Friday, March 16, 2007
Get our e-zine!
Just a little announcement here to say that we have launched our monthly e-zine, called Making It Stick! It is a newsletter with news and stories about what God is doing worldwide through Bible storying. There are resources listed and other practical and helpful pieces about the topic of oral communication.
Click this link to add your email address to our list and sign up for this FREE new monthly update!
Click this link to add your email address to our list and sign up for this FREE new monthly update!
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.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Two books about storytelling in the corporate world...
I thought mention of these two resources would be of interest. The use of storytelling in a business context has been a well known and used method of management for some time now. Either, or both, of these books, while not an explanation of biblical storytelling, will nevertheless help you grasp the wide impact of storying as well as see how to employ the overall use of narrative in day to day conversation.
We trust you find them helpful:
From Amazon I found these two (reduced-price) links to the books:
Managing By Storying Around by David Armstrong
Storytelling in Organizations: Why Storytelling is Transforming 21st Century Organizations and Management by John Seely Brown, Stephen Denning, Katalina Groh and Laurence Prusak.
We trust you find them helpful:
From Amazon I found these two (reduced-price) links to the books:
Managing By Storying Around by David Armstrong
Storytelling in Organizations: Why Storytelling is Transforming 21st Century Organizations and Management by John Seely Brown, Stephen Denning, Katalina Groh and Laurence Prusak.

