Orality in North America: Keys to Gospel Advance

by Mark Snowden

A woman in the small group that I led couldn’t wait to tell her hyperactive four-year-old nephew about Samson’s strength. She had just learned the Bible story and began telling it before she remembered the ending. Her nephew was just recovering from a very serious eye injury, but the woman skidded right into the conclusion, including how Samson had his eyes gouged out. 

A woman in the small group that I led couldn’t wait to tell her hyperactive four-year-old nephew about Samson’s strength. She had just learned the Bible story and began telling it before she remembered the ending. Her nephew was just recovering from a very serious eye injury, but the woman skidded right into the conclusion, including how Samson had his eyes gouged out. 

When she finished, she hesitantly asked her nephew, “What can you learn from this story?” The boy said, “God can use you even if you don’t have your eyesight!” 

There are many people across North America who are blind to Bible truths. They see the trappings of contemporary evangelical Christianity and assume the Bible is just too different from who they have become. Text is something they scan. Lectures are segmented to information dumps they can’t reproduce. And they interact with abandon. They joke and pun it up with people with whom they have a relationship. Followers of Jesus who can internalize scripture and convey it as a normal part of a caring conversation find that walls fall down and doors are open.

The orality movement began overseas, but is sweeping across North America. Using oral methods is possible for evangelism, discipleship, missions, church planting, and leadership development. Oral methods mean conveying the gospel aurally (talking), but also includes listening and intentionally engaging in highly relational disciple-making, especially in small groups that can become churches. 

Punching through the Clutter

John Dickerson noted in The Great Evangelical Recession that only 7-9% of Americans were actually Evangelicals. The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) studies church membership reports from 236 religious organizations. Their 2010 report showed 50 million people in the U.S. (16.2%) claim to be part of Evangelical Protestant churches, while 158 million (51.2%) are unclaimed by any religious organization. By this report, more than 83.8% are not considered evangelicals (U.S. Membership Reports 2010). 

The studies that Dickerson referenced put the actual number of Evangelicals closer to 22 to 28 million. Evangelicals have lost a net total of 2.6 million church members between 2000 and 2010. Dickerson also points to studies in which Evangelicals have diminished cultural influence (Dickerson 2013, 26). 

Disciple-making is clearly needed as never before across North America. And a funded church-planting approach is not enough. A 2007 church-planting survival study among nine North American mission agencies focused on the well-funded approach used by highly-educated pastor/planters. On average, this resulted in 73 attending per church (Stetzer and Bird 2010, 145). After four years, one-third did not survive (Stetzer and Conner 2010, 2). All churches must engage the lost. 

Table 71 was formed by missionary-sending agency leaders gathering in 2000 to address the global need for rapid and self-sustaining disciple-making church-planting movements. They quickly recognized how many resources it would take to plant fully-funded churches. Even with the group’s considerable resources, they realized that what they had, even if pooled, would never be enough:

No longer could we settle for methods that just added disciples to the kingdom. Making disciples in the hardest places in the world—crossing the challenging religious, cultural, and political barriers—would take multiplication. (Willis and Snowden 2010, 184)

When introducing people to the idea of using orality in North America—even among the literate elite—they affirm the chief need is reproducibility. What is caught must be taught. When multiplication movements are a priority, then orality is a God-given tool. 

At an evangelistic event in inner-city Baltimore, I signed up to tell Bible stories. They put me in the children’s area, far from the adult and teen activities. Praise God that I led a seven-year-old to faith in Jesus, but I also walked away convinced that Bible stories and oral methods were not just for the children. 

God has already wired us for stories, poems, chants, drama, and art that we can easily pass along to others in a non-threatening way. The Reese Chronological Bible has a 32-page index listing 500 to 700 stories. God placed stories, poetry, idioms, and allegory throughout his word to help us speak into the homes of North America’s (1) immigrants and refugees, (2) people grouped in geographical clusters like multi-housing projects, colleges, and work camps, and (3) in interest-specific groups, including bikers or cowboys. Van Sanders labeled these three groupings (kinship, geographic, association) as the North American Peoples Spectrum (Sanders 2009). 

Rethinking Orality in Our Churches

Gary Coomes works with discipleship at Living Hope Wesleyan Church in Madison, South Dakota. They currently have 23 small groups, each with 8 to 12 participants. Living Hope uses oral methods in Bible studies. In an interview, Coomes said, “We have had significant interest, participation, and spiritual growth with storying.” 

Coomes got permission to share Vi’s story. She was a new follower of Jesus who has clearly grown spiritually. Vi has taken the stories and used them to prevent a friend from committing suicide, joined in with her husband to share the gospel with a delivery man, and helped another sister in Christ lead a non-believer to faith. Coomes added, “Vi has retold many of the stories from scripture, remembering God’s word. Many of us are better equipped and fruitful as we share our stories, hear their stories, and live God’s story together.”

While I was attending a Purpose Driven Church workshop in 2005, I heard Rick Warren tell attendees to place greeters at their church doors who represented the kind of person that they wanted their church to attract. If that’s 90-year-old men, then that’s okay. 

Who do you think literacy-oriented churches best attract? Studies by the University of Nebraska, the North American Sociological Association, and the University of Virginia showed that whites in North America with high school educations declined in their frequency of church attendance, while those with college degrees were the most frequent attenders today (Neroulias 2011). 

Well-meaning churches attract those who are like them whenever they orient toward those with a literate worldview preference. Pastors and most church leaders are part of North America’s literate elite. They read every day and read to learn because that’s what they prefer. 

Church leaders are typically taught to support a literate worldview. Pastors and Bible study teachers that exegete texts for their church attendees create a non-reproducible environment for church members, whether they can read or not. Members can only invite others to join them in being preached at or lectured to. They are not discipled to make disciples Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:18-20. Typically, there is a disconnect from the general population by literate worldview church leaders who rarely attract people other than those who are like themselves. Making disciples of all people, including oral learners, must become a priority. 

Ella Mitchell expressed concern for the oral expressions that have been lost among the African-North American community. In recounting changes, Mitchell wrote, “Perhaps the most damaging of all errors copied from others was the exaggerated fascination with print. It implied that there was no further need for the powerful oral tradition”  (Mitchell 1986, 65). And so others filled in the gap. “There are among blacks far more options for entertainment and movement as well as a wider range of possible relationships” (1986, 66).

Some pastors across America are beginning to bring significant spiritual growth to their congregations. Ed Litton pastors Redemption Church in North Mobile, Alabama. He said, “I was resistant to orality because I thought it would just be people sitting around pooling their ignorance. However, that hasn’t been that case at all.” Litton and two men he was discipling traveled to Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho, and received training on making small groups come alive using orality. Redemption Church is now making the transition in 45 to 50 small groups with 12 to 16 participants in each group.

Ask mature church members if they can lead someone to faith in Christ and many will provide their affirmation. Then, ask how many of those who raised their hands would know how to help these new believers to become disciple-makers. Putman, who pastors Real Life Ministries, credits the Holy Spirit for helping churches make disciples-makers:

The Holy Spirit gives us the power (Acts 1:8) to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). It’s the responsibility of every church to make disciples. I also believe that the Word tells us that it is the job of every pastor to develop a system that will equip and enable all of the people in the church to be in the relational process for discipleship. (Putnam 2010, 35) 

It may be that churches begin using orality among the newest followers of Jesus as well as among the lost. This just might be the new wine going into new wineskins that Jesus talked about (Matt. 9:17, Mark 2:22, Luke 5:37). Orality is difficult for some people to embrace because they weren’t discipled that way. Starting with new believers who can become small group leaders is important. Orality is the way to go as the new standard for disciple-making efforts. Putman framed this perspective:

When Jesus sent out His twelve disciples, He did not say, “Now go find another disciple-maker to follow.” He sent them together, usually in groups of two, working together in accountable relationships. They were mature, not perfect. It is the same for us. (2010, 148)

Jared Burwell pastors NewStory communities in Seattle, a church comprised of young adults. He uses Bible storying in their Sunday gatherings to get members talking up the Bible during the week. Burwell said, 

As part of the curriculum, we have asked our church to try to retell one of the stories during the week…. We see storying bridge gaps not only between age ranges, but across ethnic and cultural differences as well. It seems to work among the urban population in which we are situated.

Lowell Dooley leads a Bible study in Gadsden, Alabama. He attended TruthSticks Training, a Bible Storying training workshop that I lead. His group was already using Story Thru the Bible published by Walk Thru the Bible. Dooley said, 

This class has now grown in a vast age range. Our youngest is about 17 and the oldest in their 60s. These folks are engaged. The youth that have come to the class have really shined so the older adults have had to up their participation.

Dooley added: “I’ve never, in my 52 years, been in God’s word like I have since January. God has grown me exponentially in Him.”

Churches that use orality methods benefit in seven specific ways. 

1. Evangelism becomes more conversational and relevant. 

2. A commitment to make disciples streamlines and focuses church priorities.

3. It simplifies the discipleship process by asking open-ended questions rather than lecturing.

4. It multiplies small groups leading to numerical growth. Reproducibility is the key. 

5. Experiential Bible study engages more learning gates through senses and emotions.

6. Bible study is more relevant as participants live in the story. 

7. Participants are expected to grow spiritually, apply the lesson weekly, and be held accountable.

Orality in America works and is working. It’s not hypothetical. Is it a silver bullet for every situation and every person? Probably not. However, anyone serious about making disciples must consider the impact of oral methods for maximizing effectiveness. 

References

Dickerson, John S. 2013. The Great Evangelical Recession. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.

Mitchell, Ella P. 1986. “Black Nature.” In Black Church Life-Styles: Rediscovering the Black Christian Experience. Comp. Emmanuel L. McCall. Nashville, Tenn: Broadman Press.

Neroulias, Nicole. 2011. “Church Attendance Dropping among Less-educated Whites.” Huffington Post. Accessed November 11, 2015, from www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/25/church-attendance-dropping_n_937138.html.

Putman, Jim. 2010. Real Life Discipleship. Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress.

Sanders, Van. 2009. “North American Peoples Spectrum.” North American Mission Board, SBC, unpublished.

Stetzer, Ed and Warren Bird. 2010. Viral Churches. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Stetzer, Ed and Phillip Conner, 2010. “How Many Church Plants Really Survive and Why?” (Part 2 of the Church Planting Survivability and Health Study) North American Mission Board, SBC.

“U.S. Membership Reports.” 2010. The Association of Religion Data Archives. Accessed November 11, 2015, from www.thearda.com/rcms2010/r/u/rcms2010_99_US_name_2010.asp.

Willis, Avery T. Jr. and Mark Snowden. 2010. Truth That Sticks: Communicating Velcro Truths in a Teflon World. Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress.

. . . .

Rev. W. Mark Snowden leads Snowden Ministries International, which conducts orality workshops, provides Bible studies for small groups that use Bible storying, and trains laity to plant churches. He has served primarily in Southern Baptist Convention roles and presently as director of missional leadership for the Cincinnati Area Baptist Association. He blogs on http://truthsticks.us and tweets at @wmarksnowden.

EMQ, Vol. 52, No. 3 pp. 318-320. Copyright  © 2016 Billy Graham Center for Evangelism.  All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMQ editors.

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