Deterring Syncretism: The Use of Orality to Close the Gap between Formal and Folk Religion

Evangelical missions have largely used text-based approaches in worldwide evangelism. As a consequence, the oral world has been reached by low-orality-reliant (LOR) methods resulting in many folk beliefs that are high-orality-reliant (HOR) continuing in the background and in the belief systems of those who have converted. Syncretism and folk religion are the result of inadequate contextualization. Formal/ high/orthodox religion often misses addressing local everyday concerns because in its primarily literacy-/text-based nature, it is less accessible to HOR people. Most people who call themselves Christians today live in HOR cultures whose Christianity was/is being propagated and grounded with LOR methods. We call this the Folk Religion Orality Gap (FROG). It means that formal religion often fails to connect with HOR people, leaving a gap for folk beliefs and practices to fill using orality. This opens the door for syncretism. We conclude that orality alone will not solve the problem of syncretism, but it must be a vital component for Kingdom transformation among HOR peoples. Our recommendations include making orality principles and methods central in missions and missionary training, continuing research into and provision of resources on orality, and the development of leadership and theology orally.