Abstract: Tom Steffen discusses how to shift from traditional systematic theology to a story-based approach. He highlights the importance of biblical characters in teaching theology, emphasizing that characters drive the narrative and help convey theological truths through their experiences. This approach, known as character theology, engages readers by connecting biblical stories to human experiences, making theology more relatable and impactful.

This article was published in EMQ 61:3 (Jul-Aug 2025).

by Ezekiel A. Ajibade

How can expository preaching, rooted in a textual analysis of Scripture, be effectively utilized in oral cultures? In Expository Preaching in Africa, Ezekiel A. Ajibade engages this challenge directly, offering practical techniques for integrating African oral elements – such as myths, proverbs, folklore, dance, drama, poetry, and storytelling – into preaching that is both biblical and African. Alongside numerous examples and tools, Ajibade provides a rich overview of the nature of orality, the history and development of African preaching, and the reason biblical exposition must be central to gospel proclamation. He reminds us that it is the word of God, incarnated among us, that has the power to transform lives and revitalize nations. Contextualized expository preaching is not, therefore, one technique to be utilized among many; it is, rather, the heart of biblical teaching and the future of the African church.

While contributing significantly to studies in contextualization and homiletics, this book is immediately applicable to practitioners, especially African preachers and those working in oral contexts.

Abstract: Larry Dinkins discovered, after trying a highly literate TEE approach for Bible study and a western approach to preaching, that the Thai were in fact “preferred oral learners” who responded best to the narrative sections of Scripture. Following a major fail during an orality workshop, he went on a quest to understand how best to communicate to concrete relational learners like the Thai. Dinkins has since been involved with one hundred Simply the Story workshops in ten countries, and has settled on a three-pronged narrative preaching approach that has produced gratifying results with the added benefit of being easily replicated.

This article was published in Mission Round Table 19:2 (May-Aug 2024): 20-28.

We are excited to share a collection of resources on the theme of Narrative Theology, compiled to complement the OralityTalks Webinar featuring Ezekiel Ajibade held on July 9, 2025.

Check out the recording of the webinar.

More resources on Narrative on GOMAP and the corresponding training materials at Orality.Academy.

Videos

A Likely Story: The Perils and Power of Narrative in Preaching

by Thomas G. Long

Watch on YouTube

Options for Biblical Preaching in the Narrative Mode

by Eugene Lowry

Watch on YouTube

The Expository-Narrative Method of Preaching

by J. R. Miller

Watch on YouTube

by Larry W. Caldwell

How to Read and Interpret Scripture Across Cultures

How can believers across cultures faithfully read and apply Scripture in a way that honors both the biblical text and their unique cultural contexts? In The Bible in Culture, Larry Caldwell introduces ethnohermeneutics—a revolutionary yet biblical approach to reading Scripture with, rather than for, the world.

Drawing from decades of experience living overseas, Caldwell demonstrates that every culture has its own tools for understanding meaning and shows how God uses these to communicate the truth of his word. This approach is rooted in observing how Jesus, Paul, and others in the early church interpreted Scripture and in following their examples. Through real-life illustrations, interactive activities, and case studies, readers will discover how they can also read and interpret God’s word in their own cultures. This book will challenge your assumptions about the interpretive task, encouraging and equipping you to rethink how the Bible can be understood across every people group in various cross-cultural, multicultural, and multigenerational contexts.

Formal Learning

Formal learning is learning typically provided by an education or training institution, structured (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support) and leading to certification. Formal learning is intentional from the learner’s perspective.

Holistic Communication:
Teaching like Jesus

Training in orality, ranging from workshops to webinars, specific training for organizations, and advanced academic programs.

Visit Orality.Academy

ThM/PhD in Orality Studies

This program is the first of its kind in the world and addresses the growing demand for high-quality orality scholarship, research, and practice. It pairs global orality experts with Majority-World practitioners and scholars to ensure the best contextual, applicable, and diverse learning experience and research.

Visit AGST

Presenting Orality in Academic Contexts

by Larry Dinkins

This paper was originally presented at the Hong Kong 2013 ION Consultation. It gives insight into the challenges involved in incorporating a truly oral approach within a highly literate, propositional, and Western academic environment.

Download the article

Non-formal Learning

Non-formal learning is learning which takes place through planned activities (in terms of learning objectives, learning time) where some form of learning support is present (e.g. learner-teacher relationships).

Informal Learning

Informal learning is learning from daily activities related to work, family or leisure which is not organised or structured in terms of objectives, time or learning support; it may be unintentional from the learner’s perspective.

1. Definitions taken from ECTE‘s Recognition Guidelines. ︎

by Donald Barger & Grand Lovejoy

Don Barger and Grant Lovejoy didn’t set out to write just another book. They conducted hundreds of interviews with people living and working in dozens of some of the world’s largest cities. They sought to learn how people living in cities obtain information that shapes who they are and what they believe. Over the past few years, there has been a fundamental shift in how people consume and process information in urban environments.

Today’s urban world is media-saturated, and the way we communicate is evolving. It’s no longer about books and print. It’s about tapping into the networks people use every day. This book will show you how to reach those who prefer conversations over reading. Discover the power of oral communication and how to connect the gospel message to the hearts of urban audiences. Get ready to transform your ministry with insights that matter, even if you don’t read every word of this book.

Recognizing that many people prefer to obtain information through media, each chapter of Unreadable includes a QR code to help the reader quickly grasp each chapter’s key points. Just scan and learn.

by Romerlito Macalinao

Foreword by Cameron Armstrong

While UNESCO heralds “Literacy Rates Continue to Rise from One Generation to the Next” (Fact Sheet No. 45 September 2017), there remains in the world a preference for nonliterate means of information processing and communication. Such people belong to oral societies that exist both in highly urban centers to the remotest islands and jungles of the world. These people are able to read but prefer to acquire, process, and communicate information by listening and/or watching. On the other hand, there are people who are unable to read and do not see the need to learn how to read, but still go about with life and continue to thrive since their earliest ancestors for centuries. In this global context, how is Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations to be accomplished? While the field of Orality Missiology has been in existence for several decades with significant milestones in the work of missions and education, the pairing of Orality with neuroscience is a trailblazing and emerging field of inquiry and a fertile seedbed among innovators in theological education and strategists in Bible translation and the wider work of evangelization. This book will illustrate firsthand experiences on how the field of orality and neuroscience provide a critical pedagogy in advancing the Great Commission among oral societies.