Women work on recording Bible stories for languages in areas like Ruth's. image courtesy Steve Cole
Not long ago, a woman named Ruth* attended a festival near her hometown in a remote region of Asia. During the event, she asked some strangers if they would like to hear a story. When they said, “Yes,” she started sharing stories about Jesus.
Afterward, one of the ladies who had been listening was so taken with the stories she went searching for Ruth, wanting to hear more. This woman didn’t know Ruth by name, but she remembered long before seeing the storyteller selling socks, her old trade, in a kiosk in the town’s outdoor market.
This woman returned to the market and asked people nearby if they knew where the “sock lady” was or how she could reach her. Some of the people remembered and contacted Ruth. They told her a woman was looking for her and for some reason wanted to “hear a story.”
Ruth hurried to the market where she encountered the woman. The woman begged this former tradeswoman to tell her what happened next in the Bible stories. So Ruth told the woman the next story and the one after that. In fact, because of the woman’s interest, Ruth was able to share the whole gospel through stories, and eventually this woman came to know Christ as her Savior!
Accounts like this one affirm how truly powerful the simple stories of the Bible, told well, can be. And they affirm as well why we go from place to place teaching the stories!
Since StoryRunners has been working with national partners like Ruth, they have shared Bible stories in 9 new villages and in 10 local churches. Several new house churches have formed and the storying team cannot keep up with the demand for Bible story CDs.
Right now, this team is involved in the intense task of crafting and recording stories in new languages for as yet unreached peoples. Just recently, they have completed story sets in 4 languages and are working to complete stories in 5 additional languages by midsummer.
*name changed
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