Book Description

How can followers of Jesus living among oral people groups accelerate disciple making in their context? This dissertation is a case study of a group of motivated national missionaries who are equipping oral learners to reach persons in the unreached people groups around them through combining Disciple Making Movement (DMM) and orality principles with initial Bible translation and scripture engagement. Part I of this study traces the historical quest for reaching the unreached through Bible translation and disciple making strategies. Part II presents field research from the case study in Benin. I used focus groups and interviews to explore the convergence of storytelling, Bible translation, and DMM which had led to significant results in disciple making among oral people groups. Findings indicated that the results flowed from creating recordings of Bible stories following identifiable criteria, then training and coaching disciple makers to use the stories and recordings in Discovery Bible Studies (DBS). Findings also revealed difficulties encountered by respondents (inability to read and write, language barriers, resistance to Christianity, and limited finances) and to what extent using the Bible story recordings mitigated those difficulties and produced breakthroughs. Part III details the pilot project that emerged from the findings of the field research and provides recommendations to accelerate disciple making among unreached people groups. I conclude by exploring implications and suggestions for further research.