In communicating the gospel message, whether through Bible stories or Discovery Bible Studies, we need to be aware that our hearers will interpret what they hear through their worldviews. In a 1993 issue of the MARC Newsletter, Bryant Myers wrote about what happened after showing the Jesus Film in a Fulani village in Africa:
The white missionary walked back to the village with the women, listening to their animated conversation. Something didn’t make sense. “What was it that so captivated your attention?” He asked.
“The Christian man from the coast who made the magic!” they exclaimed. Confused, he asked, “What magic?”
“We’ve never seen a shaman who had the power to make people get up and move about on a sheet and talk,” they explained.
What message had the village women heard? From the point of view of the missionaries showing the Jesus film, they had heard the good news about Jesus Christ, but most of the women talked about magic and power. The message that they took away was that the West African Christians from the city had a magic more powerful than any they had ever seen.
Bryant Myers, “What Message did they receive?” MARC Newsletter, December 1993, 3.
