I worked with a team of local Christian actors and script writers in a place with a dominant non-Christian religion. We created a weekly half-hour radio drama showing the relevance of Scripture to everyday life.

The basic idea could plug in anywhere: you could take a Creole language in the Caribbean and use the same general framework. Everyone would need to come up with their own particular version.

This team has three mother-tongue script writers. One scriptwriter primarily develops one script, and the others read it and suggest improvements. In each story there is:

• An introduction. A narrator greets the audience and introduces the subject of today’s story. Greetings are important to help develop a relationship with the audience. We chose to play local instrumental music softly behind the narrator to distinguish between the narrator and the characters.

• A problem or difficulty: Through several scenes, a typical problem is developed from daily life. All characters are given culturally appropriate names. Some stories are humorous, others sad. The events touch felt needs or interests of the audience. Scriptwriters decide on these themes together.

• The Word of God: After the problem is developed, one character asks permission to tell the others a Bible story. The Bible story shows an answer to the difficulty. It is usually an older man who tells the Bible story to a family, because older men are most respected culturally. Sometimes an older woman tells a story to younger women, or a younger man to other young men. The characters listening react and interact with the storyteller.

• An application: The concluding scene shows how this story’s theme is put into practice to make a difference in the life of at least one character. It is very tempting not to show how things work out after the Bible story is told, and just let the narrator say something like, “and they all lived happily ever after.” It is much more powerful, however, to show some change in the behavior of a character who has heard a Bible story, even if the change is small. The full Gospel does not have to be presented in every story. It is enough to move people one step closer to interest in Scripture.

• A conclusion: The narrator tells a little bit about what happens to the characters after that. The actors sometimes sing a song related to the theme of the story. The narrator then tells listeners when to listen again and says goodbye, or sometimes the whole cast says goodbye in unison. This helps develop a relationship between the listening audience and the cast.

The writers choose themes according to whatever ideas they have each week, and then look for Bible stories relating to the life needs they thought of.

Another approach, which might have been better in retrospect, would have been to pick out a Chronological Bible Storying set, and then think of life problems to introduce each story in order.

Scriptwriters often play the narrator of their own story, or a lead character in it. During rehearsals, the voice actors further refine the scripts by mutually agreeing to improvisations they note in their script margins.

Any actor who is not acting in a given scene listens and comments on how the other voice actors can improve their work. They have all grown to trust each other and respect each other’s opinions.

Listener Response

I taught the team how to edit their recordings. They duplicate them and mail them to radio stations. One radio station manager says these plays are the most popular program they air. Listeners have responded, “Where do you get all this wisdom from?” And, “Your teaching is good. We like your stories.” Or, “No one can interrupt her when she is listening to your program. She doesn’t want to miss a word.”

It seems like listening audiences, predominantly of another religion, are more receptive to hearing a story from Scripture after becoming interested in a drama from their own culture. Scripture Relevance Dramas help bridge the gap between the world of the Bible and their own world.

Comments expressed here are my own, and do not represent the official position or opinions of any agency with whom I am affiliated.

Michelle has been working to promote the use of translated Scriptures in some languages of Africa since 1994.

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