Vernacular Media Stories |
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| Here are a few stories of how media in the vernacular
(the language of the heart) have made an impact in the lives of people
around the world.
“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 (NKJV) |
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Cassettes as Missionaries |
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| “We have the cassettes. But how will we get them to the Ata Manobo people? There’s no translator living in the village of Maambago now. And even if we do get them there, how will the people be able to listen to them? There’s no power out there. No one has tape players.” Read More. | ||
Flannelgraph: a “Low-tech” Tool with High Impact |
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| “You are welcome, Daddy Paul and Mommy Grace!”
In June 2006, we had barely unpacked our suitcases from our trip to Tamale in northern Ghana, when Daniel, the GILLBT* security guard, came to our apartment to welcome us back. The warmth of his voice was matched by a broad smile and hearty handshake. Read More. |
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And the Word Came—by Video |
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| With the average translation project taking about 12 years, every translator clings to the hope that when God’s Word is finally in a new language the people will immediately accept it. Sadly, sometimes they don’t. Read More. | ||
Chicken Mistakes Are Not Always Fatal |
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| An annoying chicken pecked its way—again—into my wife’s garden in Cameroon. I had been chasing this one out all week. Now I decided to teach the culprit a little lesson. I pumped my BB gun, just once, to let it feel just the slightest sting on its back. Read More. | ||
Setting the Word in “Stone” |
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| Juan, a ten-year-old Chachi boy in Ecuador bought a large,
spiral-bound notebook as part of his school supplies. Then, someone
stole the notebook, a significant loss in terms of the local economy.
After the incident became known, one of the teachers talked with Juan to see how he was dealing with the situation. Juan said he would let it pass. Having viewed the JESUS video, he related how Jesus had said that if someone takes something from you, that’s what you should do. He reasoned that the thief needed it, so he himself was not going to worry about it. Read More. |
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Rómulo Sauñe
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| Rómulo Sauñe was a “vernacular media specialist” before the term was ever coined. While translating the New Testament, Rómulo realized that many of his people would never be able to read, so in the late 1970s he began recording the Scriptures on tape. He was also the first to dub the JESUS video into Quechua, produce Quechua radio programs and set up a recording studio for Quechua music groups. His example for Ayacucho Quechua set the stage for speakers of the many Quechua varieties in Peru to begin doing the same thing for their own language groups. Read More. | ||
The Ministry of the Word in Quechua |
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| “I never had any use for the church or God,” said Antonio, a speaker of North Conchucos Quechua from Peru. “But a couple of years ago I was out on the mountainside cutting firewood. I looked down and saw two young girls walking along the path below. As I was trimming off some branches from a tree, a big rock at the base of the tree came loose and rolled down the mountainside, hitting one of the girls on the head, killing her instantly. Read More. | ||
David and Goliath and Rain |
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| A film team prayed for several weeks that God would not
let it rain in the town of Yalu on one special night. They had invited
5,000 people to view a film. With the help of a local radio station in
Yalu, Mano Con Mano (Hand in Hand), a ministry in Guatemala, invited Central
Cakchiquel people to see David and Goliath—in their own language.
In the recent past, the road to Yalu had been nearly washed out due to heavy downpours. One more heavy rain would probably cut off it off and hinder showing the film. Read More. |
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Have Music and Scripture Cassettes, Will Travel |
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| In February 2005 Vernacular Media Specialist Dan Bauman assisted the Mende language team in northern Papua New Guinea, recording five cassettes of hymns and Scripture reading in the language. In September the finished cassette tapes arrived in the villages and within three weeks all 250 sold out, except a cassette that contained children’s songs. Read More. | ||
Vernacular Media Outreach—Chinese Restaurant Style |
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| Going to a Chinese buffet after church on Sunday is
our weekly treat. The restaurant owner recognizes us as we walk in
the door and greets us in his Chinese-flavored English. The waitress
sees us, and has our table ready by the time we reach it.
Desiring to tell the owner about Christ, I wondered how to do it in the language he understood best—in his vernacular. Then I remembered the JESUS DVD that comes in eight languages, including Mandarin. Read More. |
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God uses VMS to give the Kuna San Blas access to His Word. |
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| Inside a concrete church building, and surrounded by a thick layer of sound-absorbing foam, two Kuna men sat behind microphones waiting for their next cue. “One, two . . .,” counted Shingo Katayama, and the narrator began speaking his lines. His words were recorded directly on a videotape of Campus Crusade for Christ’s JESUS film. Read More. | ||
His Life-Changing Message in Whatever Form |
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| A group of Ifè people on their way home from working in the fields were attracted by the sounds of indigenous music nearby, and left the path to see what was happening. It was a cassette of Ifè music, so they all sat down to listen. Next they heard a tape of Christian testimonies in their language. When the batteries ran out, they didn’t want to stop listening; they sent someone to the town to buy new ones so they could hear more. As a result of these tapes, about a dozen Ifè people became Christians! The owner of the cassette was not even a Christian himself at that time; he had bought the tapes because they were the only ones that used his own language and music. Read More. | ||
Ticuna Media Mix Training—Peru |
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| Al Shannon, Vernacular Media Specialist in Peru, has been training pastors and lay people to produce a broad range of media materials for evangelizing their people. He told recently of a training course he and Mardin Rios, local radio broadcaster, conducted for Ticuna believers at the Ticuna Bible Institute. Al wrote, “These believers have a real desire to evangelize, teach and promote the use of the New Testament in Ticuna, not only in Peru but also in Colombia and Brazil.” Read More. | ||
Jula Radio Plays—Ivory Coast |
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| Michelle Petersen, working with the Jula people in Ivory Coast, is producing radio dramas in that language. She wrote, “I am working with non-professional actors and I am a novice media person. Someone recently encouraged me though with this thought, ‘Professionals built the Titanic; amateurs built the ark. You’re too blessed to be stressed.’” In spite of computer troubles and difficult deadlines and a coup d’etat, Michelle and her team of actors released their first season of Jula radio programs on time. Then they prayed and waited to see what God would do. Read More. | ||
Dagomba Song-Making Workshop—Ghana |
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| A 4-day workshop was held in Ghana with three experienced local composers and 50 participants. Each composer chose some Bible verses, then sat under a tree and led their composing group. Each group read a verse, and, hesitantly at first, began to develop it into a song lyric. Others added their voices, the musicians brought their percussion and flute into the music, and a Bamaaya song was given birth. Read More. | ||
Isnag Luke Video—Philippines |
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| “Oh, no!” I gasped, seeing Jesus and His disciples fly off the screen. With a sickening thump the projector hit the earthen floor, plunging us into darkness. As I groped for my flashlight and ran to pick up the pieces, the dog that had snagged a wire to the projector ran yelping out of the church. Read More. | ||
Vagla Scripture Song Workshop—Ghana |
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| A workshop among Vagla Christians using an approach to making new Christian songs with non-readers began hesitantly, then grew in confidence. Scripture verses carried by a new melody in a traditional Vagla song type were sung by one woman and then another.“ Suddenly the dream in our hearts of seeing Vaglas free to worship the true God through their own music became reality… Read More. | ||
Koru Genesis Video |
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| Koru* Christians are oppressed, persecuted
and often imprisoned for their faith in their home country. They meet
as house churches to minimize detection by the authorities. Written
materials and any Christian materials in Koru are forbidden.
Read More.
*Pseudonym due to sensitivity of information |
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JAARS, Inc. PO Box 248 Waxhaw, NC 28173 |
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