There are several reasons why Bible stories should be used even though other forms of witness and discipling presentations could be used.
The first reason is simply that many of the unreached peoples of the world live in oral cultures where people share news orally, learn new things orally, and teach others orally. In these cultures stories are utilized as a form in which the important things may be easily remembered in the stories. Oral culture people prefer stories as their medium of instruction even if they could learn by other means. They often describe people by telling stories about them. One way to teach about God is to tell stories about God and His work. The stories may be told and retold by those who hear them.
Another reason that many prefer oral culture is that they cannot read and write. While some in the culture may read and write, others, typically older adults, cannot read or write at all. Even the readers may be handicapped in what they can read and understand. Overcoming the literacy barrier then is one powerful reason to use stories to inform and instruct a people.
In some instances the Bible may be available in the regional market language that is used for trade and travel but not in the spoken heart language of the people. This means that many religious vocabulary words are not known or not commonly used by the people.
Another important reason that stories are used in a Bible storying strategy for evangelism particularly is that either of resistance to traditional evangelistic presentations or outright hostility to the Gospel. There is no intent to trick the listeners into hearing what they do not want to hear. But if the Bible stories are entertaining to them and they are attentive to hearing them, the Holy Spirit can use what the people are hearing to convict them of sin and need for a Savior.
Another reason for using Bible storying is that of giving the people an Oral Bible. What is an oral Bible? It is a Bible in stories , proverbs and memory verses that the people can remember and retell to others. It becomes a living Bible in their hearts. Incidentally, we all have an oral Bible of sorts in our hearts as we can recall a significant amount of the Bible orally from the stories we have heard as children, sermons we have heard and our own Bible reading and study.
Written by an IMB missionary whose identity will be protected
