Archive
Orality: The Embodied Word in the Age of AI: Part 2
Orality, understood as communication that relies on the spoken and embodied word, is at the very heart of both the constructive and destructive manifestations of emerging AI applications as new software and platforms seek to emulate human communication.
Orality: The Embodied Word in the Age of AI – Part 1
The embodied component of orality deserves fresh consideration, specifically as so many of us gathered in-person in Incheon at the Fourth Lausanne Congress. While thousands participated online thanks to the gift of digital technology, what made the Congress...
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The engaging story of the Malila Scriptures
It can be easy to think that once people have the word of God in their own language, the work of Bible translation is done. That could be the case for the Malila community in Tanzania, who celebrated the arrival of their printed and audio New Testament in 2...
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God’s Word to sign language users
Learning to read is a very different process if you don’t use sound. Sign languages like ASL are not word-for-word translations of written languages like English – the vocabulary, grammar, and the way you form a sentence are quite different. For this reason...
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One country, five months, five New Testament launches
Exciting events in Tanzania in the coming months reflect how the pace of Bible translation is accelerating.
Youth voices in Lebanon
Lebanon, Our Story seeks to tap into the power of storytelling in order to write a new, shared story for Lebanon, one based on openness, transparency, and accountability. The project was formed in response to poor civic engagement and social erosion driven ...
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No Text? No Problem. The Advent of Oral Bible Translation
Everyone needs God’s Word, so Faith Comes By Hearing works hard to expand the audience around Scripture’s life-saving message. How? By recording and freely providing Audio Bibles in the world’s languages.
The Tablet of your Heart
Houston, TX (ANS) – A new study reveals how Bible reading has declined greatly in North America over recent years. “Spending time in the Word of God” is a phrase that has been around for some time.
Water and the Word, for Life, In Jesus’ name
There is much speculation and there are many theories about the origin and history of water on earth. However, for those of us who believe in the authority and accuracy of the Scriptures, we can accept the fact that God created water, as He is the Creator o...
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Leadership for Life
Houston, TX (ANS) – The most important aspect to consider in relation to leadership is leading others to a relationship with Christ. There are many factors to take into consideration when we think of effective leadership, but only a few have eternal benefi...
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How God Transformed a Community
Orality Training for Trainers in Ethiopia HOUSTON, TX (ANS) —Over a period of about five years, Living Water International, in partnership with local churches, conducted Orality Training with more than 1,200 pastors, evangelists, missionaries and church pla...
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I can hear you
Yohannes, Addis, Teunis and Joseph (L-R). (Credit Teunis van Woudenbergh.) Addis, Yohannes, and Joseph had normal childhoods in rural Ethiopia. They enjoyed going to school with friends and playing sports. But that was interrupted when they fell ill one day...
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Seeing God’s glory in business
Kibir is an SIM Ethiopia ministry that uses missional business to make a kingdom impact, primarily through consultation and training. With Ethiopia’s high unemployment rates and pressure in the marketplace, they’re equipping Christians who are professionals...
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Waves of Hope flood Loja on FM radio once more
After five years of silence, Waves of Hope radio is now back on 94.1 FM radio in Ecuador’s Loja province. Several of us on the SIM Ecuador ministry team witnessed the change in the antennae on the mountains of Loja and the technician yell, “We are on the ai...
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Isolated believers: North Africa
"As Christians, we always felt few and lonely. Now, as part of the SAT-7 family, we are excited to support the growth of the Church and its ability to witness to Christ," shares Samia Kessai, SAT-7 Producer and Presenter in Algeria. Samia joined Open Studio...
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Why this emphasis on accuracy?
Is it really so important that the retelling of the story is exact, word for word? We believe it is! What if someone is telling this story to a group of traditional, oral learners? They may be accustomed to the recitations of the dervish, the griot or the s...
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Exiled Mexican Believers Keep Gospel Legacy Alive
That’s Sebastian Perez’s blunt yet understated explanation of how he comes to be writing on behalf of his community of Mayan evangelicals in southern Mexico. For most readers, it’s startling to hear about the forced deconversions, beatings, sexual abuse and...
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Audio and Video Tools for Oral People
From the time our smartphone alarms wake us in the morning until our heads hit our pillows at night, we are immersed in the ever-expanding world of technology. We benefit from technology in many ways, and without it, many of us would find it impossible to f...
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Developing a Prayer, Care, Share Lifestyle
In the summer of 1982, while on a road trip across the state of Kansas, I came upon a roadblock at a construction project. A flagman approached my car and explained that there would be about a 10-minute delay. After a brief exchange, I asked the worker, “...
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Orality: An Infographic – Lausanne Movement
The Lausanne Movement has published a new Orality Infographic for your use.
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Connecting for Change: Worth and Value in the Kingdom of God
There is a lot of talk these days about inequality and the need for more fairness and equality. People often get the idea that their worth or value is based on their salary, possessions, title or position in an organization or society. However, God’s Kingdo...
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Samuel Chiang on Orality and Missions Today
In this podcast, JD Payne interviews Samuel Chiang, former Executive Director of the International Orality Network. We talk about communicating with oral learners, how mission agencies are embracing oral methods, and his latest book (co-edited with Grant Lo...
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Interview with Jerry Wiles
In this podcast Ted Esler, president of Missio Nexus, interviews Jerry Wiles from the International Orality Network. He explains the big picture behind oral communication strategies and how it is impacting missions today.
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The Continuing and Growing Learning Journey in the Orality Movement
In a recent Orality Consultation and Advanced Training in East Africa, I was once again reminded of the power of networks and collaborative learning. The focus of this training was on developing leaders for Oral Cultures, in ways that would be reproducible ...
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Connecting for Change: The Multi-Faceted Aspects of the Orality Movement
I first came across the book “Oral Communication of the Scriptures: Insights from African Oral Art,” by Herbert Klem, and started hearing about Orality, Oral Cultures and Oral Learners back in the 1980s. It was a seemingly obscure conversation among a few m...
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Connecting for Change: Communicating Truth by All Means, Anywhere, Anytime
I had a three-hour flight between two African countries, and I was seated by two ladies from East Asia. I was reading my New Testament and one of the ladies asked me, “Is that a dictionary?” I replied, “No, it’s a New Testament.” She asked, “What is a New T...
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Connecting for Change: The Orality Movement – More than Storytelling
At about 8 am on Tuesday morning, March 22, 2016, at the airport in Brussels, Belgium, a terrorist bombing took place. Two Living Water International (LWI) co-workers and I had just landed a couple of hours earlier, en-route from Liberia, West Africa, on ou...
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Connecting for Change: The Phenomena of Paradigm Shifts
A modern phenomena that we often hear about these days is something called a “Paradigm Shift.” In 1962, Thomas Kuhn, an American physicist, historian and philosopher introduced the term “Paradigm Shift.” While he used the term in the context of scientific a...
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Connecting for Change: Making Known the Righteous Acts of God
At about 8 am on Tuesday morning, March 22, 2016, at the airport in Brussels, Belgium, a terrorist bombing took place. Two Living Water International (LWI) co-workers and I had just landed a couple of hours earlier, en-route from Liberia, West Africa, on ou...
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Is Orality (the use of oral methods) a solid Biblical approach?
Matthew says that everywhere Jesus went he told stories. Sitting on a cold jail house floor with 14 men around me, I gave them three verses on ‘forgiveness’ but they could not remember the first one. I then switched to telling the story of Jos...
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