Unlock: Exploring the bible with oral learners

Unlock is a Christian charity, working since 1972 enabling urban churches of any denomination to respond to their local contexts. Unlock are especially concerned with helping oral learners explore their faith. They don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach, nor do they tell you what’s best for your own situation. Unlock responds to each local context.

The team at Unlock train workers and place them in city communities to help churches find appropriate ways of working within their own local culture. All of their Bible study resources are available free on their website: unlock-urban.org.uk

Unlocking real life stories of urban people

Jesus accepted people, and listened to the real issues of those who approached him. In the same way, Unlock encourages people to talk about their own experiences. People think and speak in concrete ways—involving emotion, and describing things that happened at a specific time and place.

Unlocking people’s real stories of everyday life brings into the open the genuine concerns in people’s lives, and they learn from each other as important issues are shared.

Revealing Good news of the Down to Earth Christ

Jesus used stories of everyday life—sheep, fish, bread, wine—and used relevant symbols.

Unlock give space for Bible stories to engage with people’s real life stories (contextual theology). They do not try to impose the Good News on their lives, but help them bring their hopes and ambitions, their joys and their fears, into the light of God’s truth. People reflect on God’s Good News in relation to their own lives.

Releasing life changing skills and confidence

To proclaim the Good News we need to take the incarnation and earthly ministry of Jesus as seriously as we take the last days of his life, the cross and the resurrection.

The consequence of Unlocking stories and revealing Christ is that lives are changed!