An Asian brother working in a  “resistant” people group was trying to use Chronological Bible Storying, but he found that the people were unreceptive to someone springing a Bible story onto them. As a result, his many attempts to follow the traditional Chronological Bible Storying approach were unsuccessful. But he did find a successful way to story the Bible. He would talk to people in ways that encouraged them to talk about their felt needs. Being oral communicators, they quite naturally expressed their needs and concerns by telling a story. The brother would then respond by telling them  a story of his own on that topic, then a Bible story that  addressed that  topic . It seemed perfectly natural to them for someone to tell a story on a topic they had introduced themselves by telling a story. This approach has been called “your story, my story, His story.”

This felt-need topical Bible storying approach enabled our brother to share Bible stories on an ongoing basis. It has the further advantage that it matches stories to needs and concerns that are in focus at the time of telling. On the other hand, it means that the story teller must have a good repertoire of stories to share on a broad range of topics, and this has implications for the story crafter. The story teller must cede control of the agenda to the audience, but in a resistant community this makes the audience less defensive and more receptive. The story teller must add enough historical linkage and review at the beginning of each story that the hearers can link it chronologically with the other Bible stories. In this way he enables his audience to reconstruct the chronological biblical metanarrative story by story.

When prebelievers become more interested or become believers, our brother gathers them into listening groups for a more traditional thematic chronological approach. He now meets with several small groups that hear and discuss stories from the Bible.

Rick Brown

Comments expressed here are my own, and do not represent the official position or opinions of any agency with whom I am affiliated.