It is estimated that four billion people in the world are oral communicators. This means that those people can’t, don’t, or won’t take in new information and communicate through a literate paradigm.
Orality is reliance on the spoken word rather than the written word. For most of us, this is a major challenge to global disciple making. Even when we don’t communicate via a written medium, many of us still think, process, and speak as highly literate people. For the highly literate, effective communication to the oral learner is not as simple as only speaking a message.
Throughout the Scriptures, it is clear that simply hearing words is not sufficient for repentance and faith in Christ. There must be understanding. Yes, faith comes by hearing (Rom. 10:17), but such hearing involves recognition of the propositional truth and story that is shared. Belief in the heart (Rom. 10:9) is not possible without knowledge. Therefore we read of Paul seeking prayer for opportunities to proclaim the gospel but with a desire that it should be communicated with clarity (Col. 4:3–4). While it is important for us to communicate the truth of the Scriptures to others, we must make sure our audiences understand what they hear—or read. Providing them with words, either on a page or verbally, is not sufficient. We must communicate in a contextually appropriate way that connects with our hearers.
From Gutenberg until today, the Christian faith has particularly walked on literate legs. The pressure for us today involves communicating (faithfully and effectively) the faith once for all delivered to the saints in a world that often communicates differently than those of us educated and raised as literate learners.
Pressure Points: Twelve Global Issues Shaping the Face of the Church is scheduled for release July 16. You may pre-order it here in paperback, Kindle, or audio versions.
Previous posts in this series:
Pressure Point #10 Health Care
Pressure Point #9 Children and Youth
Pressure Point #8 Growth of Cities
Pressure Point #6 Globalization
Pressure Point #5 International Migration
Pressure Point #4 Pluralism and the Plurality of Faiths
Pressure Point #3 Growth of the Majority World Church
Pressure Point #2 The West as a Mission Field
Pressure Point #1 Unreached Peoples
(Image credit Microsoft Office)
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