I taught on the history of denominations and why they see so many different types of churches in their small villages and why their churches have such a hard time working together. We also discussed the absurdity of taking on the fringe doctrinal conflict of outsiders, while major cultural and community issues still need to be Biblically addressed by a united indigenous faith community.
I used storytelling almost exclusively in my teaching which was fun and very interactive. Another thing we talked about was the absurdity of well-meaning missionaries telling us that indigenous culture was all bad and that their way of doing things was all good. We talked about the hurt that it has caused and state of the church because of it.
We also covered the importance of culture, contextualization, syncretism, and reconciliation of Creation. They grasped these concepts wonderfully and were able to explain them in their own languages and contexts.
The last three days we worked on a project. I think I will call it the Redemptive Story project. The assignment was to take one story from your culture, something your grandparents may have told you, a story you know very well. I handed out pictures of the animals of Panama to get their minds going and they loved them. There are many stories of jungle animals that teach lessons and make you crack up as well.
Each person was to tell their story to their partner until the partner could repeat back the story nearly flawlessly. Then, we had a time of prayer to hear God's voice to give us some bridge that would link this story with the Great Story, the Story that the Creator has been telling since before the creation of the world. I believe we, all of us, from every culture, fit into this Story. This story tells of a loving Father, a creative Son, a hauntingly beautiful Spirit. It tells of an all-powerful Good and an impotent but temporarily present evil. I believe we all have a place in this Grand Narrative. I believe that God, the Bible, and His Spirit in us have something to speak about every story. There is nothing in Creation that does not fit into His Story. Therefore, whether or not a cultural or family story overtly has a "Christian" message, God has something to say about it.
So with that, we went forward. Amazingly, every story (even some head-scratchers) had some sort of amazing bridge. The beautiful part was, that each and every one of the students was already a professional storyteller (much unlike Oral Storytelling workshops I have been part of with Westerners). They were telling the story of their fellow student that they had just learned hours before like they had been telling it their whole lives.
Most of them were mature Christians and easily linked their story to either a Biblical principle, a scripture, or a spiritual lesson. Each got a chance to share their stories—even the shy ones. They now have a weapon in their arsenal to share at any chance they may get to speak in a group or one on one with someone.
Here is one of the stories that really impacted me told by a Ngäbe woman in her language and translated into Spanish for the rest of the group who belonged to other tribes:
There once was a little girl. She loved her father so very much. She went with him everywhere. She was "attached" to him more than anyone else. One day, the father had to go on a day-long hunting trip. She wanted to go with him so bad, but he said no. She had to stay with her mother. After begging to go and being refused, the father left.
Many hours later, the mother realized that the girl was not playing just outside and began to search for her. The whole family was looking for her for hours. Late at night, as the father returned, he was told what happened. He immediately went back to the trail, realizing his daughter had followed after him.
He ran as fast as he could through the night until he heard a noise. "Tata! Daddy!" "Daddy!" He started running toward the voice. Just then he heard the cackle of the demon, also running fast toward his daughter's voice. The father ran as fast as he possibly could. Just in time he saw his daughter in a muddy creek, her clothes all torn up, and her body scraped by a fall. He took her up into his arms and ran as fast as he could back home. When he got home he cleaned her up and took care of her and the demon never got her.
This story tells of a loving Father who loves his daughter so much, like a lost lamb He will look for her when she is lost and in danger. God loves us like that. When we are lost, He searches for us with a great love.
This story nearly made me cry. Some were also funny.
The Story of the Agouti and the Rooster
The Agouti always tricked everyone. He outsmarted all the other animals and took advantage of them. One day the Rooster said that he would finally outsmart the Agouti. He made sure the Agouti saw him standing one day with his head under his wing like this (puts head under arm) and makes it look like he has no head.
One morning as the Rooster was singing his song in the morning, the Agouti, who wanted to take his song, said to the Rooster, "Rooster, what is the secret to your song so beautiful?". The Rooster said, well you see my wife, the Hen, takes my head off with a knife and cleans out my throat each morning like this, then puts my head back on and I sing my beautiful song". So almost immediately, the Agouti went to his wife and commanded her to do the same to him. She responded saying, "If I do this, you will die." He said, "No, you must do it, I must have the Rooster's song". So the Agouti's wife cut the Agouti's head off and he died.
I take this to mean that death who has always tricked us and had dominion over us has now been defeated. Jesus conquered death and now we no longer need to fear it.
There were several other meanings that the group came up with for that story as well. We had such a great time and I can't wait to do something like this again. Everyone felt so confident in themselves that they, too, had something to share and didn't need to compose a multiple point sermon or even be able to read—a skill several of them did not have.
One more story to close. You can decide a meaning. The group finally found several. It's just a great story.
The story of the Dog and the Crocodile
One day the Crocodile wasn't feeling good so he asked the Dog, who was always mute, to go to town and do a favor for him. The Dog motioned, signaling that he could not do it because he had no tongue. The Crocodile said, "You can borrow my tongue, just this once to send my message to town, then please come back as soon as possible to give me my tongue back." Well, that Dog did send the message, but he liked having the Crocodile's tongue so much that he never came back to the Crocodile. That is why to this day the Crocodile is at enmity with the Dog and why the Dog has such a long tongue.
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