STRATEGIES 1 for Oral Cultures - Training

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus." — Acts 4:13 · NKJV

Crossing the communication gap

Most of the world learns by listening, not by reading — yet the church often ministers with literate methods even where most people around it are oral learners. The result is a communication gap between the Word and the very people Jesus reached most naturally: ordinary people who had simply been with Him.

This training teaches seven strategies for crossing that gap. It is a Scripture-based storytelling approach for grassroots disciple-makers — a way of bringing God's Word to oral learning communities through the methods they already use to receive and pass on everything that matters: story, dialogue, song, and shared life.

Story by story, strategy by strategy

Each strategy is introduced through a Bible story, taught through dialogue, and practiced in small story groups:

1. Understand traditional oral cultures — how oral learners receive, carry, and pass on what matters.
2. Use the local language — God's Word in the mother tongue, the language of the heart.
3. Follow the example of Jesus as storyteller — He spoke to the crowds in parables, and without a parable He did not speak to them.
4. Use Scripture storytelling and dialogue — the 7 Steps of Bible Storytelling & Dialogue, learned by doing.
5. Develop disciple-making teams — because Jesus sent them out two by two, not one by one.
6. Follow the circular process of disciple-making — hearing, obeying, and passing on, generation after generation.
7. Tell God's story from creation to revelation — ten chronological Bible stories that carry the whole sweep of Scripture.

Learning by telling

From the first morning, participants are in story groups — learning Bible stories out loud, telling them to the whole gathering, and leading sessions through the 7 Steps. The training closes with days of practical storytelling, where participants take the stories they have learned and tell them in real settings, with coaching. Most participants leave already having done the very thing the training teaches.

Typical format: a multi-day intensive, including supervised practical storytelling. Scheduling is shaped to the local community.

For those who serve oral learners

This training is for disciple-makers, pastors, and ordinary believers serving in communities where oral learning is the primary way knowledge is received and passed on. Reading is not required to participate fully — that is the point. If your people carry what matters in their hearts rather than in books, this training was built for them.

See also: Story Learning & Telling for additional methods and resources.

"In this teaching, what I have learned is something called hope. I have learned something called hope! These three days we have spent are like a month. I am now well equipped." Oral Learner — Sub-Sahara Africa