Use Your Words: How Oral Bible Storying Can Serve Your Family

Looking at the car dashboard clock, I had just enough time to read to my boys before pulling out of the driveway. I flipped through my Bible to Mark 4, and read the parable about the sower who casts seed that fell on the path, on rocky ground, among thorns, and on good soil.

Setting the Bible on the passenger seat, I shifted our vehicle into reverse and headed toward my kids’ school.

“Who wants to go first?” I asked, glancing in the rearview mirror.

“Me! Me!” my preschooler squealed from the back seat. He launched into telling the story until he got stuck.

“What happens next?” I prompted. My preschooler turned to his seven-year-old brother.

“Other seeds fell among thorns,” his sibling prompted.

“Oh yeah,” my four-year-old said, and then confidently resumed. When he had finished, my oldest son launched into the parable. Once both boys had taken a turn, I told the story. Whenever I couldn’t remember a spot, one of them jumped in to nudge me back on course.

Incorporating Bible storying into discipling my children came from hearing how missionaries sometimes utilized this tool on the field. What started as a desire to memorize Scripture together and redeem the time in the car on the way to school, has transformed into some of my favorite moments with my kids each week.

Why Oral Learning?

According to the International Orality Network, oral learners comprise 80% of the world’s population and navigate life best when information is delivered verbally. By contrast, Americans are vastly literate which means we tend to navigate life better when we can read information. In the days of Jesus, the culture was also mostly made up of oral learners. Jesus often spoke in parables to the crowds he taught, and the letters written by the apostles in the New Testament were intended to be read aloud to congregations. Even John’s Revelation was penned with the expectation to read “aloud the words” (Rev. 1:3).

“Ministry leaders have recognized the value of taking a verbal approach to sharing and teaching the Bible.”

While many literate endeavors have been made to reach oral cultures, ministry leaders have recognized the value of taking a verbal approach to sharing and teaching the Bible. Oral Bible Storying meets the needs of cultures who are oral learners—whose worldviews and principles are shaped by singing, chanting, or speaking—in ways written text cannot. The Word of God can be carried to the most remote locations or busiest street corners when the speaker knows it by heart and is trained to communicate it in an easy-to-pass-along verbal form in a particular cultural tradition.

Around the world, Christian ministries have implemented Oral Bible Storying to craft Bible story sets for specific cultures. Each Scripture story set in a people group’s native language will address spiritual needs of that culture, what it means for them to follow Jesus, and sequentially covers the big picture story of the Bible. It can often take three years to arrange and craft around 70 stories to share the gospel to a specific group. One group that’s doing this work well all over the world is OneStory.

Many many societies, even the well educated, prefer oral learning. In fact, children also learn language and social cues in this way. I discovered through doing Bible storying with my own kids that oral learning worked well for them. I also found myself able to retain what I memorized with greater ease when we used these techniques.

From Around the World to the Carpool Line

While our family doesn’t use a full-on Oral Bible Storying approach to learning Scripture, we have benefited from implementing some aspects of it. Learning portions of Scripture equips us to have the Word ready to share with others whenever opportunities arise, and provides sections of the Bible to meditate on in free moments, even if we don’t have a Bible handy.

When using this approach, we select portions of Scripture best suited for our family’s needs. We’ve found that New Testament narrative passages work best. Last spring when I tested this out with my kids, I decided to work through the parables. I wanted to carve out five minutes of the car ride for Scripture memory, but I also wanted an even playing field as we memorized the Word together.

Here’s an overview of what a week pressing into one particular story looked like for us.

On day one I read the selected text aloud before leaving our house. We then took turns re-telling the story as best we could, filling out as many details as possible. If we forgot a part, someone else would remind the speaker what came next, but wouldn’t give more than a simple hint. We focused less on every single detail, but tried to cover the main points in the correct order.

For day two I read the text again before starting our drive. Then we each took turns repeating the story as best we could including all the main points. We began working on more of the details, and also started to dive into the meaning of the story. I purposely didn’t correct every minor mistake, because I wanted my boys to think about the story throughout the week. It’s also important for them to know they can read and understand the Bible without an adult holding their hand every step of the way.

Day three was very similar to yesterday. I read the text aloud, and then we took turns sharing the story back to each other (them first). If there were details missing, we’d fill in the gaps for each other before continuing. We continued to look at the meaning of the text, but I didn’t spend a ton of time giving them direct teaching or application. Again, I want them thinking about the text through the day so they can start to draw conclusions of their own.

Days four and five are where things start to take flight. I read the text and then we each retold the story, and at this point we’re all close to nailing it. Then we talked through the meaning again, which is beginning to become more clear to them as well. We wrap up by praying together about what God is teaching us.

By the end of the week my kids would often come to a clear understanding of the story without my intervention. I could jump in and affirm when they were on the right track, or help them out if something wasn’t making sense. Every family will likely have a different experience, so adapt to what works well for you as you lead and what your kids can manage. Occasionally we’d miss a day, but even in those weeks the time we spent reading and re-telling together was still fruitful.

Storying the Bible is a simple, fruitful way to explore the Bible with your family and help them hide God’s word in their heart. Using these techniques with our family also spurs us to pray for the gospel to spread to the ends of the earth, and inspires us to always be ready to share truth in meaningful ways with those God brings across our path, including our children. I hope your family finds it a helpful discipleship tool as well.