. Research shows us that there are 2,252 language groups with a population of 350 million people who have no Scripture in their language. There are hundreds more languages with just a few chapters of Scripture. There are millions who presently have no access to Old Testament passages that can be essential to building bridges of understanding about Jesus, especially among Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims.
I was staggered to read the over 2000 language groups don’t have God’s word in their langauge - that’s huge. Our aim has to be that every group regardless of size, levels of literacy, or their geographic or political context is able to access scripture.
I liked Ron’s description of small teams living in a local community and the process of engaging the people and how they can establish stories, then an oral tradition, then a written translation.
I still can’t get my head round the fact that over 350 million people still don’t have a word of the bible in their langauge.
13.10.2010
Mexico
I’m so amazed how creative our God is. I’m so excited how He’s making himself known. On the other hand, I’m profoundly ashamed I haven’t been praying for this issue. In my country there are many ethnias who do not have Scripture. I want to pray more about it. Thanks for this inspiring paper.
I know a group of students who started a theatre group. They are performing the whole gospels and traveling around Mexico City to present them. It’s very encouraging to see them taking this vision. Many people have heard the Bible for the first time in their lives although they have one at home.
I pray God use them in this area in my country. http://www.facebook.com/noanosotros
Ana Miriam
07.10.2010
Australia
Thank you for showing us the dream and that there is still hope.
I feal that even today, in every society more and more people that would not read the Bible would love to hear a good story and song.
With the technology that we have now we can prepare very powerful presentations (Bible stories and songs) to reach the unreached ....
06.10.2010
United States
Thank you for the paper, Ron. This is fascinating to me. I want to learn more about it.
Marguerite
02.10.2010
United States
May I also add that the parables of Jesus are powerful story telling of God’s intention for people to enter the Kingdom..
22.09.2010
United Kingdom
Really helpful.
Yes i would be interested to know where and when training is available too.
And agree with the both/and emphasis of the oral and writen Word.
22.09.2010
Nigeria
Thank you Ron for these interesting and most educative insights on Orality. I have suddenly realized that this oral story Bible methodology has been going on for years in my country Nigeria. Even today it is still prevalent in many churches where the illeterate are separated and taught orally through story telling the Bible. My old grandmother before she died knew and understood the Bible even though she could not read nor write.
Because of the urgency of the Great Commission and the slow pace of meeting with translation deadline, I do agree that this form of preaching the gospel should not only be revived but encouraged as a viable means of evangelistic outreach.
20.09.2010
United States
Unreached People Groups (UPG’s) The Least Reached or The Most Neglected
I am Sam Bandela by the way. Some times my name comes along with photo and other times it doesn’t for one reaso or the other and therefore, I am suing my name.
India is exposed to the Gospel over 2010 years and mores so more effectively ever since William Carey (Father of the Modern Mission Movement) went to India as a missionary. Since his arrival in India, India had the golden opportunity for the gospel through his sincere efforts and above all, Indian Christians are indebted to William Carey for the putting the Word of God more than in 40 different languages. India is blessed richly through William Care efforts and more so with ALL para-church mission organization as well as ALL major denominations with their missionary efforts.
In my personal opinion, the Christians in India are the reproduction from those earlier Christians and the trend continued in the same way within the families. There may be isolated case of NEW CONVERSION from different castes or tribal groups but the majority of Christians are simply reproduction from Christians.
Even after 2010 years and more so after 210 years of William Carey’s arrival, the Indian Christian remains the same as 2.9% officially (I personally do not agree with this 2.9% but in my personal opinion there may be over 13-15% Christians in India. But Indian government will accept these numbers due to political reasons). Even in 2010 if that number 2.9% remains the same, then I beg to ask the question, that we must not be doing the right thing in reaching India. There are over 650,000 villages that have never had a chance to hear the gospel ONCE in their life time. HOW LONG WILL THIS CONTINUE? WHEN WILL WE CHANGE OUR WAYS, MEANS, AND METHODS TO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE? WHAT SHOULD BE OUR STRATGEY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY EVANGELISM AND CHURCH PLANTING AMONG THE UPG’s?
We need to rethink our strategies, review our current trends, reestablish our partnership and participation in reaching the UPG’s in our time and generation.
take the Gospel to Indian Diasporas. This “Challenge” remains for ALL Indian Christians in Diaspora.
13.09.2010
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