“Truth that Sticks: How to Communicate Velcro Truth in a Teflon World” by Avery Willis and Mark Snowden (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2010)

reviewed by Karl Dahlfred

As I have been learning and reading about oral Bible storying, one of the questions that has come up in my mind is, “To what extent can storying be used?  Don’t we need to use other methods too in order to bring people all the way in discipleship and leadership?”  In “Truth that Sticks”, Avery Willis and Mark Snowden have not only laid out a vision for biblical storying but have also explained how it connects with discipleship, leadership, and church growth.

One of the great strengths of Thai culture is the high value placed on maintaining the peace.  Social harmony is very important to Thai people.  You don’t get upset at bad drivers or pushy salesmen.  You don’t have an argument in public.  You avoid saying things that would embarrass other people or make them feel bad.  In many ways, this value on maintaining social harmony and good relationships makes Thailand a wonderful place to live.  

But there is also a downside.  Feelings get hurt and people never forgive each other.  Injustice, error, and corruption run rampant and are swept under the rug.  Leaders at all levels abuse their power and no one says anything.  Sin is winked at and everyone pretends that everything is okay when they know it isn’t.  The need for holiness and reconciliation is one the great challenges facing the Thai church today.

When the Prophet Comes to Town...

Into the midst of this cultural milieu come the traveling prophets.  Teachers like Joyce Meyer and Cindy Jacobs parachute in to Thailand and receive huge venues to speak to the Thai church.  They are big names in many evangelical and charismatic circles in America but are relatively unknown in Thailand.  But they quickly become known as their big show event is promoted broadly in the small Christian community in Thailand.  It is big.  It is exciting.  And it is “Christian.”

I have to commend the folks at Chick Tracts for making a good effort to produce a contextualized tract for Buddhist Thailand.  

If you are not familiar with Chick Tracts, they are a brand of cartoon tracts that are (in)famous in American evangelicalism (and fundamentalism?) for their very direct nature.  They are engaging little tracts that draw you in, keep you reading, and usually end up with the main character being cast into hell after watching a “This Was Your Life” movie before God’s judgment throne.  The best way to describe Chick Tracts is “in-your-face.”  

In the Chick tract, “The Tycoon,” (read here), a wealthy Thai Buddhist businessman is commended for his large donations to the temple.  Periodically through his life, Christians try to tell him the Gospel but don’t get very far because they are quickly ejected from his presence, or he himself ridicules them.  He dies in a car wreck and is condemned before God’s judgment throne.

Is this tract contextualized well for Thai Buddhists?

This past year was extremely busy for me and I haven’t been able to keep up on all the blog reading that I would like.  Perhaps you’ve had the same experience.  So, in case you missed something, I’ve included below a list of the the articles that have been most popular on “Gleanings from the Field” during the past year.  This is not my list of favorites, but a pure reflection of the numbers, namely the posts that have gotten the most hits.

If you’ve read and enjoyed “Gleanings”, I would strongly encourage you to:

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December is the high season for evangelism in Thailand.  Tapping into people’s natural curiosity about this “foreign” holiday, Thai Christians and missionaries alike take full advantage of the opportunity to put on special Christmas evangelistic events and programs.  Whether its in schools, homes, neighborhoods or churches, everybody in the Christian community is doing some kind of evangelistic activity.  Over the years, I’ve participated in and lead many such activities but I’ve begun to wonder how “evangelistic” some of them are.

It is a great thing that Thai Christians and missionaries are leading songs and games, and doing crafts with kids on a Christmas theme.  It is also great that skits or retellings of the Nativity story from the Bible are presented.  It is my hope (and that of many others) that such activities will go a long way to dispelling the popular notion that Christmas is an American and European holiday that is about Santa Claus and gifts.  That is the ONLY image of Christmas that most Thai people receive in the popular media, and it needs to be corrected.

Paul F. Koehler, “Telling God’s Stories with Power: Biblical Storytelling in Oral Cultures” (William Carey Library, 2010)

reviewed by Karl Dahlfred

In "Telling God’s Stories with Power: Biblical Storytelling in Oral Cultures,” Paul Koehler identifies and presents a solution to a problem that continues to plague many missionaries and national Christians worldwide.  In short, traditional modes of Gospel communication in many so-called developing nations don’t seem to be working.  Bible schools are churning out graduates and these graduates are preaching and teaching the Gospel but people are tuning them out.  Converts are few. Discipleship and church growth are stunted.  What’s gone wrong?