Literacy Levels & Bible Story Telling

Bible Stories are not simply for people who are unable to read. They are also for people who, at first, are unmotivated to read or whose reading is not at "seminary textbook level".

Here is the experience of a former missionary to Honduras and why he switched from a "seminary curriculum" model and a "textbook" type of training material. It's written in the style he subsequently adopted. (Here's a longer discussion in article format.)

As a result he made two fundamental changes.

He used Bible Storytelling, but also used literature that had two characteristics:

1. Focused on a single topic per booklet presented in simple language.

2. Each booklet is also illustrated to help communicate. The illustrations are geared to adults instead of children.

Sadly, there are few resources that put the reformed catechisms and confessions into such a simple form. That is not always the case - you may wish to visit the website of Vic Lockman. He has illustrated the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the Children's Catechism, and created summary pictures for the Westminster Confession.

If any reader knows about other modern illustrated versions of other reformed catechisms and confessions, I'd like to know about them. Use the email address I've posted.

We tend to imitate the teaching we received. As seminary graduates we attempt to make the church into a small seminary and the format remains the same down to the details.

Now, we have an obligation to communicate the same truths hopefully taught us in seminary. But we also have an obligation to teach in a way that our hearers can understand and apply.

Notably Jesus and Paul trained people using an apprenticeship model as you see reading the Gospel's and Acts and read about in 2 Timothy 2:2.

Jesus especially worked with people not noted for their scholarship. Peter evidently shook his head at some of the things Paul wrote (2 Peter 3:15,16) after years of learning from our Lord and serving as an Apostle. From this we learn that it's possible to learn enough to be used as an Apostle and still not be able to comprehend everything a "seminary" graduate has to say (Paul)!

Lest some people write these accommodations off as "Arminian" practices , let me quote you something from their author, George Patterson: "In any one [mission] field, God's sovereignty is the determining factor. If there are not people chosen from the foundation of the world to be conformed to the image of His Son, no matter what we do there will be no growth."