Orality, What Is That?

The main purpose for our visit to Papua New Guinea again was twofold: to engage again with the Gobasi church and to teach Orality workshops. Although the adjustment back to the heat has been hard on us both, we feel that the Lord has blessed our time here in PNG. The Gobasi church has enjoyed having us back, and our old friends love coming to see and talk with us. We also get the chance to engage some with the younger generations as well. 

The orality workshops have gone well, and we have completed two of them. In those two workshops, four language groups attended – Gobasi, Samo, Kubo, and Aekyom. Six pastors from the first three language groups attended. Our medical worker here, who is from the Aekyom tribe, has been attending as well. In addition we invited one of the Gobasi tribe's grade 12 graduates to attend.

What is orality? Orality is a story-method of telling God’s word accurately. It is another method of communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ through the use of Bible stories. It is especially effective with oral-based societies. A Bible story is told and repeated until it is learned. Then the story is discussed by everyone to learn the spiritual truth that is presented in each story. (E.g. What is God teaching us? What does God want me to do/change in my life? Etc.) Many truths from God are revealed during the discussion time as everyone ponders the story. Because PNG is mostly an oral-based society, storytelling is very much a part of this culture—sitting around the fire and passing on information through stories.

The first planning session with the six pastors.

Two Samo pastors. Recording one of the stories in the Samo language.

In our time here at Yehebi, Dale wanted to give an overview of God’s path to redemption:  God’s perfect creation, the fall into sin and its progression, and then God’s pathway for redemption through Jesus:  Christ’s birth, ministry, and death and resurrection. There is still a lack of understanding  of  the major truths of the gospel: people’s severed relationship with God; why we can do nothing to repair that relationship;  the reason why only Jesus can heal it through people’s faith alone. There will be about 30 stories from the Bible to chronicle these truths. 

             In the first workshops we simply called Beginnings: Creation, first sin, and sin’s punishment. The second workshop was Sin’s Progression: Cain & Abel, Noah, Tower of Babel, and summaries of Abraham and David. In the last two workshops we will cover stories from the life of Christ.

               I remember as a child growing up in church and hearing stories in Sunday school from God’s word. Many of those stories stuck with me throughout childhood.  In many ways, this is similar, but with the added emphasis on learning the story and discussing the story with the purpose of repeating the story to others who haven’t heard it. 

              The first two workshops were both two weeks long. By the end of that time everyone was exhausted, including us...and there were many things for us to do in the two intervening weeks! Through circumstances and God’s leading, we felt the need to change the format. The last workshops will be one week on and one week off—working only with the church at Yehebi.

               Continue to pray for us as we prepare for the next workshop on our return to Yehebi. There are still many stories we want to tell! Thanks for your prayers. I will close with a verse we chose many years ago as we left for PNG:

"…Those who have never been told of Him will see,

 and those who have never heard will understand,”

(Romans 15:21, ESV).

God has more than kept that promise! 

Back row left - right: Pastor Ameo (Samo), Pastor Kilas (Gobasi), Pastor Willie (Kubo), Medical worker Puse (Aekyom),

Front row left-right: Deacon Yaya (Kubo), Wobin (Grade 12 grad, Gobasi), Pastor Soli (Samo)

At the end of the first workshop, we had everyone over for a meal. (That was a BIG pot of rice!) They had a great time when Dale showed them old photos of a trek that he and John Fletcher took into all their areas in 1982. Those pictures sparked much conversation, and it was fun to watch them pour over the computer to see each face. In fact unknown to us, one of those young men on that first trek (now, the deacon from Suabi) attended the workshop!! Pray for these men. They have the ability for God to really use them in the North Fly area. 

(C) 2016 Carin G. LeRoy