He came to her with a simple request, but the implications would be huge. Hallie, leading our first School of Storying (SOS) in Cameroon just two months ago, tells the story:
“God told me to ask you something,” one of our translators told me. “For a long time, I’ve been bothered that we have no real worship songs in our language. When the missionaries came through our area, they taught us songs in French, and those are the songs we sing today. Our mentality is that God doesn’t speak our language. But I think we should be able to worship God in our own language, so I’ve translated some of the French songs. Would you record me singing them so that we can worship in our heart language?”
We crammed five people and a keyboard into our sweltering makeshift recording studio, a tiny 2×8 foot space. With sweat running down their faces, they raised their voices in praise to God in their heart language. I felt so privileged to be there to record. Eight songs later, the translator thanked me profusely. “You have no idea how appreciated these songs will be. They will change everything.”
I adore that my job is to give people the opportunity to realize that God speaks to them in their heart language-that they don’t have to have a fancy education to talk to God and learn about Him!
As the fifteen SOS participants diligently worked to develop Bible stories in the Ewondo language, we witnessed the impact the stories were having on their own lives, too.
“Listening to all these stories really touched me,” one man, Moses, explained. “The stories came alive-as if they affect us still today. I’ve been waiting 30 years for a training like this. Now, after just three weeks, I have all these stories. I can’t tell you how much that means to me.” Another participant, Luke, exclaimed, “When I listen to these stories, I’m really struck that I’m part of this spiritual legacy of prophets and kings, taking God’s rescue plan to the world.”
We have had an incredible ministry here! More than 1800 people heard stories over three weeks, and 308 story groups were started in this area. They plan on starting another 88 groups over the next three months, on top of continuing the groups they’ve already started!
Thank you for praying for Hallie and her SOS team in Cameroon! Your gifts and support are helping us take His stories to people who have never heard them.
Almost 7,000 languages exist in the world today. More than 1,800 have no Bible, New Testament, or any portion of Scripture. StoryRunners exists to help these unreached language groups hear the gospel in a format they understand: oral Bible storytelling. Our vision is to help people in 500 unreached language groups become followers of Christ in a growing community of faith by the year 2025.
What are you doing this summer? If you are 18-24 years old, join StoryRunners for a fun-filled 10-days camping and hiking in the Rocky Mountains as we reach out to other hikers by sharing Bible stories to spark spiritual conversations. Learn how to tell your story, how to listen to another person’s story, and how to tell God’s story. It’s from July 25 – August 3, 2017.
StoryRunners is a ministry of Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ). We launched in 2003 to help reach oral learners with the greatest story ever told, especially to those who have never heard the gospel in their own language. We began as a founding member of the OneStory partnership with a vision to accelerate the work of Bible story development among unreached language groups. Since then, we have continued to partner with mission agencies around the world to reach people with the good news of the gospel.
Learn more how you can volunteer or help support the ministry of StoryRunners.
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