Our organization is Baptist, and we are westerners. We come from a cultural background of efficient and extensive record-keeping. We use literate tools to do this--attendance logs, member-tracking software programs, etc. Mahafaly culture lacks these tools, as well as the impetus for highly specific record-keeping.

 

As we began gathering our leaders periodically, however, and they began reporting on the villages where they had shared the Gospel, where groups were forming, who had believed and who had been baptized, a need for record-keeping emerged. How could they effectively follow up with all their groups if they couldn’t keep track of where each group was in the process?

 

Types of records became important in other areas as well. Our churches desired to join the national Baptist association, who required detailed records. The leaders also needed ways to conceptualize the marks of a healthy church, and the set of stories they needed to share with all their new churches.

 

Working with our leaders and national partners, we’ve tried a variety of tools to help with these issues. While the Mahafaly are an oral culture, official lists (complete with signatures and fingerprints) are very normal, culturally, for official business. Our leaders created lists like this of their church members for the national Baptists. We used the “church circles” model to remind them of the marks of a healthy church--we’ve drawn a circle in the dirt, with pictures representing each of the marks. We’ve also put this on a chart for them to use to keep track of where their churches are.

 

These tools are in ongoing development. As some have worked, we’ve adapted others that haven’t to look more like those that have. Our goal is not to impose a western standard of record-keeping, but rather to creatively facilitate the administration that serves the Mahafaly churches’ needs.