Orality Breakouts – Section 3 – An Unfinished Story

The following is a chapter from the book ‘Orality Breakouts – Using Heart Language to Transform Hearts‘.  A chapter will be posted here each week.

Section 3 – An Unfinished Story

Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. – Matthew 13:38

Time present and time past are both perhaps in time future and time future contained in time past. – T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

In the last section, we introduced you to orality strategies in current practice. We again posed group processing questions, including questions on what you need to let go of, who else needs to be involved, large costs that may need to be adopted, and how to consider the heart language in your setting to communicate change.

Is there a collective consciousness about orality within your organization already? Are there colleagues you know who are using orality strategies and are seeing fruitful results? Will you consider learning from them or supporting them?

The following chapters are written by practitioners in the orality movement who represent different organizations working in different specialties. They have felt a leading to go forward and work within a supportive environment and are keen to adopt change where that means greater effectiveness and fruitfulness. The links between prayer, worldview, and storytelling in a people’s heart language1 – which you’ll read about in the following chapters–are integral to the success of any oral approach to mission. You’ll see how orality touches and changes many disciplines that come together to form a holistic mission strategy. These include music, arts, media, HIV/AIDS, micro-business, and church planting, among others. All are anchored in prayer and assessed through evaluative lessons learned. It is remarkable how God is working and how previously unengaged and unreached people groups are prayed for and, as a result, engaged.

As you read this section, think about your organization and the people who want to try orality or who are already experimenting with orality. How would you and a small group create a safe environment of a nest and the right condition for growth?

Step inside these practices and read how God is using these to grow His kingdom.

Notes

1 Rick Brown, “Language Matters Like Bright Sunlight: The Benefits of Communicating in Heart Language,” International Journal of Frontier Missions 26 (Summer 2009): 85- 88 (accessed 14 July 2010).