Story Bible Team
“I have always tried to preach where people have never heard about Christ.” –Apostle Paul, Romans 15:20 CEV.
Imagine your team being the first to bring God's Word to an unreached people group. This “Apostle Paul experience” is exactly what a Story Bible Team is like.
The vast majority of unreached people groups live in oral cultures who do not read and write. Many have no access to scripture in their language, or no written language at all.
However, oral people love to remember and tell stories, so telling Bible stories is a very natural, non-threatening way to communicate with them. When a set of Bible stories is translated into a people's heart language and compiled into a powerful presentation, we call it a Story Bible.
Millions are ready to listen, if you will tell them.
What Story Bible Teams Do
-
Get Immersed in the Culture
After initial training, you will learn the local language through full culture immersion—eating, sleeping and living like the people you are working with. You will study their culture and worldview so you are able to choose the right Bible stories that speak best to their needs.
-
Orally Translate the Stories
After further training, you will work with indigenous language helpers to orally translate key stories from the Bible. The helpers become the primary storytellers; you're there to help them learn and tell the stories in a natural storytelling style. You start in Genesis and work through key Bible stories chronologically. The indigenous language helpers are also learning to spread the stories.
-
Tell the Stories
When the people start hearing the stories, they are intrigued, and many want to hear more stories and become followers of Jesus. Your job will be to guide the new believers and help them meet regularly and continue learning and telling the stories.
-
Create Audio Recordings
When the Story Bible is ready, your team will spend a few weeks making audio recordings of the stories. The recordings will preserve the stories and help spread them through media, such as digital players and radio programs.
-
Humanitarian Aid and Community Development
There is often a need for humanitarian aid and community development. One team helped others bring in food and shelter after an major earthquake, and others have drilled wells. Even the Story Bible you produce in their language will show you care since outsiders don't usually take the trouble to learn their language.
When Your Team Finishes
-
They Have Access to God's Word
At the end of the project, the people you work with will have an orally translated set of 25 to 40 Bible stories where there were none before. The stories cover the essentials of the Christian faith from Genesis to the Church Age. New opportunities open up for evangelism, church planting, ongoing aid and development work and short term teams.
-
Listening Groups Multiply and Churches Start
The listening groups that you help start will tell and teach the stories long after you are gone. Listening groups lead to churches being formed and planted, so that eventually the people group you work with will no longer be called “unreached.” They will have an indigenous, culturally relevant witness and knowledge of God and his ways.
-
A Foundation for Long Term Ministry
After your project, partnerships with churches and mission organizations continue long term ministry efforts based on the Story Bible, which also lays the foundation for a future written Bible translation.
-
Your Life Is Transformed Forever
You will treasure the new relationships you've made, plus you will carry the knowledge and skills you gain with you for the rest of your life.
Get Started
StoryRunners will train, guide and equip you every step of the way. All you have to do is pray, remain faithful and watch God work! Teams have been successfully creating Story Bibles since 2004. Is it your turn? Sign up to learn more.
