What if you could have an impact on spreading the gospel throughout the world? What if you could lower the barrier to people understanding God’s goodness and love? Dare I say that opportunity is available to you now more than ever.

The Book: “Behold, The Holy Spirit” by James Darnell through scholarly research, and more importantly narrative format presents the work of the Holy Spirit throughout the entire Bible. It opens doors and reduces barriers to hearing sound Biblical truth. It paves the way to understanding God’s love and work among humanity in the past, the present and the future. Partner with Netaffirm and the Holy Spirit to make God’s Word readily accessible to people everywhere, and witness the incredible ways His gospel can transform lives and establish communities.

As an example of the power of narrative, consider just a few sentences of a fictional character Sarah, reading about missionaries.

“Sarah sat in her favorite armchair, engrossed in a story about a struggling missionary in a distant land. She found herself moved to tears, imagining the challenges and triumphs of someone living out their faith. Later, when she tried to read an article on the same subject, filled with charts and abstract arguments, she felt her interest wane.” Why was the story so much more compelling than the abstract arguments? The answer lies in the unique power of narrative—a power harnessed in making theological truths more accessible and impactful through the release of “Behold: The Holy Spirit”.

There are many barriers to accessing biblical truths that are broken down to spreading the good news and truth regarding the Holy Spirit using narrative, but we’ll elaborate on 3 of these barriers in this article: engaging the heart in contrast with academic or scholarly content, bridging denominational divides, and connecting with oral learners in the missionary field.

Engaging The Heart

The story Sarah read was immediately impactful. Letting her see and feel on her own rather than having to verify arguments for conclusions before ascribing to those arguments herself. You may have felt a heart connection when hearing that Sarah was moved to tears and felt a dullness as “she tried to read an article on the same subject, filled with charts and abstract arguments.” This waning may also happen when sophisticated words are used or there are unknown references in literary content. This first barrier is a hurdle that must be jumped. A dedicated reader with time and energy to research or someone who already understands the words and concepts is likely to get through this barrier, but this reduces the reach of the author’s message to a smaller group of readers. Using characters, their circumstances and reactions, along with monologue or dialogue, can convey similar messages with more engagement. It’s no wonder that Luke wrote his gospel and the book of Acts in narrative.

Bridging Denominational Divides

Although it’s more difficult to communicate very precise theological themes or doctrines with narrative, or establish what the author may consider normative, the readers themselves are not immediately confronted or accosted with dissonant secondary doctrinal views. While “Behold: The Holy Spirit” is true to the fidelity, authority and inspiration of scripture, having been vetted by PhDs of theology such as Alan Meenan, the book sidesteps secondary doctrinal issues using narrative and reaches a greater audience with the true message of the Holy Spirit. Some readers may not agree on secondary principles in their community, but the book does not address these issues since they are not precisely documented. The grounds for speculation and denominational differences are muted while reading the book. In this case, the story, characters and context take center stage.

Connecting With Oral Learners

The final and most powerful barrier that is broken down is that of Western culture’s approach to communication as opposed to how adults and 66% of the missionary world learn. This is the most significant opportunity for partnership where God is doing a new thing. According to Making Disciples of Oral Learners, “From the time of the Gutenberg Bible, Christianity ‘has walked on literate feet’ and has directly or indirectly required literacy of others. However, two-thirds of all people in the world are oral communicators—those who can’t, don’t or won’t learn through literate means. Ironically, an estimated 90% of the world’s Christian workers presenting the gospel use highly literate communication styles.”

The Holy Spirit book, being in narrative, breaks down doors and opens the floodgates for the Holy Spirit to rush over a new group of unreached people. Unique because of its accuracy and biblical scholarship, with high fidelity of God’s Word, but accessible and consumable because of the language and the narrative format.

Will you join us in the work of spreading the Gospel through His Word in a new and accessible way?