Orality Network
The Kuy people have an oral culture.
They have a very high rate of illiteracy, and even
those who do read, do so at a very low functional level.
The ways of learning and passing on information, even
thought processes, in an oral culture are very
different from those of a literate culture. So, we need
to think very deliberately how to communicate the good
news of Jesus in a way that will make sense to people in
an oral culture. In Cambodia, not just Kuy people but
the majority of the people are oral learners.
As a result we have gotten
involved in an Orality Network, hoping to stimulate
thought and strategic materials for the spread of the
gospel to oral learners. We are working with others to
try to bring some Bible Story-telling training to
Cambodia for church planters, to translate materials for
such training and to explore ways that drama, proverbs,
radio, video and other non-literate methods of
communication can be used effectively in the churches in
Cambodia. Having such resources in Khmer will be a good
step towards producing them in Kuy
Please Pray:
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For the Orality Network to be effective in
stimulating a new way of thinking about how to
communicate and in partnering together to
produce tools and training for the Cambodian church.
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For the Cambodian church to embrace a new way of
thinking. It is not easy to change a church culture
which has been taught to highly esteem a literate
approach to "church" which can cause
people to look down on non-literate methods.
Especially pray that Cambodian church leaders would
catch the vision for an approach to evangelism and
teaching that will meet the majority of people where
they are in their oral culture.
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For details to come together for story-telling
training in Khmer, including translation of
materials.