First of all, because if it is used correctly, storytelling is a useful and vital skill! Let's consider Jesus for a minute. When He was on earth, what was His major form of communicating truth to His followers? Was it pronouncements, like we're going to do such and such now. No! Was it preaching? Not usually! The list could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. What He did was tell stories, which we call parables. So, God, having all knowledge at His fingertips, and knowing everyone's future, chose storytelling as the most effective means to impart truth! I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty good reccomendation!
Second, if you want to compete favorably with the secular media for the attention of your kids, then let's take a page "from their playbook," so to speak, sanctify it, and tell stories! I mean think about it. What do most songs do? Tell stories. What about TV programs. They tell stories, too. And movies? You got it, they tell stories! In fact, you can't think of a kind of media that's not story based! So, let's learn effective ways to tell stories!
It can be used for Biblical concept stories. Now these are stories that are not from the Bible, but are based on Biblical concepts.
You can tell Bible stories. However, to keep them from being "old hat" to kids, tell them from a new prospective!
The springboard!
To look at another well versed storyteller's (Barry McWilliams) ideas about how to tell an effective story, just click on Storytelling.
In order to go to our next page of Storytelling Tips, then simply click on Storytelling-2.
