The Basics of Chronological Bible Storying

Part Three - The Storying Session

When you take part in a storying session, it is important to arrive, enter, and begin relating to people according to the cultural norms that youve observed in that location. Some cultures have very elaborate greeting and entering rules. In many cultures its considered rude to leave or arrive without greeting or saying goodbye to everyone. In some places you need to consider the order in which you greet people. Often its from the eldest to the youngest, but consider those things so that youre not creating another barrier by coming in and bringing a style of greeting that becomes uncomfortable to them. When you move into the storying session, assume appropriate positions that would be normal in a story telling session in your culture. Usually this doesnt involve having a pulpit in front of you with everyone sitting in rows! Often it will be seated around the room with people sitting around in the same posture as you. Be comfortable and try to ensure that other people are comfortable as well. If this storying is considered evangelism, we would suggest that you dont have a worship time. If youre storying is part of discipleship, worship should become a natural thing. You need to be consistent because youre setting the pattern for the worship that people will be oering to our Lord. Start the storying session according to local customs. As you continue with the storying session, make sure you include time for review. Have people tell your story again, and if youve told them previous stories, allow time for them to review them too. It may also be appropriate to do dramas as they review the stories, giving them tools to help them to pass these stories on to others. One thing you may like to do before you enter the story time is to give them a listening task. Tell them to listen for particular items in the story that may be coming up. This can be a help in the dialogue session that will happen after the story. When you nish telling the story, do not shift to a literate style. Ask your questions in a way that people in that environment would normally ask questions in their culture. Before you leave, make sure youre not departing prematurely. Often after a dialogue session, the real issues will start coming up, and people will want to talk about the things that are aecting them. The way the story is actually coming across will often be more clear after youve nished your agenda. So consider it part of your responsibility to stay and listen to them and have fellowship with them and give opportunities for them to bring up issues that your story may have brought up to them. It will also give you time to increase your understanding of the culture and to develop closer friendships with the people that youre working with. Be sure to depart in an appropriate way without being rushed. Many of us are very, very time conscious. The people we work with often are not, and theyre very aware of the unspoken things we say when we nish something and decide to rush o. They can be very sensitive about things we did not intend to say to them by rushing o, as if the time with them was just one more slot on our agenda.

Note: Article taken from IMB www.imb.org