BIBLE TELLING WITH RESILIENT COMMUNITIES CENTER
Bible Telling is a method of teaching Scripture by learning stories and telling them aloud from memory, conversationally, rather than reading from a text or working through a prepared study.
It is our approach to discipleship and community development, and it meets people where they are through narrative-based mentoring and applied practice. We believe lasting change happens in the context of community rather than through a book.
Storytelling is the broad practice. Bible Telling is the specific method we train people in, and it is also the name of our six-week course.
The Bible Telling Course
at a Glance
What you get
FORMAT online module
LENGTH 6 weeks
COST $1,200
SCHEDULE Thursdays, 9:30 a.m. ET
2027 START DATES April 15 and September 16
WHO IT'S FOR Disciplemakers, program designers, intercultural workers, teachers, and team leaders
ALSO INCLUDED IN The Learning Community ($3,000), the 12-month Residency ($18,900), and the 7-week Summer Internship ($2,500)
Three Ways to Experience Bible Telling
Have you ever felt limited by pre-packaged Bible studies when disciplemaking? Are you desiring an effect not only on how one thinks but how one feels and senses in their body? Do you want people to experience the kingdom of God in a way that leads toward action and sharing with others? If so, you might be interested in a story-driven, experiential approach to telling the Scriptures.
Many of us are familiar with the concepts of memorizing and studying passages of Scripture. They have a place in both spiritual formation, discipleship and the guiding of local gatherings of Jesus’ followers, especially when desiring to go more deeply with the source material. Simultaneously, there is growing research that shows the effectiveness of story-based, communal interactions to influence change and form connections between people.
Bible telling places teams and communities into the emotions and movements of the stories God tells.
Schedule a free 30-minute demo with one of our coaches.
How
Training
Storytelling is a powerful way we translate concepts into everyday experiences, both through retelling stories from Scripture and stories from life and culture that illustrate why an idea matters in practice.
This is the six-week Bible Telling course, $1,200, offered online twice a year.
Coaching
Through storytelling, you have room to reframe your experiences and retrain how your body relates to deeply held beliefs, to people in your life, and to the lives of those you influence.
Consider if our Embodiment Coaching, starting at $500 for five sessions is right for you.
Mentoring
Processing an experience creates the potential to relate to it differently. That is why we integrate stories in every mentoring group, to generate trauma-safe practices and realistic priorities for healing.
Mentoring groups meet in Clarkston, Decatur, and Stone Mountain and are free to join.
Who
Why Bible Telling Matters in Discipleship
The story of the disciples returning to their trades following Jesus’ death illustrates the power of the stories we tell. When the newly formed idea of Jesus as Messiah seemed to suddenly halt, they returned to what not only their minds knew but their bodies did too.
Jesus had to appear to them in the stories they inhabited to reframe their story and live in light of it.
When God moves into our neighborhoods, he also enters the stories that shape them (see John 1). Bible Telling makes room to both draw from the stories of Jesus and the Scriptures to apply in personal and communal ways and connect with and press into the stories people tell and help them find Jesus in the midst of them.
Orality
By “oral learners” we mean peoples who learn best and whose lives are most likely to be transformed when instruction comes in oral forms, through speech and spoken words, rather than by written language and books. With 70% of the world’s population learning through orality, the effectiveness of discipleship, community transformation and growth of human flourishing directly tie to adapting what we mean by these things with oral learners in mind.
Empathy
Jesus’ example of helping people get to the next place on their spiritual journey meant that he did not always share the whole revelation of God. Sometimes he heals, sometimes he preaches, sometimes he feeds (see Matthew 9v35-38). Curiosity rooted in empathy forms the basis for entering into stories in a way that makes the most sense for the person, not what makes the most sense to you.
Community
Every story involves more than a one-to-one relationship; it includes the community from which the story originates, the person who has heard this story and is now retelling it, and the person or group of people who are listening. Each relationship has a unique role. The Story Teller is responsible for demonstrating respect for the Story and telling it simply and conversationally. The Story Listener needs to be open to receiving the Story and responding to a discussion about it. This requires their willingness to listen with an intention to recall, remember and engage with the story. The Story Teller and Listener both take an active role; they are willing to engage in an experience where they “stumble through” the story and dialogue together.
Why
Where to Apply Bible Telling
Where
Oral storytelling means telling a story through voice and gestures, and it includes poetry, songs, parables, proverbs and dramas. Here is how it applies in four different roles.
Deploying
Programs
For those deploying programs, storytelling designs from a posture of active listening to the stories already being told rather than passively trying to find the need you want.
Managing
Teams
For those managing teams, storytelling collaborates, inviting managers and team members to come together to tell a better story than they could on their own.
Developing Communities
For those developing communities, storytelling provides an added key to walk alongside communities in a way where they best can learn and be a safe space to bear witness to the stories they tell.
Working
Across Cultures
For those working in the Majority World, storytelling reframes your own thought processes and decision making that reflects the way a culture is influenced from learning through orality.
When We Integrate Bible Telling
Jesus passed his life on to his disciples through word, deed, and power. That pattern is the structure behind how we integrate Bible Telling, and it is the same framework taught in Lesson 4 of our free Whole-Life Discipleship course.
Word:
Encounters with Jesus include how we communicate
There is a place to study and deeply understand God’s story, its origins and its applications for the present. Storytelling frames this through a question of “What did this mean to them?” that helps foster imagination in the context of the day to create application for the present moment.
Deed:
Encounters with Jesus include how we behave
There is a place for not merely being hearers but doers in the form of redemptive and reparative action. Storytelling frames this through the prompt: "What will you do?" It invites listeners to create their own agency rather than have one prescribed for them.
Power:
Encounters with Jesus include how we posture ourselves
The Holy Spirit actively spotlights Jesus every time there is an encounter with him. Storytelling positions the teller away from the label as “expert” and toward an identity of “witness” to the centerpiece: the God in the midst of the story. We all are engaging with the story ongoingly.
Our Bible Telling training module gives you experience learning and facilitating
stories from Scripture in a way that visualizes and enters the narrative rather than
memorizing it rotely. You will become a better listener, discover your own story more
fully, and deepen your trust in the Holy Spirit.
Six weeks, $1,200, online. Next cohorts begin April 15 and September 16, 2027.
You will become a better listener, discover more fully your own story and deepen your trust in the Holy Spirit who is always present and actively moving in our communities.
When