STORIES ARE THE OF THE HEART
W W W . S C R I P T U R E S I N U S E . O R G
LANGUAGE 2022 SCRIPTURES IN USE ANNUAL REPORT
Dear Family & Friends
What absolute joy it was to see our U.S. based training teams return to the international fields. As Covid restrictions were lifted, our team came alongside our international partners with Bridges training events, including coaching and mentoring.
Praise God for the four in-person U.S. team-led trips to Africa and South Asia in 2022. Our U.S. based trainers took two trips to Africa, training in Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, and Niger, in collaboration with eight partner ministries. We also took two training trips to India and Nepal, coming alongside three partner ministries. There were shouts of joy with heartfelt fellowship and celebration at finally seeing each other in-person.
Fortunately, this movement is not dependent on our U.S. based training teams being in the field doing the trainings with our international partners. Our trusted partners continue to have much influence as they pioneer in their local and proximate oral culture communities. These partners continue to grow their ministry networks and Training Hubs to equip and empower new SIU Bridges Master Trainers. The Master Trainers then foster new movements in their local regions which are creating organic, catalytic movements around the world. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, disciples making disciples and churches planting churches through oral communication is the heart and DNA of Scriptures In Use.
We thank God for another tremendous year of ministry in 2022! Thank you for partnering with us as we see the Great Commission being fulfilled among oral culture communities around the world.
Kent Kiefer
CEO & Executive Director
languages
TOTAL: 56
Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Arbore, Assamese, Banjara, Bembe, Bengali, Cebuano, Chhattisgarhi, Dassanech, Dhatki, Divehi, Drukpa, Dzongkha, English, Filipino, Hausa, Hindi, Ikirundi, Indonesian, Iranun, KiBembe, Kinyarwanda, Kiswahili, Lhompa, Luganda, Lusoga, Maasai, Maguindanao, Malayalam, Maranao, Mbuti, Me’en, Nepali, Odia, Oromo, Pahadi, Punjabi, Russian, Santhali, Sindhi, Somali, Spanish, Sudanese, Swahili, Tagalog, Taita, Tausug, Telugu, Tigrinya, Tsemay, Urdu,Vietnamese,WarayWaray and Wollene
QUOTES FROM OUR PARTNERS AND TRAINING PARTICIPANTS
The story of The Widow’s Oil has changed people’s mindset about poverty. They trust that God is the provider, even in times of famine or COVID19 outbreaks. What powerful stories!
“Stories of the Bible are resulting in deliverance from demons, faith in Jesus, and new house churches.”
“The stories are powerful, the stories change lives, the stories are for all people ”
COUNTRIES WHERE SIU TRAININGS WERE HELD IN 2022
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- Burundi
- Congo
- Ethiopia
- Georgia
- India
- Indonesia
- Kenya
- Kosovo
- Maldives
- Nepal
- Niger
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Rwanda
- Sudan
- Tanzania
- Uganda
-
United States
- Vietnam
A woman, who owns a beauty parlor, shares the stories she has learned with those who come into her shop. The women hearing the stories are coming to Jesus.
One pastor, in a closed country, shares how after telling Bible stories for six months, three people followed Jesus, and now, they are reaching out to their families and friends
“As persecution increases in India the storytelling method is the best way to reach the unreached!”
“We have storytellers who tell of our traditions. Now, we also have storytellers who tell stories of the Bible”
A preliterate woman in India memorized around 30 stories and uses these stories to share God’s message to her village and everyone she meets She is one of our best storytellers.
“In the farming communities it is common for family groups to sit around the fire and pass the time storytelling and singing. Sharing the gospel message through story and song is going to be natural for me.”
“There is power in Scripture storytelling! I can communicate and share my faith with my Muslim brothers and sisters without the arguments and useless debates I used to have.”
W W W . S C R I P T U R E S I N U S E . O R G
In northern India, tribal villages and Muslim villages are often right next to each other. Though the tribal believers live near many Muslims, they were afraid and generally tried to avoid the Muslim villages They felt more comfortable reaching out to fellow tribal people and taking the gospel to those with the same language and culture During a Bridges training, the Holy Spirit convicted them of ignoring the Muslim villages while going to tribal villages to do evangelism and ministry God gave the tribal believers a love for their Muslim neighbors, and through the training they gained confidence to tell Bible stories to Muslims One believer said, “Muslims aren’t that different from tribal peoples Before, we were afraid to reach out to our Muslim brothers and sisters, but now, we have confidence to share Bible stories with Muslim neighbors ” God is using the leaders in this area in powerful ways. In the past 5 years over 4,800 families have been reached with the stories of Jesus!
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TRIBALS REACHING CUMULATIVE 1997-2022 G L O B A L T R A I N I N G N E T W O R K S T A T I S T I C S W W
ST
MUSLIMS SIU GLOBAL TRAINING NETWORK REPORTED RESULTS 2022 Bridges Participants 17,513 New Grass Roots Church Planters 6,250 New Believers 46,259 New Baptisms 8,981 New Churches Planted 8,077 Bridges Participants 344,191 New Grass Roots Church Planters 106,816 New Believers 512,735 New Baptisms 240,080 New Churches Planted 104,809
A leader in South India has trained and equipped 275 Bridges trainers over the past few years These trainers held 304 Bridges trainings in 2022 across multiple states of India As they trained pastors and other believers, they saw tremendous fruit. Many of these pastors switched from preaching a sermon to telling Bible stories on Sundays.
They also help all the believers memorize the story each week with word-for-word accuracy, so they can easily share with their friends, family, and people they meet on the street. Through Bible storytelling all the believers can share their faith.
This ministry saw 6,860 people come to faith in Jesus this year Disciples are making disciples and churches are planting churches. The seed is coming back 30, 60, 100-fold as Jesus spoke of in Matthew 13:23.
IPTURE TORIES
songs. After the training, Jaali went back to taking care of his father’s camels. Jaali became a composer of Scripture songs in his heart language. He memorized many Bible stories from his uncle.
Jaali composed songs from the stories of David, Moses, Samson, and Elijah. He sings these songs as he and the other young men go out to care for the livestock. David is one of his favorite stories.
cannot read and does not o school because he must care of his father’s camels ever, he listens to the Bible es that his uncle, an rground disciple, tells him is very interested in them. attended an SIU training his uncle in a remote village enya. He enjoyed learning to use Bible Scripture es to create
Jaali was gripped by how David defended the Isrealites by killing Goliath with a sling and a stone The young men now refer to Jaali as a strong leader who can bring down giants and conquer territories They even nicknamed him, Daud, which means David These young men are learning many stories because of Jaali’s ability to capture Scripture stories in songs Jaali’s uncle has decided to invest in these young men and travels along with them, using his own camel. He shares Bible stories with them in hope that as they hear the stories and learn the songs Jaali creates, they will draw closer to the cross and one day surrender and walk in obedience with Christ.
In an African church, one of the church leaders was expelled due to discipline issues. Sometimes when a leader is sent away a whole church congregation disappears. Once the church leader was dismissed, the gatherings at the chapel stopped. The believers were afraid that the home based story groups would disperse as well, but the result was amazing and encouraging.
More people started to come to the house churches to hear stories and more house churches were started. The fellowship among these brothers and sisters became more genuine and stronger. What a great testimony for us that the work we are doing is not dependent on individuals or mega gatherings. People come to hear the stories and the stories of Scripture draw them together.
Testimony
THE STORIES Partner
THEY COME TO HEAR
FOLD RTY, SIXTY, E HUNDRED ONGS rtner Testimony
W W . S C R I P T U R E S I N U S E . O R G
2022
SCRIPTURES IN USE ANNUAL REPORT
W W W . S C R I P T U R E S I N U S E . O R G
