A life-changing story to tell
Early one Sunday morning, just after sunrise, a group of grieving women stumbled along a path to a tomb. Their grief was even greater than normal for it was mixed with disappointment and confusion. Hadn’t Jesus proved he was God? Then how could he die? How could his mission end in the failure of death? Such a humiliating death. Everyone abandoned him, even his friends. How could the immortal die? How could the light of the world, descend into darkness?
Such must have been some of their questions.
If Jesus just died for us, no matter how self-sacrificial and undeserved that death was, then he achieved nothing. There is no story to tell.
However, when the women arrived at the tomb they found the huge entrance stone rolled aside and the body missing. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothing appeared and said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen! Remember how he told you the son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” (Luke 24).
Now that is a STORY above all others. It is because Jesus rose from the dead, that we have a story to tell. Not just a story but THE STORY. All history points forward or back to the death and resurrection of Jesus. History is HIS STORY. It is this story that makes sense of all pain, grief, joy, love – this is the only story that brings eternal hope.
I hope you will join me in telling it to others.
So welcome to this site. It is designed for you. You might be one of three main kinds of people:
- Not yet a follower of Jesus but wanting to find out more about his story. The Bible overview set might be the best place to start. Listen to each of the stories and you can ask questions either directly at the bottom of the videos or by direct contact. Any questions are most welcome. Please feel free to download the stories and pass them on to friends or direct them to the site so they can listen in.
- Someone who wants to start learning stories. Listening to the first of the Bible overview set and then the training video on how to prepare a story might be the best place to start. You may also like to join our Facebook group, ‘Storying the Scriptures’. This is a closed group so please ask permission to join. As you begin to gain experience please write and tell us short stories of your experiences. We want to encourage others through this site too.
- More experienced storytellers might find it helpful to listen to any of the videos or use the links to other storying sites. We would value your suggestions on our Facebook group. Hopefully you’ll have ideas or questions that lead to an online discussion. We want to know what struggles or challenges you face sharing about Jesus in your context.
On this site we will try to gather:
- Resources – please write to us via the contact page or join the Facebook discussion. We’d love to know about other resources that we can link to this site.
- Videos (or audio) – please feel free to tell us about videos you have made of you telling Bible stories or anyone you know. They can be in any language and you could add subtitles if you want. We will also continue to add short training videos.
- World Stories – please tell us about your experiences using storytelling anywhere in the world. You can submit in any language but we’d love an English translation too.
Chris my sis,
I love the site. Well laid out, easy – even for a dinosaur such as I – to navigate, but because of restricted funds to access the web by mobile broadband, I would have liked to see some printed stories! Cash strapped visitors could then click ‘off line’ and read at leisure!
But a great site; may God use it to His glory.
In Him,
don h
Here’s the text of the first in the Overview of the Bible series. Just copy and paste to a Word or other document: email me at paul.toschi.nz(at)gmail.com and I’ll send them as I transcribe them one at a time.
Here is the introduction to this story.
In the beginning, the world was dark and chaotic, and the Creator God said: “Let there be light” and there was light. And God separated the light and the darkness, and He saw that it was good. And there was evening and morning, the first day. After that He created all of the trees, the plants and all of the animals, the fish and the birds. On the sixth day, God said; “Let Us make people in our own image” and He made a man, Adam, and a woman, Eve. And He said to them; “Fill the earth, multiply, look after everything I have made.” And He also said to them “You can do anything in this world, but there is one fruit, of one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the middle of the garden. You must not eat it, or you will die.”
Today’s story starts here.
Now the snake was the craftiest of all God’s creatures. He came to the woman and said “Did God really say “you can’t eat any fruit of the garden?”” “No,” said the woman, “we can eat of any fruit of the garden, but there is one tree in the middle of the garden we cannot eat the fruit and we cannot touch it. If we do, we will die.” “You will not die!” said the snake. “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will become like God, knowing the difference between good and evil.” So the woman looked at the fruit, and it was really beautiful, and it would be great for food, and it would give her knowledge, and so she picked it and ate it, and she gave it to her husband and he ate it and immediately their eyes were opened and they realised that they were naked, so they sewed together fig leaves to cover themselves. In the cool of the evening they heard God walking in the garden, and they went and hid and God called out “Adam! Where are you?” Adam said “We were afraid because we were naked, so we hid. “Who told you that you were naked?” said God “Have you eaten of the fruit I told you not to eat?” “Oh, no, no, no – the woman you gave me, she gave it to me, and I ate it.” God turned to the woman and said “What have you done?” “Oh, the snake, the snake tempted me, so I ate it” And so God cursed the snake and said “You’re going to crawl on your belly for the rest of your life and eat dust” “Between you and the woman there’s going to be hatred and conflict.” “You will strike their heel, and one of her descendants will crush your head.”
This is the end of the story.
Hi,
Just come across the site and looking forward to seeing how it grows. Looking forward to the book as well!
Tim
Hi Chris,
How much work went into this! Well done :).
One issue I’d like to raise. So I would fall into the second category of people you mention above. A bit of feedback: perhaps it’s just me but I wasn’t sure where to find what you termed the basic set of stories. After a bit of browsing I’m assuming it’s (just) the salvation story set? Perhaps the link could be made clearer on the site. Just my suggestion.
I’ll keep exploring the site. Looking forward to seeing what other stories there are!
YSiC,
Em
Thank you for your comment. We have kept changing the name of the ‘basic story set’. I have changed the name on the ‘about this site’ post to match the video title. Not sure if it is used anywhere else but will try to catch it if it is.
I agree with Em on not being sure how to find the things you refer to. For instance “…the training video on ‘how to prepare a story’ “.
Kind regards Thorkild
Hi Thorkild. Any time Chris mentions a video that she’s made, you can be sure that you’ll find it in the ‘Videos’ section of this website. Click on the ‘Videos’ link in the menu, then scroll down until you find the set you’re looking for. Click on the image, and it will show you all the videos in that set. You can then choose which one you’d like to watch. Here is a direct link to the training video: http://storyingthescriptures.com/preparing-a-bible-story-from-the-biblical-text/
Hi. I have a copy of the book myself. But I’m really looking forward to attend any trainings or seminars. I would like to hear more stories myself and learn to apply it on my Sunday school and youth ministry. Looking forward hearing from you!
what country and area do you live in? We can then point you in the right direction.