The Power of Story…
It seems as though almost everyone associated with youth ministry is talking about the use of story – including myself. And why not, who doesn’t love a good story? I love that we (the world of youth ministry) are talking about story -- especially as it relates to helping students engage with God’s story and ultimately his mission. In my opinion, there isn't a better method of communicating than through the powerful use of story or parable.
I first became intrigued with the use of “story” as a learning method when I read my friend Mark Miller’s book called, “Experiential Storytelling” like 4 years or so ago. Then as a part of my master’s degree I went to a week long seminar in Dallas lead by a guy named J. O. Terry and some others. I was introduced to the Chronological Bible Storying (CBS) method that at the time seemed revolutionary to me. Later I learned that CBS had been around for several decades and utilized by a number of mission agencies like, New Tribes Mission, the Navigators, International Mission Board, etc., mostly in illiterate contexts and for the purpose of sharing the gospel.
I became more deeply intrigued and much more familiar with CBS after working with my friend Mike Novelli. Mike has done extensive research and work in storying (as it is commonly called by those who use story as a learning method) and was really the first person I had met that used the CBS method effectively in his youth ministry.
While at Sonlife, Mike and a team of others created and developed two new events for students that use storying as the chief learning method. One event is called “Merge” and is for high school students and the other is called “Awake” and is for middle school students. Both of these events have been tremendously helpful. Almost weekly I get emails from youth workers and students from all over North America that are filled with stories of life transformation. Currently, Mike is training youth workers in the art of bible storying through his organization called Echo. If you haven’t heard of what he is doing, you should look him up at www.echothestory.com.
In the last few days I have received a few emails from youth workers who are experimenting with the use of storying within their ministry context. Some are creating film shorts and others are writing their own narratives from Scripture that bring together God’s epic story in a way that helps their students understand God more deeply. One of the youth workers that I have been in conversation with is writing a musical for her youth ministry to perform at their annual year-end church-wide fund raiser. She is basing the musical on seven episodes of God’s story that we teach in our Enroute Youth Worker training.
Of course if you were at YS’s NYWC you know the theme was “storyline”. Student Life did a seminar on story called BLUR that I heard didn’t really go over that well and I taught my Story, Signs and Sacred Rhythms seminar (which I also heard, from a few, didn’t go over very well either) J. I just came across a blog post by someone named Drew over at http://collectionofcrumbs.wordpress.com/ who is one post into a five post series called, The Power of Story in Youth Ministry. There is a new book out (that I haven’t read yet but have on order) called, The God-Hungry Imagination: The Art of Storytelling for Postmodern Youth Ministry by Sarah Arthur. Story is everywhere in youth ministry – and I love that it is!
I am concerned about one thing, however. I am concerned that we as youth workers will stop at the use of the method. I know youth workers and I am convinced that our uses of story as a learning/teaching method will be creative and compelling as youth workers are some of the most imaginative people I know. However, I am concerned that we might stop at the “newness” of the approach or technique and therefore fall short of helping our students encounter and develop a narrative theology.
Even if our use of story is powerful and it provides a fresh way of communicating who God is to our students, until we allow narrative theology to inform our way of life, we’ll be discussing the same issues we are today 5, 10, 15, 20 (you get the point) years from now. What will change us? It isn’t leapfrogging from the story of God and the methods we use to introduce our students to it to the systematization of theology as we have come to know it. I am wondering if one of the biggest challenges we face in youth ministry today isn’t the relocation away from a systematic, informational approach to youth ministry (as a starting point) and a movement toward a narrative, informational approach to youth ministry (as a starting point).
More on this in future posts…your thoughts to this point? I would love to hear what you are thinking about as it relates to the use of story, God’s story (and mission) and narrative theology.
