Last summer, I went to Arizona on a summer mission trip. I posted my newsletters on WordPress before I decided to put everything here on Wix. My summer in Toronto is already up, and I am excited to be reading through last summer's adventures again with you.
SUNDAY, June 18 TO SATURDAY, JUNE 24
Bible Storying
GoTen used Bible Storying with refugees. They would refer to it as "Selective Storytelling" because they would select certain Bible stories to tell specific people. They took the time to summarize Bible stories and highlight themes for each. Whenever they would have a conversation with a refugee and a specific theme repeated in their conversations, they would incorporate a Bible story with a correlating theme.
Here is the lesson I received on Bible Storying:
A few facts:
Approx. 80% of the global population identifies as oral learners (not necessarily illiteracy)
Estimated 90% of Christian workers worldwide employ communication styles that rely heavily on literacy
A person does not need to be literate to be a mature follower of Jesus: Jesus never expected his followers to become literate. Jesus always used stories and illustrations when speaking to crowds (in parables)
Selective storytelling is when THEIR story, YOUR story and GOD’S meet. Since we are known as “storytellers” when we enter the field, sharing stories to seed the Gospel is not strange or viewed as inappropriate. The more naturally you tell stories, the more naturally you will share.
With selective storytelling the Gospel is easily communicated. Not necessarily your salvation story, but your transformation stories.
Selective storytelling accomplishes 3 objectives:
Sow: God’s Word is the seed. You are sowing God’s Word into their life for God’s Word to do what God’s Word says it will do.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 2 Tim 3:16 NLT
It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. Is 55:11 NLT
Sift: As these stories intersect, discern what God is doing in their life. If God is not drawing them, don’t force it. Recognize if the seed of the Gospel is falling on hard ground or fertile soil.
Signal: Let people know you talk about spiritual things and that the transformation in your life comes from Jesus. Let them know that you are somebody who has been transformed and the Gospel Light signals regularly.
What you do
Pick a story from the Bible!
Think through the following questions:
Who are the people in the story?
What are the actions in the story?
What are the choices in the story?
What are the emotions in the story?
What do we learn about God from the story?
What do we learn about people from the story?
What should we do with what we have learned?
Be prepared to share the story. Learn it. Practice it with others. Share the story.
There were more topics in this lesson that I'm not going into detail about:
How to go to the people: in prayer, in love, in truth
Looking for persons of peace: they will be open to me, open to my message, and open their relationships to me
Gathering people to share our life with, God's chronological story, and the Gospel story with them
3 major worldviews related to how we view spiritual things, which affects how we might share stories
Guilt / Innocent - We have sinned against God and we are guilty. A price must be paid for our sin so that we can be made innocent again.
Fear / Power - This worldview highlights strength and weakness. The stronger spiritual force dominates the weaker. God has the victory of Satan.
Shame / Honor - Our sin brings shame on me and my group. Someone with honor must restore the shamed. Focus is on restoration.
Discovering Recurring Themes in their life in order to tell stories they can connect with
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