OneStory Partners Vision

OneStory Vision

A global partnership involving Campus Crusade for Christ, the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Wycliffe International, Trans World Radio, and YWAM-using chronological Bible storying among unreached people groups.

Current estimates suggest that almost two-thirds of the world's population is illiterate or has an oral preference (can't, won't or don't read and write). The proportion is significantly higher among the nearly 5,000 people groups not yet reached with the gospel, and among these include many of the 2,700 remaining Bibleless peoples. For these oral communicators, life lessons are processed by observation, participation and verbal communication-i.e. stories.

Communication of the gospel by these same oral deliveries has potential for greater effectiveness than the literate methods churches and mission agencies have long used. From grass-roots initiatives in varied situations worldwide, mother-tongue storyers and cross-cultural workers are reporting the effectiveness of these oral delivery strategies, in many cases among people groups heretofore resistant to the gospel.

In recent years a growing number of individuals and agencies have periodically gathered for consultations on orality, and have begun working cooperatively on issues like chronological Bible storying and the beginnings of an "Oral Bible" among unreached people groups. Table 71, a regular gathering of mission-agency leaders arising out of the Amsterdam 2000 conference, has also adopted a cooperative strategy centered on orality and chronological Bible storying.

The intersection of the Oral Bible Network and Table 71 has resulted in a partnership of the four largest organizations involved in both gatherings. These four agencies have common motivation, goals and focus in reaching unreached people groups with the gospel, yet each brings unique strengths particularly relevant to a Bible-storying partnership:

Campus Crusade: evangelism; production and distribution of a range of evangelistic audio and visual media.
IMB: church planting, discipleship, leadership development, experience in storying.
Wycliffe: ethnographic and linguistic research, application of this research to translating Scripture.
YWAM (Youth With a Mission): training, discipleship, mobilization of large numbers of workers from a multiplicity of cultures and nationalities.
TWR (Trans World Radio): a far-reaching radio network who helps provide recording facilities, broadcast story sets, etc.

Vision and Goals

The vision of the partners is to see the remaining unreached people groups reached with the gospel in the way that best communicates to them. For most, this will require an oral approach.

Initial Outcomes

The primary outcome of the partnership is a three-part, introductory set of 40 to 50 chronological Bible stories aimed at supporting evangelism and initial church planting. These three parts are a series of stories from:

The Old Testament-covering Creation, the nature of God and His love for people, the need for reconciliation with God, and His dealings with his people in preparing the way for the coming Savior.
The Gospels-covering the birth, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Acts and the Epistles-showing people coming to saving faith in Christ, the growth of the church, and the promise of Christ's return.

In addition to this set, other desired outcomes from the first phase of the partnership are:

A first generation of mother-tongue storyers telling the stories within their people groups, thereby fostering the beginning of a church-planting movement;
Audio recordings of the stories for evangelistic distribution as locally appropriate and for ensuring an agreed-upon, approved standard for common reference.
Transcription of the stories for archiving, with back translation and notes from an accuracy and naturalness review; and, where locally possible, publication of a picture booklet with written stories.

Subsequent Phase

The outcomes for the first phase will set the foundation for a subsequent phase of ministry. From among the individuals or agencies participating in the first phase with a people group, it is anticipated that one or more will carry forward with a vision to see the complete counsel of God made available for the growth of the church in that group.

Church Partnership

The OneStory partnership is pursuing involvement of local churches as crucial partners in advocacy for particular people groups. Involved churches will include those in sending countries and in countries where unreached groups are located. Involvement can include prayer advocacy, funding, churches sending members to work on storying projects, and sending short-term or summer teams to use audio recordings of stories in evangelistic outreaches.

International Mobilization

The partnership is mobilizing people, church partnerships and financial resources with an international scope. The vision is to mobilize believers from many nations to initiate oral communication of a set of chronological Bible stories tailored to the worldviews of the unreached people groups.

Resource Hubs

The partnership is pursuing the establishment of strategically located resource hubs in proximity to the greatest concentrations of unreached peoples. These hubs will provide readily accessible resources like materials, training and consulting, and facilitate preparation, duplication, distribution and archiving of recordings and written documents. These hubs are not envisioned to be large operational centers, but efficient locations of a few resource specialists who can train, mentor and assist workers engaging in oral approaches to reaching unreached people groups.

Joint Funding and Budgeting

To enable resources from each partner organization to flow to a storying project in a people group, the partnership is pursuing a joint funding and budgeting strategy. A partnering church, for example, might fund a two-year storying project involving all four OneStory partners in outreach to a particular people group. The church could choose to make their contribution through any one (or more) of the four organizations. Predetermined percentages of the total amount would flow to each of the other three organizations to fund their particular activities in the project, as well as cover most of the organizational overhead related to the projects. Another percentage would cover general pooled costs in the project and partnership. A minimal administrative overhead amount would remain with the agency obtaining and distributing the funds.

Three Types of Joint Projects

1. Venture projects-One OneStory partner has a team on a long-term assignment with an unreached people group, and the team sees the need for a well-rounded chronological storying approach. The other three partners come alongside the long-term team, assisting in their areas of expertise, experience and strength. This is the primary model under which the OneStory partnership has begun to function.

Areas of expertise to be shared may include: general orientation to orality and a storying approach; research in academic literature on people groups, language and culture; worldview study, and story-set selection and development; orientation to translation principles and key biblical terms, comprehension testing, and checking for biblical integrity of the story; production, duplication and distribution of audio recordings; and use of stories in evangelism, church planting, discipleship and leadership development. Cooperative projects of this sort will normally take place within a year or less.

2. Quest projects-This is an innovative, experimental approach in which the partners jointly engage in two-year outreaches among unreached people groups. A field entity of one partner agency hosts and supervises the project. This project involves mother-tongue speakers being trained in story crafting and coached in storying within their people group; national Christians being called to cross-cultural ministry; short-term expatriate teams recruited through and screened by any of the four partnering agencies; trainers, mentors and consultants from the partnering agencies; and members of advocate churches. Training involves just-in-time and on-the-job processes throughout the two-year period. Expatriate teams enter the program through any one of the four partnering agencies. They are then seconded to the host field entity, serving on integrated teams with staff from the other three agencies and with national missionaries. This experimental approach will be closely monitored and evaluated for effectiveness and long-term viability.

3. Journey projects-Short-term evangelistic and church-planting outreaches using audio recordings of the chronological Bible stories in regions of the people-group area where the stories have not yet been heard.

Benefits and Risks

Partnering: The models described above have the potential to maximize the strengths of the agencies involved, making the resulting synergy more readily available to a wider range of partnering churches, agencies, foundations and individuals. As in any partnership, there is some risk that one or more of the agencies may find it difficult to flex its structures sufficiently to be responsive to the other agencies.

Competition for Resources

Any innovation of this sort has the potential for competition for resources with other proposed or existing programs in each agency. The models proposed here have been developed so as to minimize this effect. Many of the envisioned financial and human-resources needs are not already flowing to any one of the agencies. Instead, we project that the partnership has the potential to flow new, additional financial and human resources to the agencies. The concept of an efficient, effective partnership has already piqued the interest of potential new financial partners.

Resourcing Local Partnerships

The partnering agencies recognize that in many regions, local networks have been formed among compatible agencies and individuals enabling reaching clusters of unreached people groups. In most cases, local leaders and workers from the four partner agencies are already connected with these regional networks. Where that is not the case, the partnership will look to introduce local leadership to colleagues from the other agencies and the larger network, where and when appropriate, in a way that facilitates coordinated effort and fosters respect for each of the local agency entities.

The models described in this prospectus have arisen from varied local contexts worldwide as being effective strategies for reaching oral communicators. These models are responsive to the expressed needs of local workers, leaders and networks in these regions. The partnering models are not intended to be rigidly applied, but to be adapted in ways appropriate to each local situation. They are also intended to be among numerous possible resources considered in a joint strategic planning and engagement model done regionally, in concert with national Christians called to ministry among people groups in the region, and with sensitivity to sociopolitical contexts.