Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Casting the net for a catch
Many times Jesus used everyday analogies for communicating memorably to his audience. He talked about fishing a lot. Making 'fishers of men'. Casting the net out for a catch, etc.
My Dad was a fisherman and loved spending many hours on the lake near our home in County Fermanagh (U.K.). I have many happy childhood memories of being out with him in a boat as he skillfully cast out his line to where the fish were feeding and how he taught me to do it too.
As I was reviewing the great ten-step approach that the IMB use for storying - see here - I caught myself trying to come up with a helpful acronym to remember the steps. Maybe this is the way a literate remembers things, and I should think of a story or something to recall it better!! However, if this is of any use to you I share my thoughts as many of us are casting out our lines or nets to make fishers of oral men and women:
Casting out:
Choose the principle (you wish to communicate)
Assess the worldview (of the target group)
See bridges, barriers and gaps (in the worldview)
Table a story (or stories that teach the principle you have chosen)
Invent a plan (to involve the use of that story and how you will discuss it afterwards)
Narration time!! (Tell the story)
Group discussion time (Post-story dialogue)
Obey the principle (by taking steps to implement it)
Underscore it (in the lives of your listeners with accountability in groups)
Take it on! (Repeat the process and see reproduction in the lives of the listeners as they obey and retell the story to others)
Match these with the original IMB steps to better grasp the process.
My Dad was a fisherman and loved spending many hours on the lake near our home in County Fermanagh (U.K.). I have many happy childhood memories of being out with him in a boat as he skillfully cast out his line to where the fish were feeding and how he taught me to do it too.
As I was reviewing the great ten-step approach that the IMB use for storying - see here - I caught myself trying to come up with a helpful acronym to remember the steps. Maybe this is the way a literate remembers things, and I should think of a story or something to recall it better!! However, if this is of any use to you I share my thoughts as many of us are casting out our lines or nets to make fishers of oral men and women:
Casting out:
Choose the principle (you wish to communicate)
Assess the worldview (of the target group)
See bridges, barriers and gaps (in the worldview)
Table a story (or stories that teach the principle you have chosen)
Invent a plan (to involve the use of that story and how you will discuss it afterwards)
Narration time!! (Tell the story)
Group discussion time (Post-story dialogue)
Obey the principle (by taking steps to implement it)
Underscore it (in the lives of your listeners with accountability in groups)
Take it on! (Repeat the process and see reproduction in the lives of the listeners as they obey and retell the story to others)
Match these with the original IMB steps to better grasp the process.

