What is the Gospel Pictorial Storybook
Introduction
God revealed Himself opaquely through His Creation but clearly through the written Word of God, However, much of the world cannot grasp this clear revelation of God because they cannot read the written Word of God. Why? Because even in our modern era, many are nonreaders. According to statistics, more than 13% of the world is incapable of reading, with some nations having a literacy rate of less than 35%.1 More than 2.15 billion people do not have access to the entire Bible in their heart language, with nearly 1 billion without one Bible verse.2 The Gospel Pictorial Storybook (GPS) partially seeks to fill these needs. How?
First, the GPS is written with nonreaders in mind using simple language. This concept allows any messenger to orally deliver the key events that explain sin and salvation in chronological order. The GPS is not meant to be visually read but verbally shared to impact the heart through the eyes and the ears. Additionally, the use of proper names is minimized to keep from confusion with unfamiliar titles. The GPS is also written in a simple grammatical style, which uses tenses that allow the messenger to translate "'on the fly" more efficiently.
Second, the GPS is written with cultural diversity in mind. Missionaries have discovered that the world has three distinct cultural types; guilt-innocence (the western world), fear-power (tribal groups), and shame-honor (the rest of the world). One can recognize these cultural differences while watching foreign news events or reading literature written in foreign lands. God desires every culture to receive the saving news of Jesus Christ. However, at present, much of our missionar y material has been written with only the western culture in mind. The GPS expands that vision by considering all three cultures.
Lastly, the GPS assumes the hearer knows nothing about God, the Bible, Christ, or anything related to these truths. Because of this, the GPS is often repetitive to lay the foundation of the truths ahead and to remind readers of the previously mentioned events and concepts. Theological terms are not used in the GPS. Instead theology and doctrine are explained in concepts that do not require previous knowledge or understanding.
We call the GPS a Pre-evangelism tool and pray it helps many come to the saving knowledge of Christ, whether they can read or not and whether they have God's Word or not.
1https://www.ourworldindata.org/literacy
2https://www.wycliffe.net/resources/statistics
Instructions
Most books are written for one person to read alone, not to be read out loud. Most books are written for just one group of people to comprehend, not the entire global community. Most books are written for the benefit of one language, not translatable into every language. Finally, most books are written for the reader to accept the writer's choice of words, not adapt it to various cultural needs This book is different. The Gospel Pictorial Storybook (GPS) was written for the messenger to:
Share it audibly. It was written to be told out loud because people need to hear the Good News with their ears. So be sure to share this storybook verbally as a true story that happened because it did. This book was meant to have a messenger speak it.
Share it adaptively. It was written to be culturally diverse because everyone needs the Good News in their hearts. So be sure and emphasize the elements of each culture found in the original story, IE, shame/honor, guilt/ innocence, or power/fear. This book was meant to show God is not just the western world God.
Share it easily. It was written to be translatable because people need to know the Good News comes into their language and tongue. So be sure and utilize the Sımplicity of verb and participle usage. This book meant to translate 80-90% accurately simply using online auto- translation tools.
Share with flexibility. It was written for the messenger to add any critical details from the original story because people need to know the truths of Gods Good News in their minds. So be sure to include the details, such as proper names, as each culture will allow. This book was meant to be a framework for the messenger, not the finished presentation.