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.

An Orality Primer for Missionaries by Dr. Daniel Sheard is an introduction for missionary practitioners and church mission teams in how to disciple individuals and groups that have oral learning preferences. It explains the foundational principles of Chronological Bible Storying and Oral Patterned Drilling. For many, the how-to of oral accountability and spoken mastery is not part of Western culture. This book makes missions-related teaching in cross-cultural environments accessible to the average person.