The Art of Storytelling

Connecting God’s Story to

the context of your
audience
People of all cultures learn
first thru’ story-telling!
• The oral stories • We learned our
of our ancestors language thru’
an family history story-telling

• Bedtime stories • The context of

we loved our our culture was
parents to tell transmitted thru’
us storytelling
Informal learning is
primary to all cultures
• You learned your language from
your family in your home

• You learned your culture from

your family in your home

• You listened to your ancestral

stories in your home
Stories give meaning to
our communication
• The stories of our culture give
meaning to metaphors, stereotypes,
relationships, slang, assumptions,
humour, prejudices, and our ideas of
who God is.

• Conclusion: Narrative theology is

more significant in understanding
God than propositional theology.
Ancient oral cultures
have proven their ability
to accurately pass their
stories from generation
to generation.
Is the concept of
eternity in their hearts?

• Missiologist Don Richardson

thinks so. His book “Eternity in their
hearts” based on Ecclesiastes 3
verses 11-14, gives us evidence of
so many cultures having creation,
sin and flood stories.
• Scholars have puzzled over why
stories in extemely diverse times
and places on the earth are so alike
Our stories reveal our
common humanity
• The stories of our race show a
common interest and
inquisitiveness about;
- creation
- good and evil
- the origin of mankind
- eternity and our future destiny
- God, gods, angels and demons
Stories activate our
right brain imagination..
• They help us think with our hearts
rather than our heads
• They create a tenderness in our
spirits
• They lead us to view the world
holistically and therefore to healing
and wholeness
• They help us remember what God
has done
• We would be an ungrateful, hard-
hearted people without the stories
of God’s provision for His people
Stories provide hope for
humanity…

• Every human faces death

• This is a paradox – we are given life
only to one day face death
• The best stories help us understand
the paradoxes of life
• They can give hope and teach
morality and social responsibility
• They provide a basis for grace,
compassion and Christian ministry
The paradoxes of life can
be learned thru’ stories

• Spirituality is rooted in our

earthly experience
• Suffering produces godly
character
• Freedom is discovered in
obedience
• The greatest leader is the
servant of all
Factors in story telling;
• Anthropology – the • Theological – Our
cultural setting of stories develop our
our race or tribe understanding of
God, eg O.T.
• Pedagogical – the • Communication –
context of the commonness
informal learning of creates mutual
the generations in understanding and
the home and provides a basis for
community new understanding
Storytellers must create
context-specific stories.
• That appeal to the culture of the
listeners
• That are best delivered in an
informal setting of the listeners
• That shape the listeners
understanding of God
• That communicate with the listeners
in a language and medium they
understand
The contexts a storyteller
must consider……
• The contexts of the Bible,
Hebrew, Roman and Greek

• The messengers context

• The listeners context

The process of
contextualization
• Understand the contexts of Biblical
stories and their meaning

• Decode the filters created by the

storytellers context. Try to eliminate
cultural bias and prejudice.

• Encode the story into the listeners

context
Story telling as a means
of conveying truth

• Narrative theology enables truth to

be presented in an informal way
• An informal setting allows greater
reflection on the truth
• The setting should reflect the
context of the listener
• Subliminal (hidden) meaning is
inoffensively communicated
• Transformation of mind, heart,
emotions, and action is the goal
A modern version of the
Good Samaritan story….
• The people of Aceh experienced a great
disaster from a tsunami
• They lay dying in disease infested swamps
created by the tsunami
• Their own countrymen did not help them
• Their Muslim clerics did not help them
• The Americans who they despised came in
their helicopters and helped them with
food, medical supplies and shelter.
• Who were the brothers and sisters of the
people of Aceh?
• Truth – God loves all people regardless of
their race or religion
The storytellers kit bag

• Collect the proverbs of the listeners.

They reveal the values of the culture
• Collect the life-stories of the
listeners.
• Observe the pastimes of the
listeners.
• Participate in their social gatherings.
Respond to the social
environment

• Decide which of the five “ways of

life” are practiced by the listeners;
- Individualistic, collectivist,
corporate, bureaucratic, hermit
• Determine the method of storytelling
appropriate to the group or
individual.
The Indonesian example

• Storytelling has been practiced for

generations in village groups of men,
women and children together.
• The Ramayana story has been told over
and over again in a shadow puppet play for
generations. A light behind a sheet with
stick figures as puppets.
• People say they love this story the most,
even though they have heard it hundreds of
times, and it conveys life as full of tragedy.
• The story matches their fatalistic view of
God. Allah wills. You cannot change things
Allah doesn’t want changed.
Developing the storyline
of truth…..

• The storyteller will want to

develop a curriculum of truth
so the listeners will grow in their
relationship with God
• Jesus commanded us the make
disciples. Storytellers take their
listeners from enemies of God, to
babes in the faith, to maturity.
Jesus developed
his storyline in three
years with his disciples
• They changed their religious mindset
• They came to know God in a new
way
• They experienced the presence and
the power of God
• They became strong in character
and faith
• They remembered his stories
Jesus revealed
his storyline on
the road to Emmaus

• Read Luke 24 verses 25-32

• Jesus summarised the whole
storyline in one meeting
• They now understood the truth
of the curriculum behind all the
stories he had told them
Jesus used parables

• Parables are stories with

hidden meanings that make
people want to come back for
more
• Parables are stories that make
the listeners want to come back
for more.
• They created more questions
than they answered.
Follow the pattern of
story-telling Jesus used

• Don’t expect to reveal the whole

storyline in one story
• Court the listener as in a love story
• Create a paradox central to life’s
experiences
• Leave several questions unanswered
so the listener or listeners will want
to come back for more
How to help listeners
respond…
• Study how the listeners
make decisions
• Evaluate what the listener
understands about the truths of
the storyline thru’ questions
• Help the listeners affirm the
truths they understand by a
response appropriate to their
context
Make arrangements for
ongoing storytelling….

• Assure the listeners that this

is one of many stories you
have that will interest them
• Arrange a venue and time for
another storytelling session
• Ask them what stories they are
interested in?
Deal with your own
ethnocentrism….

• Don’t despise the way the

listeners’ culture responds or
makes decisions
• Always take responsibility for the
inadequate response as a result of
your poor communication
• Acts 10:34-35 reminds us that “God
accepts people from every nation
who fear Him and do what is right”.
The power of the Story
• Stories connect
with our
imagination
• Listeners enjoy • Imagination
having their activates our
imaginations emotions
activated • Listeners see
• The art of themselves in
storytelling is the scenes with
the pictures that the characters
the mind invents and feel their
while listening life experiences
People appreciate
stories because they;

• Mirror their lives of fact and

feeling
• Interweave reason, mystery,
and reactions
• Cause listeners to reflect on
deep issues in life
• Make learning exciting and
holistic
Every major religion
uses stories;
• To socialize its young
• To convert potential followers
• To indoctrinate followers
• To develop values appropriate
to the religions teachings
• To differentiate true members
from false
• To formulate right behaviours
Select a story from your
culture?

• Tell the person sitting next to

you the story? (Allow 3minutes
maximum)
• Take the sheet of paper
provided for this workshop and
write down an outline of the
story
• What is the goal of your story?
Evaluate your selected
story from your culture?
• Does it convey a truth?
• What is the truth?
• How can you make the story exciting
for the listeners?
• Will the listeners imagination and
emotions be activated?
• What values will be conveyed by this
story?
• Where does the story fit in the
continuum of your storyline?
How do people in your
culture make decisions?
• What decision can your
listeners make as a result of
your story?
• Is the decision making
mechanism appropriate or
foreign to your people?
• Did you create one, two, or
three unanswered questions in
the minds of your audience?
What do you think?

• Would your story help people

in your culture know God?
• Would people in your culture be
interested in this story?
• What else would they need to
know about God to be able to
pray to him in a personal way?
Do you know people of
another culture? Yes!
• Think of a story that you could tell
them?
• Tell the person sitting next to you
the culture and the story (allow 10
minutes)
• Take the piece of paper provided and
summarise the story. Please write
down the target culture as well!
• What is the goal of your story?
Evaluate your story for
another culture?
• Does it convey a truth?
• What is the truth?
• How can you make the story exciting
for the listeners?
• Will the listeners imagination and
emotions be activated?
• What values will be conveyed by this
story?
• Where does the story fit in the
continuum of your storyline?
How do people in this
culture make decisions?
• What decision can your listeners
make as a result of your story?
• Is the decision making mechanism
appropriate or foreign to the people
of this culture?
• Did you create one, two, or three
unanswered questions in the minds
of your audience?
Acknowledgements

• The producer of this presentation is

indebted to the following authors and their
publishers;
• William J Bausch – 23rd Publications
• Dr Paul Hiebert – Baker Books
• Karen Lee-Thorp – Navpress
• Dr Louis Luzebetak -
• John Pilch and Bruce Malina – Hendrickson
• Don Richardson – Regal Books
• Tom A Steffen – Biola University
• Walter Wink – Galilee Books