Sweet Talk: How to Start Your Own Journey
Due to the interest expressed in the series on African Proverbs in Ministry, the following guidelines are suggested to help you get started in doing something similar. I would be greatly honored to hear about your own experiences in using proverbs in ministry.
Resources for Beginning
How do you begin the process of using proverbs in ministry? The best advice is to “Just do it!” The following suggestions may help get you started.
1. Carefully observe and record proverbs in the vernacular when they are used in routine conversations. Once you are looking for them and people know that you are interested, the proverbs will readily surface. Hesselgrave notes, “What is significant is that thousands of proverbs and aphorisms form an indispensable part of daily communication throughout the cities and villages of Africa and other tribal areas” (Hessel-grave 1991, 327). Record the actual words used, context and possible interpretations in the vernacular before you proceed with translating back into English. Later ask others for the fuller meanings behind the proverb.
2. Search through any material printed in the vernacular. Traditional stories often contain proverbs at the end to conclude the story’s moral. I found that a dictionary in the vernacular and literacy materials were excellent sources for proverbs.
3. Ask your students, pastors and friends to tell you some proverbs and their local meanings. Once I expressed an interest, the people readily shared them with me. Then, gather a group of believers to use the vernacular Scripture to interpret the truth contained in the proverbs. What in the proverb does the vernacular Scripture affirm, modify or reject? Once we started doing this each month with Builsa pastors, it became a catalyst for theologizing in deeper cultural issues that were previously untouched. Some proverbs contain insults or prejudices that make for fruitful critical reflection, using the vernacular Scripture as the interpreter. Other proverbs contain cultural truths that the vernacular Scripture readily affirms. The process of analyzing proverbs in the light of the vernacular Scripture can stimulate a critical engagement of the gospel with the culture that teaches the process of critical contextualization in a manner that is obtainable and even enjoyable for local pastors.
4. Visit: www.afriproverbs.org. This site is maintained by Father Joseph Healey in Tanzania along with Kenyans Joseph Kariuki and Nicholas Adongo. Each day, a fresh African proverb is listed. A “proverb for the month” contains more extended explanations of the cultural background, scriptural application and ministry uses. The site is very user friendly, informative and up-to-date.
5. The Wisdom of African Proverbs CD-ROM, edited by Stan Nussbaum (1996-98) is another invaluable source of proverbs collections, seminar proceedings and other reflections on African proverbs. Over 27,000 proverbs from all across Africa are on this CD-ROM, making it a proverbs library. It also contains an excellent annotated bibliography for further reading.
6. Start to use the few proverbs that you know in the appropriate context. Then invite feedback and discussion. Once they knew that I was serious about using proverbs correctly, the Builsa were free to correct my mistakes, as well as offer some of their own favorite proverbs and the applications to Scripture that they discovered. As I assumed the posture of a learner, practically everyone became my “teacher.” With the help of short-term missionary, Gerry Lynn, we wrote a computer database program to enter the proverbs with their meanings, contexts, themes and appropriate Bible references. I could then retrieve these each week by searching for a word, theme or Bible passage. This became a “concordance of proverbs” that I used each week to prepare for preaching, teaching, counseling, etc. To get some examples of this being done with local pastors, see the book by W. Jay Moon African Proverbs Reveal Christianity in Culture: A Narrative Portrayal of Builsa Proverbs Contextualizing Christianity in Ghana, American Society of Missiology Monograph Series, Vol. 5, 2009.
7. Network with others. As the Ghanaian proverb reminds us, “Wisdom is like a baobob tree, a single person’s hand cannot embrace it” (Healey and Sybertz 2000[1996], 17). This can be done in various ways. For example:
a. E-mail proverbs-list@afriprov. org to join 170 others in the African Proverbs, Sayings, and Stories e-mail discussion group.
b. E-mail me at jay.moon@asburyseminary.edu I would love to hear from your use of Afican proverbs in ministry.
This blog is slightly revised from the original article printed in 2004 by W. Jay Moon "Sweet Talk in Africa: Using Proverbs in Ministry." Evangelical Missions Quarterly 40(2):162-169. See: http://www.emisdirect.com/emq/issue-125/422