Scripture Stories Share Forgiveness
March 28,2012 by Wycliffe Bible Translators USA
Many Bibleless people groups are oral societies,processing life lessons through music,drama,and story,rather than the analytical,literate methods that many western cultures use. Wycliffe works withOneStory—a global partnership withCampus Crusade for Christ, Pioneers International, Trans World Radio,andYouth With A Mission.
OneStory trains mother-tongue speakers to learn and share stories from God’s Word within their community. They learn twenty-five to fifty stories from key Scripture passages that focus on God’s plan of redemption,from Creation to the promise of Christ’s return. High quality audio recordings and back translations* of the stories are archived to ensure accuracy over time.
In South Asia,mother-tongue storytellers work regularly with nonbelievers to test story comprehension and if they’ve maintained their accuracy after being retold. This creates an opportunity for non-believers to interact intimately with the Good News in a non-confrontational way. One mother-tongue storyteller named six people who believed in Christ as a result of the stories they tested.
Another storyteller reported that during the testing,one non-believer said,“Really,I am a sinner. Jesus,forgive me.” After the testing was done,he added,“This is a very good story,and I believe on Jesus.” This sort of reaction is a natural response to people hearing a story about Jesus forgiving someone and then the hearer applying that story to their own life
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We are grateful for the gracious donors to Wycliffe’s Worldwide Project Fund who make projects like this one possible.
*Back translation is the process of translating something that has already been translated into a foreign language back to the original language.
