BIBLE TELLING
Bible Telling is an approach to discipleship and community development that meets people where they are through narrative-based mentoring and applied practice.
At Resilient Communities, we believe lasting change happens not through a book, but in the context of community. Whether you're a leader, a learner, or somewhere in between, Bible telling offers a path toward growth that is personal, practical, and transformative.
2 Ways to Rethink Your Story and God's through 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.
How
Bible telling places teams and communities into the emotions and movements of the stories God tells.
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Training
Storytelling is a powerful way we translate concepts into everyday experiences, both through retelling stories from Scripture as well as stories from life and culture that illustrate the importance of an idea and practice for you to implement.
How to Experience Storytelling
Coaching
Through storytelling, you have room to reframe your experiences and retrain how your body relates to deeply-held beliefs, people in your life and the lives of those you influence.
Mentoring
The act of processing experiences creates the potential to relate to them differently. It is why we integrate stories in every mentoring group to generate trauma-safe practices and realistic priorities to heal.
Who
Why Storytelling 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
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. 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.
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 Storytelling
Where
Oral storytelling is telling a story through voice and gestures. Storytelling includes poetry, songs, parables, proverbs and dramas.
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 Storytelling
There are three ways that Jesus integrates stories: through words, actions and power. We need different encounters with Jesus, depending on our life circumstance.
Words
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.
Actions
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 is designed to give you experience in learning and facilitating stories from Scripture in a way that visualizes and enters into the narrative rather than rotely memorize it.
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