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Oral Bible Storying in Full Swing in Africa

Our vision is to help people in 500 unreached language groups become followers of Christ in a growing community of faith by the year 2025.

ORAL BIBLE STORYING IN FULL SWING IN AFRICA - StoryRunners

“God told me to go to the most unreached, to the darkest places,” Kyle* explained. That’s why I go far to start my groups. I find places that have no churches, with no one working there, and that’s where I start my groups. That is who God has called me to.”

Early this month we had three teams spread across Francophone Africa to meet with local leaders, to develop oral Bible stories, and to equip people to reach out to their own unreached people group. Hera, a team leader who was with Kyle, had this to share: “We have been to three cities and six remote villages. Everywherewe went, we saw over and over again that these stories CHANGE LIVES. They WORK. God is MOVING in places where people know nothing about Him.”

“These are dark places, in dire need of God’s light. In one tiny village alone, I counted five religious temples within 60 seconds of driving through. During a hike to get to a story group in one village, we passed through a courtyard with four cult altars.”

But there is hope for God’s WORD is changing people’s lives. One person (among many) is a village chief whose life has been radically changed because of the story group in his village. He was so excited to have the story group there and welcomed the StoryRunners team with open arms. In another village, the chief proudly took the team to visit the land he was donating so that Kyle could build the first church in their village. Everyone has been eagerly using storying, forming many new story groups, including second-generation groups and churches.

A team in another part of Africa had an equally fruitful time developing oral Bible stories and using them in outreaches. In just three weeks, more than 1,500 people heard the oral Bible stories, and around 56 story groups met in the two villages the team worked in. Hallelujah!

The third team leader shared, “Seeing the simple method working in a relaxed and natural environment reminded me of the power of storytelling. It truly can be done by anyone, anywhere, any time for nearly any situation. And all you need to do is show up. When you do, so does God.” Indeed. Look out for more on how storying is changing the spiritual landscape of Africa in our next newsletter.

GET TO KNOW: NANCY KELLEY ALVAREZ

The Lord saved Nancy 44 years ago and was burdened to share God’s Word and love to others. She first followed God’s call to Asia in 1979 to teach English to the Japanese. Later she went to the Philippines to plant churches. She later earned an MA from Wheaton Graduate School in Intercultural Studies and then returned to Japan as a church planter. Through twists and turns the Lord led her back to the Philippines to teach at Cru’s International Graduate School of Leadership as trainer of English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers. During this time, she met the love of her life – Al Alvarez. They married in 1999 and adopted Al’s niece and nephew in 2002. Nancy joined Cru in 2000 and has been serving with StoryRunners since 2010.

Nancy and Al travel throughout Asia to tell God’s stories in their heart language. Nancy is passionate about human trafficking victims including among the youth. She loves to make jewelry, read, cook, watch movies, cuddle with her dog Bingo and travel the world. She is also a writer and published her first novel – “The Butterfly Impact: An Unexpected Story of Courage and Transformation”.

PRAISE & PRAYER

PRAISE

1) For the marvelous work God is doing in Africa.

2) For the old and new oral Bible storying opportunities He has opened in the Philippines.

3) For the completed set of 42 oral Bible stories in the “E” language.

PRAYER | We covet your prayers, please pray:

1) For God to continue to open doors in Africa; for the right partners in the region.

2) For God’s Word to bear fruit in the lives of those who heard the stories.

3) For protection and provision for our missionaries and partners in various parts of the world.

WOULD YOU PARTNER WITH US?StoryRunners partners with people like you who fund our School of Storying projects and our day-to-day operations. If you are encouraged about how God is using StoryRunners, ask Him if He wants YOU to become a monthly giving partner or to make a special gift.

You can make a difference for people who have never had God’s word in their own language. To give towards a specific School of Storying project, contact Pam Lilly.

Click here for your tax-deductible contribution.

Read the pdf version here StoryRunners October 2017 Newsletter.

Oral Bible Storying in Full Swing in Africa

Into the Bush

Deep into the bush we drove, winding our way along the pot-holed dirt road, the jungle pressing in on both sides. After miles of trekking up and down the mountains we arrived at a small village where a family greeted us. Over the next hour, more and more people showed up at the house to hear the story. *Zeb began telling the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He skillfully guided them through the steps of a story fellowship group, which culminated in a discussion of the story.

The man pictured in the grey suit volunteered to retell the story, and he recounted it almost verbatim. The School of Storying participants who helped develop the story a few weeks ago were thoroughly impressed at how well the man learned the story and retold it. They were audibly ooohhh-ing and aaahhh-ing every time he nailed a line.

This man is but one example of how transferable Bible storying is for communicating God’s Word. During the discussion, another man asked what happened at the feast (the Passover in the story). *Zeb answered with a smile, “You’ll have to come back to find out in the next story.”

Darryl for the Ewoks

This is the latest update from our team in Africa currently running a School of Storying for the *Ewok language group. If you missed our earlier updates, please check our previous posts. May you be blessed.

*Names changed for security reasons

Into the Bush

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‘Douma’ Means Glory

Here’s the latest update from our team in the *Ewok (name changed for security reasons) language in Africa. If you haven’t seen our earlier updates, please check our previous blogs…

“Douma douma douma, a Zamba. Douma eh, douma eh, a Zamba.” “Our voices harmonize to send up these praises every morning. Glory, glory, glory to God. Glory oh, glory oh to God.” The word ‘douma’ is also used for really big trees. How big you may ask? Check out the picture below – that’s me in the bottom right!

Darryl, one of our team leaders, poses next to the humongous tree in Africa.

This week we confirmed the fact that *Ewok and *Etok (both names changed for security reasons), though generally mutually intelligible, are different enough languages that they warrant their own story sets. In light of this, we have been working very hard to get the stories recorded in both languages. Most of our current participants speak Etok, so the priority is to get whatever stories they tell translated into Ewok. If time allows we will also do the reverse.

Liz and I had quite an eventful lunch. We stepped onto a road quickly when the yells of a child didn’t stop. She was sitting in a ditch clutching her lower right leg, with two young boys looking on. We would find out later that a run-in with a wheelbarrow had caused the injury, quite possibly a fracture or at least a deep bruise. After examining the knot forming and discovering that it wouldn’t bear her weight, we decided to help the girl back to her home. Someone suggested tossing her in the wheelbarrow, but Liz compassionately scooped her up in her arms and started walking, with a small crowd of locals following.

StoryRunners - laundry day among the Ewoks in Africa

A glimpse of everyday life among the Ewoks in Africa – laundry day.

The girl said “here” in French when a small path appeared at the side of the road, and off into the jungle we trekked, weaving in and out of various plants and fallen trees. Midway through, Liz handed her over to me to carry. Finally we reached another dirt road that led to the girl’s home and called for her mother. Remembering the rarely-used cold compress that we packed in the medical kit, I ran back to get it. Tess was there to find it for me when my search turned up void, so it was truly a team effort to take care of this girl. Upon returning to the girl’s home, I found Liz telling a story via a translator to the crowd that had gathered. We activated the compress, gave instructions for how long to keep it on, and recommended taking her to a doctor. Then we prayed for her and disappeared back into the jungle.

What a week it has been. Please pray for continued wisdom, strength, and discipline as we develop, record, and rerecord stories. And pray against the bugs – they don’t seem to understand that repellent means we don’t want them to bite us. Liz must be especially sweet, as she is covered in bites. We’re thankful that Tess and I have been more or less restored to our healthy selves! – Darryl for the Ewoks

Thank you for your continued prayers. Our team among the Ewoks are almost getting ready to wrap things up. Please pray that the Ewok School of Storying participants will be faithful in proclaiming the gospel through our oral Bible stories. That they would be effective in using the stories in their personal ministry, Bible study groups, discipleship and hopefully church planting.

If you are new to StoryRunners and would like to know more about our oral Bible stories, please check our ‘Stories‘ section. Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions or would want to know more about this amazing oral Bible storying ministry and strategy among unreached people groups.

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Another StoryRunners School of Storying kicks off in a jungle in Central Africa

The road to the village where our team is currently carrying out a School of Storying. Looks like a serene place.

“We have been in the village for two days now. It is in the jungle actually. And very beautiful,” reports one of our trainers.

“We have 20+ participants which is amazing! They are a great bunch and good storytellers. Nine have returned from the first training and have many testimonies of how God is using the stories in their villages. It is so encouraging.” She continued.

It sounds like our team is having a great time in Central Africa and our prayers for translators have already been answered. Not everything is well though as one of our trainers had been ill. She had fever, swollen tonsils, cough, etc. She did manage to grab some sort of a Z-pack and she seems to be on her way to recovery. Please continue to pray for her complete healing, especially for cough and nasal congestion. She badly needs her voice in order to help with the training.

Participants at our School of Storying in the ‘E’ language.

“Our back translator is here. And we have three translators, with a fourth coming soon. We feel so spoiled. And the food has been amazing.” She further writes. “Pray for this first week of story development. We are working on the Passion stories, and the Resurrection.”

“Pray for our newest translator, N, who is struggling in life. She is also lacking confidence in her translation skills, but we tested her out today and she did great. We know she will improve a lot as time goes on and hopefully this will boost her confidence.” “Pray for our team leader and our host as they are juggling many things.” “Thank you! Your prayers are heard.”

Thank you indeed. We covet your prayers.

Please note that we are unable to reveal the names (and faces at times) of our trainers or disclose the name of the place for security reasons.

Another StoryRunners School of Storying kicks off in a jungle in Central Africa

in Africa / Field Reports / School of Storying / Testimonies / Uncategorized 0 comments