- San Scripture Engagement 4th follow through workshop (Naro, /Gui, and ‘//Gana in East Hanahai)
Participants: Cukuri (‘//Gana) and Omphile (mix Kgalagadi and ‘//Gana with knowledge of the 3 San languages represented), and from Naro representing D’kar: Solex and Ncox'ae (husband and wife), Anna, Osego, Mister James (Otto), Marea (Naro Scripture Engagement Coordinator and workshop coordinator), as well as Naro representing East Hanahai: Qg'uba, Cgose, Tsaxae, Tsolofelo, Tsabu, and Debe (elder of the Reformed Church in East Hanahai), Naro representing Tshobokwane: Dabe Dcao and Olebogile Qace Derek (pastor), Naro representing New Xanagas: Oba Ontiretse Daxo, and Naro representing Tchabo: Xguka Nqaraga and Qg’uba Khanxa (she is a teenager and only attended the first two days being very shy). Ruben Dubei (Wycliffe RTS Scripture Engagement Specialist sharing the load and continue mentoring).
Topics to be covered in this and the next workshop:
- What oral Scripture passages have been prepared until now and how well do people know them*
- How are they used and are people engaging with these oral Scripture passages*
- What do we need to different and how can we do things better*
- Laying a foundation for development of story sets*
- Integrating oral Scriptures and relevant engagement strategies into overall ministry work*
- Practicing oral Scripture telling en engaging with the Scripture passages*
- The importance of addressing the key principle issues Scripture addresses*
- The importance of making disciples*
- How to involve more people from the community*
- The importance of repetition*
- Evaluate the storying venues* and various communication art forms used in practice
- Hone scripture telling skills and do community testing*
- Improve the process of internalizing (discover and own) the truths communicated in the Oral Scripture*
*topics covered in this workshop (in the context of other topics or specifically)
May 5:
- Meet on the way to the workshop with Marea and Ruben for an initial progress and situational report in context finalizing the program for the workshop that would best meet the needs of the participants. The Bible story clubs in general have done very little and due to Marea’s encouragement they did start selecting stories according to the assignment from the previous workshop, but nobody had gotten together as a group or prepared stories to tell. The three readers called ‘Good News’ in Naro with Bible passages from the gospels about the life of Jesus served as the foundation to develop a story set from, but without references beyond the enclosed passages there was not context and Cukuri didn’t know how to draw properly the truths from some of the stories, since he didn’t know the context of the passage (there is nothing in ‘//Gana and in the other languages it is not that easy for him to read and comprehend). It seems that it is hard to get participants to come regularly and they still have not gone out in the community to tell the stories in between the workshops. I feel that we need to continue to build confidence and again give multiple opportunities for the people to do community testing. Each day we plan for the attendees to go out into East Hanahai to get practical experience sharing the narrative in storying sessions.
- We meet for the first time in the evening. I model Genesis 1:1-5 and lead the people through the story using questions to review the first day of creation.
May 6:
- First we get to know each other, since there are people attending for the first time. I ask then why they felt they came to the workshop and here are three of the responses:
- ‘I love this workshop because it gives me knowledge (of the Bible).’
- ‘We come to people without the Bible (in our hands) and people want to listen to the stories we memorized.’
- ‘Even though working with Bible translation, it this workshop that really opened my eyes up.’
- As a group we process again how stories belong together. In our situation I use the sample each of the days of creation belonging together, as well as the details given in Genesis chapter 2. We talk about this being more a listing of things that happen than a real story, but going through it day by day it is the building of a full picture of God’s creation.
- One of the persons that was at the previous workshop volunteers to explain wonderfully the picture of helping people get a basic idea about God and the bible using a ‘stick man.’
- We talk about the plan to daily go out into the community to practice and that we have a set of stories to use this week that clearly belongs together.
- We step by step go through the first three days of creation, repeating all the day with the start of the next day. People then practice telling the stories two by two and also in the large group.
- We discuss any key terms that need to be tested and I learn from them that the word for ‘night’ and ‘dark’ is the same. Also the difference between ‘ground,’ ‘soil,’ and ‘land’ is different from English.
- Later in the afternoon everybody goes out into the community to share the first three days of the creation story. Four groups end up telling it to small groups of people at three different locations in East Hanahai.
May 7:
- First we review how the story telling sessions of the previous day went. The responses were quite diverse:
- Some gave input from what they heard before about the creation story.
- One man wanted to meet Jesus as he now understood the missing link (of creation). Since they had been taught to tell such a person to come to church to meet Jesus, they did accordingly (later I expanded their horizons to other options).
- One mother asked for the story in print, so she could share with her children who could read.
- One lady asked first why they came and they told her that they were sharing the gospel through stories, which she didn’t want.
- One person related to the seed and the fruit that were once free, but now they had to pay for everything.
- A few people requested prayer.
- One lady shared a dream she had about two of the workshop participants from East Hanahai which helped them to be closer to God.
- Next I help the participants engage and process the last three days of the creation story. We have fun thinking through all the different plants, trees, sea creatures, birds, domestic or tame animals, wild animals, and animals that creep along the ground. We then end with the seventh day when God rested after He had had finished the work of all He created and made.
- They practice the story again two by two and we start to look at engagement questions. I help them to think through the patterns that occur in the narrative… the end of each day being marked by ‘the evening and the morning were the …. Day.’ Also ‘it was good’ and ‘after its kind’ is continually repeated and once the living creatures come on the scene ‘God blessed them,’ ’as well as ‘be fruitful and multiply’ become part of the pattern. We also note that God created light, as well as plants and trees before the creation of the sun, moon, and stars. The awe of creation grows as they process the details. We also notice that ‘man’ is the only one created in God’s image and that the food for every living creature, including man, was exclusively plant based, as well as the absence of death and evil.
- They next discuss what happened in the communities in between the workshops and which stories they did choose for a story set. It seems very difficult for them to get started in their own communities and it seems that there is lack of proper leadership due to a variety of situations (one person had been gone to South Africa for several months, in D’kar and East Hanahai the pastors of the churches are not involved at any real level, the idea of storying in the community is still new for people and they only have experienced it in East Hanahai as part of a workshop).
- In the afternoon the participants go out again to share and these were some of the responses :
- One person from the ‘other’ church in town feels that the story tellers have come to steal sheep.
- Some people say that they need to learn more and they want to know about God and Jesus.
- Some people have distracting questions not relating to the story and the story tellers try to them back to the story.
- Some people have been exposed to the teachings about evolution and others by messages from Jehovah Witnesses coming in and they are confused.
May 8:
- After reviewing the community session of the previous day, Ruben and I lead a session showing a time line and then bringing it together as a circle which I draw in the sand in the middle of our class.
- Next, Ruben leads the team in learning and processing the rest of the Genesis 2 narrative in two parts.
- Later in the afternoon the people go out for one more community session in which they get many similar responses as the previous days. Dabe responds in our review of the community session by saying: ‘This is what they (the people of the community) need. It will open their eyes.”
May 9:
- We finish the workshop in the morning by modeling Genesis 3:1-19 and then debrief from this weeks’ workshop. In general we feel that we need to find a steady group that can be involved and that there needs to broader community involvement. Most of them really have a complete new appreciation for God making it all.
Our initial plan was to include a one day community workshop in New Xade, but because of the time needed to process Genesis 1 to 3 well and other logistical issues, we decided to stay in East Hanahai. Besides the teenager withdrawing despite the encouragmente of many, the rest of the participants really engaged enthusiastically and their interest was so great that sometimes they were ready waiting for us at the starting time of the workshop sessions.
Unless we find some way to help them starting to engage in their own communities, find local leadership that will help people move forward, and have more people involved from the different communities, it will be difficult to see local ownership happening. The people want it, but it is new and this approach is completely new for a set church culture already present in the communities, which is mostly based on church services, denominationalism, teaching through preaching with a primary focus on doctrine instead of helping people discover the truths from Scripture themselves, and outside leadership that is not a normal part of the community. The reason why there is better engagement in East Hanahai and with a few people from D’kar seems because of the relationships that Hessel and Coby Visser have developed over the years.
Ruben and I felt it to be very important for the next round of workshops to be held in each community where possible. For ‘//Gana and /Gui this is very important, since the first workshop there created great interest, but now having become part of the workshop that is held in a Naro community with mostly Naro, the link back to New Xade is too small. The aim in each community should be to seek for local involvement of volunteers that want to and can spend time in helping prepare and/or share the stories in the community, as well as give leadership to the initiative locally. It is also vital the pastors and elders that serve in these communities will be involved and that they can see it be a vital component of the church, be it by their endorsement or broader involvement.
Respectfully submitted,
Durk Meijer, Wycliffe RTS Ethno Communications Specialist
