Your partnership has raised up a team of Tanzanian trainers to lead School of Storying (SOS) projects on their own in Tanzania and other African countries. These leaders are Tanzanian believers who have committed to a one-year training program to become StoryRunners trainers. This team calls themselves the A-Team.
Theodore*, a young, single man with an easy smile and a sparkle in his eyes, is on the A-Team. He exudes a contagious passion to use oral Bible stories to reach all of Africa for Christ. After he completed the Swahili SOS last fall, he told stories at church and in a Bible school. He said, “Now whenever the students see me, they say, ‘Tell me a story!’”
The A-Team experienced firsthand this spring what it’s like to lead an SOS. A group of American StoryRunners coached the 10 budding trainers how to help 20 Maasai participants develop stories in their own language. This brought the A-Team a step closer to knowing how to conduct SOS projects themselves.
Theodore speaks Swahili, not Maasai. He shared his struggle to work with a group of people who he couldn’t understand. He wanted to know what they were saying, but after a few days he grew comfortable with the process of using translators.
The Maasai, known for their traditions of nomadic cow herding, bravery and jumping several feet in the air, prefer to share information orally rather than through written communication. Theodore said, “You need to understand the participants’ culture, to join them, to bow, to jump.”
Theodore believes leading SOS projects is the right ministry for him. “People like to hear stories. Many people can’t read books and will run away if you are carrying a Bible. Story telling is the best way to share God’s Word,” Theodore said.
The A-Team dreams of teaching many language groups in Tanzania to develop oral Bible stories. They also plan to travel to neighboring countries in the next few months to conduct SOS projects.
“I want to see a million people come to praise God and worship together. I want to train more trainers. We can’t do it alone; we need to have trainers. I want to train all of Africa to tell stories from God’s Word,”Theodore said. More trainers means more people will hear God’s Word in their heart language. Thank you for equipping Theodore and the other team members to build movements of oral Bible storying throughout Tanzania and beyond!