“For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord” ~Zephaniah 3:9
The past few weeks at the storying workshop in Southern India were incredible and filled with eye-opening stories of how God has been working and is continuing to work in this part of the world! There were about 25 people attending the workshop, from 3 different language groups, all speaking the common trade language of Kannada. The purpose of the workshops are to train these believers how to craft Bible stories in their own native language so that they can share them within their own people group. We teach them the importance of crafting stories that are Biblically accurate, yet naturally told and clearly understood. We try to get them to think about the audience that they will be telling these stories to—will they understand every word that is used? Do they understand the point of the story? One of our main goals for the workshops is to instill in people the power and confidence to share their faith with others, even though they may have never graduated from high school or ever been formally trained in Christian leadership.
The first week was full of lectures and demonstrations of storytelling and the second week was time to put into practice what they had learned. The group I got to sit in with was the Yerava people. There were 8 of the all together, 7 men and 1 woman, and their people group are traditionally shepherds. Back in 2006, there were only 2 believers among 40,000 Yerava. Now, eight years later, there are about 200 believers among this people group! Praise Jesus for the way He has worked in this people group and how He is continuing to draw them to Himself!! The love for and commitment to Jesus that these 8 people had inspired me. Every day, we had devotions at 6:00 in the morning, while it was still dark outside, and these people were always the first ones to show up at 5:45! They would sit and pray out loud for a while and then they would start the devotions themselves by singing worship songs. Every day, we told a new story and they were to practice telling it among themselves and discuss how to make it better. The Yerava would sit and pray silently among themselves before starting to tell the story. Then they would start telling the story and give each person a turn. Their discussions of the story were electric. Even though I had no idea what they were actually saying, their passion for truth and excellence, as well as the respect that they had for one another's ideas was decidedly apparent. One of the things they discussed was the use of the word Teacher for Jesus in the story because the Yerava word for teacher is used synonomously with the word for dude. It was so neat to see them take ownership of crafting stories and provide insight into the language used that only a native speaker can!
One of the pastors helping to lead the workshop told me he fully supports storying as a way to share the gospel because he says it is easier and safer to carry around the Bible in your head rather than physically with you. In some parts of his state, it is dangerous for believers to carry their Bible with them because, if the authorities find their Bible, the believer might be forced to give over their Bible or they may be thrown in jail. But learning stories is a perfect alternative because believers can share them anywhere and no one can take the stories and their truths away from them!
On the way home from Southern India, we got a call inviting us to do a storying workshop in a town about an hour outside of Lucknow for about 80 believers! We went down for the day on Thursday and demonstrated how to share the story of Jesus calming the storm. This workshop was translated into Hindi, which was most of the participants' native language. These 80 believers are leaders among a house church of 800-1000 people!! Each week, people come to the pastor's four-story house, pack each level out, and overflow into the yard! Thank God for the salvation of these believers and their passion to learn more about Him!! Pray that they would be a mighty force in Uttar Pradesh to bring the truth to many more people, full of the Holy Spirit's strength, boldness, and love!
Thank you so much for your support and your prayers for the workshop in Southern India!! God is doing great things down there and it is so cool that we get to join Him in it! “Now to him who is able to do immeasureably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever!” (Eph 3:20-21).