Approximately 67% of People of the world are Non-Literate Oral Learners

– by Pui Kim Yong

That single fact stopped me dead in my tracks. A banner headline. Extra. Extra. Read all about it!

If you printed that headline in every newspaper in every country of the world, in every language known to man and you threw it on the coffee table of every home on earth— close to four billion people couldn’t read it.

That should get our attention.

Let me ask you, if you had a business and you found that 67% of your target audience were non-literate oral learners, you can bet you’d tailor your business plan, dedicate your work force, and allocate a huge portion of your operating budget especially to reach them. That’s just smart business.

The world of missions is just now waking up to the fact that Oral learners are at the center of the firestorm to complete the Great Commission. The bull’s eye. Imagine. Four billion oral learners in the cross-hairs of redemptive history at the beginning of the 21st century. What are you, your church and your mission agencies doing to hit the bull’s eye?

If the term “oral learner” is unfamiliar to you let me offer a simple definition. By oral learners we mean those people who learn best and whose lives are most likely to be transformed when information comes to them through oral, not literate, means. Oral learners transmit their beliefs, heritage, and values by means of stories, drama, songs, and proverbs.. They have built their customs, culture, and social fabric around storytelling.

Brace yourself for this headline: An estimated 90% of the world’s Christian workers present the gospel and do discipleship using highly literate communication styles. 90%. Throw that up against the 67% who are oral learners and what do you have? A strategic problem.

The Solution is none other than Weavers:

• Weavers training gives us that opportunity to be able to present the gospel to these people.
• Weavers teaches us to tell specific bible stories that brings understanding to people with different languages and culture. Family and relatives who speaks a particular dialect (e.g. Hakka, Hokkien, Cantonese), friends and employees or employers from other countries.
• Weavers helps us to present the gospel in a non-threatening way. Who doesn’t like to hear stories – whether imaginative or real?

If you like to hear a good story or you like to learn how to tell a good story, come join us!

Let’s not let these opportunities slip through our fingers. Visit EE Malaysia website for more information on Weavers training in September 2010.



(Kim works in EE Malaysia as the Administration cum Materials Executive. She worships at Full Tabernacle, PJ. Kim is very pleased with what Weavers offers as she believes all non-believers has different learning /listening preferences. Above all, the person we witness to determines which tool best fits the message.)