A shy Swiss lady tries storytelling in a traditional communion service
The reason I became interested in storying is mainly because I have difficulty with traditional evangelism methods, not being good at approaching strangers and generally not being much of a confrontational type. I have, however, always told stories since I was a child, so I really liked the idea of using that gift in evangelism, and decided to try it.
Right now, I am studying theology in Switzerland. After reading about half-way through “Telling the Gospel through Story” I started considering where I could try out storying. And the context where I ended up doing storying for the first time was a small mid-week communion service where I’m involved. The service is very liturgical in style, but with a small “mini-sermon” in the beginning. Instead of paraphrasing the Bible text or reading it aloud, I decided to tell the story.
Since it was just before Ascension and the service is very church year oriented, I told the Ascension story. I found it an interesting challenge combining Luke 24 and Acts 1! What I really value about Bible storying is that it sticks close to the text, but is neither a paraphrase nor all too free. It challenged me to really tell everything including the dialogue – and the dialogue I found to be a really central part of the story, which is much less known. Because the story was part of a sermon, I added some ‘commentary’ after telling it, though the major part of the sermon was telling the full story without stopping to explain or comment on anything.
What one listener said afterwards was: “I never knew those were Jesus’ last words to His disciples!” And that showed me how valuable it is to tell the story with the dialogue. I generally find that people here (at least the church-goers) know a few Bible stories, but less than one expects, and often only fragments of them. So they enjoy hearing a full story the way it is in the Bible, since it’s like discovering something new. All the reactions were positive, which encouraged me to do it again, though it will be a while till my next turn to lead the service.
Used with permission of DD
