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How to Run an Oral Gathering of Believers (Church)

Recently we visited a church and tried to run a meeting without printed words, or rather a meeting with oral worship. Here's some advice on how to run such a gathering:

  • Sing songs that everyone knows without printed or projected words
  • Any videos used need to have audio as well as subtitles, or better still no text or subtitles for the audio
  • Bible stories are told from the heart - not memorised from a Bible but crafted naturally (try listening to several audio versions, or watching several videos to help you remember all the points, then retell it in your own way and record yourself on your smart phone as you do so)
  • Get people to retell the story in their own way in pairs (if someone is really talented at this they might volunteer to tell it to the whole group?)
  • Ask people who they are planning to tell the story to by the next gathering
  • The sermon doesn't use a PowerPoint, or if it does make sure you don't have any words in it
  • If you're in a liturgical church stream try to use only parts of the liturgy that people know from heart
This may seem to be a bit artificial but there are several benefits:
  1. It helps us imagine the way church works in much of the two-thirds (developing) world
  2. It makes our gatherings more attractive to those within our society who are oral-preference rather than highly literate (being handed a pile of books as you enter church is largely a thing of the past, which is a good thing, but we still have printed notices, or banner notices on screens, and project words for most activities) i.e. it provides a bridge for people to cross to greater understanding of the good news - which is what it's all about
If you would like extra help with this try contacting someone in Wycliffe Bible Translators for some advice. Or reply to me below:

David

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