TWR has a dream and a vision - to broadcast the good news of Jesus Christ to all tribes, tongues and nations.
In the developing world, an enormous problem to overcome is the high rate of illiteracy among the peoples. According to the World Factbook/Wikipedia* countries such as Burkina Faso have a literate population of 12.8%. In Benin only 33.6% of its population is literate and Ethiopia has a 41.5% literacy rate (mostly males). The statistics are staggering.
One of TWR’s projects seems to be just the answer to this stumbling block, namely the Orality programmes. John Ragsdale, the Special Focus co-ordinator for TWR Africa explained how the Orality programmes run.
GOAL
The goal of the Orality programmes ultimately is to create an “Oral Bible” that can be transmitted and communicated from radio-to-listener or person-to-person. This will allow the illiterate to understand and respond to God’s Word. TWR has partnered with SIL (Summer Institute for Linguistics), YWAM (Youth with a Mission), Campus Crusade for Christ and various other organisations to reach that specific part of the population who need Christ but are unable to read a Bible.
METHOD
Cultural world-views are identified and stories from the Bible (Genesis to the early church) are then woven around that cultural view to bring across the message of redemption in Christ.
The Orality Project focuses on producing high-quality radio broadcasts using the OneStory Strategy in which listeners are equipped to “tell” the story again. “Radio Bible” is one such programme.
FOLLOW-UP
Proper follow-up is currently a big issue as there are no proper means for getting feedback from listeners. A very small percentage of the audience is able to write letters in response to programmes, but TWR is focused on building relationships with local ministries and churches through which they can receive feedback on the programme.
LANGUAGES
TWR under the leadership of John is currently involved in broadcasting programmes in Chichewa (Malawi), Kanuri (West Africa), Moore (Burkina Faso) and various dialects of Fula (West Africa).
* statistical information resourced from http://en.wikipedia.org
Published 06 March 2008 |
