“We Hear” by Cortney L. Haley for GoTell (John 10:11-18)

The Good Shepherd

During the Season of Easter, many of us revisit Jesus’ words about the good shepherd. Check out the GoTell page on this story from John 10:11-18. Sarah Agnew told this scripture during the opening worship of the 2012 National Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia. See how she tells it…

On her blog, Sarah offers this helpful introduction to biblical storytelling…

Biblical storytelling is a method of telling the sacred stories of our tradition that invites deeper connection for the storyteller with the story and with the listeners, and a deeper connection for the listeners with the story.

What a Biblical storyteller aims to do is to learn the story – a small or large passage from the Bible – as it has been recorded and handed down in our tradition, to be able to stand before the gathered people and tell the story. 

The main difference for me between reading Scripture and telling the Story is the eye contact you can make with the people. These are the stories of our faith, of the relationship of God with God’s people over time, and to meet people in the eye as you tell those stories is soul stirring.

Visit Sarah’s blog at http://sarahtellsstories.blogspot.com/p/biblical-storytelling.html

In the beginning was the word…pass it on!

This is the theme of the 2013 National Gathering of the Network of Biblical Storytellers in Australia. The event will be held in Brisbane, July 5-7. The keynote speaker is Megan McKenna. In addition to storytelling and keynotes she will be making a public address entitled ‘Like a Hammer Shattering Rock.’ The Gathering will include an Epic Telling of The Gospel of John, Chapters 1 and 12-17. For more information visithttp://ausbiblicalstorytellers.blogspot.com.au/

Visit GoTell’s Australia page…

Setting the Visual Scene: Lessons from Cameroon

Amelia Boomershine

One of the many blessings of the Cameroon mission trip was having the opportunity to gets lots of teaching experience in a short period of time and to repeat the program. I was able to experiment with different approaches and learn what worked well. I grew in confidence and effectiveness as a workshop leader just by virtue of getting a lot of practice.

Children attended the Saturday Festival Gathering in Ndop. To my delight, team leader Juliana Rowe assigned them to my mission partner, Nancy Rice, and me for a storylearning workshop on Mark 1:14-20. After great fun going on a “Lion Hunt,” we launched into the call story. Learning continued with the foolproof storyboard exercise.

Then I used Godly Play figures for deeper learning and telling. The basket lid made a fine boat. The story materials helped the children enter the story world and get beyond rote recitation (which they do amazingly well). It was captivating to watch the young people think through the story, arrange the figures, and tell. Everyone paid close attention while they did so. Better yet, everyone wanted a turn!
I repeated the exercise in the afternoon topical workshop on Biblical Storytelling with Children where I taught the story of Jesus Blessing the Children. The adults were just as eager to tell with the figures as the children, who also attended that workshop.

I was so impressed with how well this method worked that I then used it in the adults-only workshops in Mutengene, not only for depicting the stories’ action, but also for identifying setting and characters. In the evaluations at the conclusion of the Mutengene Institute, one participant described this method as “setting the visual scene.” A number of people commented on how much the hands-on materials helped them visualize the story.

So if you want to improve your biblical storytelling teaching skills, sign up for the next NBS mission trip!

To read GoTell’s on-going Cameroon blog, visit http://www.gotellcameroon.com

For more on biblical storytelling in Cameroon, visit GoTell’s Cameroon page