Biblical Storytelling in The Gambia
Ten years ago the Network of Biblical Storytellers, International sponsored three trips to The Gambia and equipped the church in West Africa to promote biblical storytelling. Inspired by Tom’s call to spread biblical storytelling to countries outside the United States, Juliana Rowe took the initiative in West Africa and became the NBS international missions leader. GoTell was a part of the two educational mission trips which resulted from Juliana’s initial exploration.
One of those from The Gambia who participated in the first training held there was Benjamin Michael. He attended along with his wife and young son. I remember them well because they were the only ones in my workshop on biblical storytelling with children. Never dismiss the significance of even the smallest group learning the art of biblical storytelling!
I also remember Benjamin because the following year the children’s ministry of his church partnered with the children’s ministry of my church. It was richly rewarding for both churches.
Benjamin has continued to promote biblical storytelling in the Gambia and recently reported to Juliana about its progress:
Greetings in Christ,
NBS Gambia recently held an ‘Epic Telling of the Passion of the Christ’ based on the Gospel of Mark chapters 14-16. The event was held last Sunday 22nd of April 2018 during the main morning worship session at Assemblies of God Church in Kanifing Layout. A total of 13 Tellers participated in the presentation, namely: Teny, Julia, Paul, Elizabeth, Yahya, Halima, Patricia, Lansana, Comfort, Joseph, Mariama, Buckey and I, Benjamin. Most of them are mainly youths from various Church denominations, namely: Catholics, Methodist, Pentecostal and Evangelicals. Four of these Tellers were participating for the first time.
Download a PDF of the full report: Report from Benjamin Michael
Building Hope & Healing
Last month Rev. Leon Wilkinson (pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Middleton, Ohio) and I led a workshop on “Building Hope and Healing in the Faith Community” The workshop was part of a Faith-Based Reentry Summit in Springfield Ohio. I spoke from my experience leading Circle of the Word programs both in and outside correctional institutions.
My recommendation of Circle of the Word was affirmed by the eloquent testimony of Sarah Mason who attended Sacred Stories a year ago where she was introduced to the stories of Jesus passion, death and resurrection from the Gospel of Mark. We made a great team!
Messiah of Peace in Review of Biblical Literature
We were pleased to discover that the March issue of the Review of Biblical Literature includes a substantive review of Tom’s book by David Seal of Cornerstone University:
Thomas Boomershine’s The Messiah of Peace: A Performance-Criticism Commentary on Mark’s Passion Resurrection Narrative is volume 12 of the Biblical Performance Criticism series. It consists of nine chapters, an introduction, and eight appendices. The chapters contain a detailed investigation of the contents of the passion story of Mark’s Gospel, beginning with 14:1–11, “The Day before the Passover.” Subsequent chapters explore the Markan text up through 16:1–8 (“The Resurrection”) in commentary fashion, followed by a concluding chapter. The appendices, in addition to some other topics, provide detailed information on the sound of and pronunciation of Koine Greek, the Markan audience and their historical context, and the rhetorics of biblical storytelling.
Download a PDF of the full review: RBL Review 2018
The Art of Scripture by Heart
by Rev. Amelia Boomershine, D.Min.
The July-August issue of Worship Arts magazine will include an article I wrote called “The Art of Biblical Storytelling.” The theme for this year of Worship Arts is “A Place at the Table,” and for July-August the focus is “A Voice to Be Heard.” I was asked to submit an article on this focus because of my work with incarcerated women.
Just as the disciples in Luke’s Gospel dismissed women’s witness to the resurrection, the voices of incarcerated women are often ignored. As the frightened women witnesses in the Gospel of Mark ran away from the tomb saying nothing to anyone, incarcerated women are often mute. I recently visited a woman in jail who participated in our Circle of the Word there. I asked for her feedback on the class. She said she liked it because “It gave me a voice.” The art of scripture by heart enables “the Voice that began creation” to give a voice to the voiceless women in jail and prison.
Subscribe to Worship Arts for the full article. It will appear in the July-August issue.
