‘How do you teach the Bible to those who can barely read?’
This is something that the early-day Salvationists would have encountered frequently, unfortunately we in the 21st Century are complacent, expecting the level of literacy to be much higher now then it was in the 19th Century. Understandable, as that's what I learned at school. It didn't take me long to find out that functional illiteracy is still a great problem in the UK!
Traditional evangelism often relies on printed tracts, reading specific Bible verses, or handing out New Testaments. I remember sitting in a teaching session from Spring Harvest a couple of decades ago about conveying Gospel truth to a society from a non-book culture. They told us that you won't welcome some people into your church if you hand them a hymn book and a bible as soon as they walk through the door; so many at that time only had access to one book; the Argos catalogue! Nowadays, they may not even have that ...
In unpacking this topic, I've pulled together a few ideas from the early day Salvationists, from the Spring Harvest teaching and from an online article from Ian Williamson (Ragged School of Theology) to build my blog entry today.
Firstly, you need to engage with people with more that just the written word. Some people will only learn through hearing the message orally; some will respond only to effective visuals. These people may not relate to traditional Bible studies or formal church meetings.
This is why early day Salvationists took their message directly to street corners, marketplaces, and outside pubs. This is why they used Brass Bands and Singing Groups to attract a crowd: Lively music and simple choruses allowed individuals to engage with spiritual themes without needing a hymn book or Bible.
Ian Williamson makes a very good point - when somebody is struggling to comprehend, hearing different translations read out loud will cause confusion. This is different from my preferred method of study as I find multiple translations helpful to understanding what the Gospel writers are getting at. However, I get it. Both Ian and I prefer the NIV translation over the others. It flows really well and reads the same as we speak.
We need to remember that the Bible is only understood when the Holy Spirit opens our mutual eyes to God’s Word (1 Corinthians 2:14). Thus, a meeting should be preceded and followed by prayer.
Finally, we need to be prepared for questions afterwards, as the true message of the Gospel sinks in and needs to be reinforced in community. We need to explain, illustrate and apply the Word of God exegetically so that people understand what God is saying and how they need to respond.
