His Life-Changing Message in Whatever Form

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.

God yearns to touch minds and hearts with His life-changing message in whatever form it has to take. Therefore His Word must often go beyond the printed page to other media, such as video, audio cassettes, radio, television, filmstrips, and drama.

Producing high-quality, non-print media in the language of a people is a job for specialists with the right training and equipment, serving already busy Bible translators in a strategic way. This is where Vernacular Media Specialists help translators and local sponsors select, design, produce, and distribute non-print media in ways that pique spiritual interest and establish a bridge from oral cultures to the Word of God.

Thanks to exciting mother-tongue audio cassettes, bondage and fear is being replaced with hope and love. Hundreds of ethnic music Scripture cassettes have been recorded in West Africa with exciting results.