Ruth E. Davidson
redavidson@yahoo.com
January 1999
We are using the rotational model of church school at Southminster. The Bible story is the focus of every center - we merely re-tell it by using the medium of each center. In Drama & Puppets, the children are able to re-tell the story by using drama. In Audio-Visuals and Music, they create a visual or sing the story. In Geography & Games, they learn the story details through an interactive game or the setting/culture through geography. In Creative Arts, its an art project that re-tells the story. In Computer Lab, the children explore Bible software programs that help them learn the story. Every week they HEAR the story, but through these interactive experiences, it becomes more MEMORABLE to them through the activity, the image created, the further exploration. It's fun too!

Linda Keen
lkeen@umcswtx.org
January 1999
In adult groups where my husband & I have participated, Billy and I notice the deep sharing that occurs around storytelling. Whether it's our personal covenant group, Koinonia Sunday School class, Emmaus reunion groups or Marriage Encounter Flame community, the sharing comes from "the heart." We are accepted in these communities "as we are," and there is grace to tell the story that needs to come out at that moment. As Dr. John Savage says, "You can not NOT tell your story!"

Scripture has such rich counter stories that our storytelling group members overlay as we love and listen to one another. As members of a generation of boomers who "have it all and want it all," we have discovered our need to identify our story, their story, and The Story, then to assimilate/integrate them, and to make disciples...one at a time...through our own vulnerability in that sharing.

Knowing your story, having a listening audience, and risking vulnerability: key elements in storytelling! Thanks, y'all!

Carol Wehrheim
carolaw@aol.com
January 1999
I use stories with children and adults. A couple years ago I began each session of a course for Princeton Seminary Institute of Theology with a children's story. I frequently use children's literature as a well to bring a subtle point to the group. So many fine children's books have a strong theological message.

Mary Morrison
WM7MARYM4@aol.com
January 1999
Stories from childhood hold memories. They fashion our being. I can remember the way I cried the first time I saw "Bambi" or when my mother read me "Dumbo." Stories that are personal are like that. They change the listener because the experience changes the storyteller.

At church I have the opportunity to work with people of all ages. One annual event which I enjoy is the family Christmas Eve service which is prepared with young children and their families in mind. Each year more families want to be a part of telling the same timeless story to whomever enters our sanctuary. Whole families participate in the short drama and during the rehearsal time, it never fails that parents express their appreciation for committing to take the time to do something worthwhile with their children to celebrate the season.

The joy of telling stories as a Christian, I think, comes in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform lives through story. Jesus knew this and was a master of storytelling through parables and the art of asking a good question. Can we continue to ask one another to tell the familiar stories and learn new insights too? I certainly hope so. This is one way the scriptures live and continue to speak to us today.

Edward McNulty
mcnulty@catskill.net
January 1999
I find stories in many places--the Scriptures, friends, newspapers, TV, the Internet, etc. For me one of the best sources, because it is one shared by so many, is the movie theater (and video store). More and more church leaders are doing this, I find. Despite the flood of junk, there are some good parable makers in the film industry whose artistry we in the church should employ--films such as LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, THE TRUCE, PONETTE, and a host of others.

Bill Lamont
b.lamont@sympatico.ca
January 1999
As a child I was fascinated by puppets. I still am as an adult. Over the last few years I have developed several full-scale productions which we have used in worship, VBS and other venues. I am always impressed how attentive a 25 minute puppet show can keep every age from 3-93! It's a little humbling, as a minister to know that a puppet can do what I cannot! On Christmas Eve for the last five years we have used puppets to help tell the story of Christ's birth. We tape the narrative and broadcast it over the church's P.A. while the puppet speaks in a darkened room lit only with a spotlight. The mingling of people and puppets has given this service something of a magical quality. Our Sunday School is presently looking at adopting the Workshop Rotational Model next fall. One of the workshops children would have in the six week period would be drama/puppets. I look forward to having children use puppets to tell the story for us. Puppetry has been a rich resource for me in telling the story to all ages.

Ken Bedell
kbedell@dnaco.net
December 1998
I have been doing a little research into the literature related to the role of narration and storytelling in religion. I am amazed at the variety of disciplines where storytelling seems to be a hot topic. Historians are trying to figure out how story relates to both the collection of historical information and the distribution of the work of historians. Therapists and counselors are investigating the use of narration. Christian preachers are organized to practice biblical storytelling and people meet annually in Colorado to discuss electronic storytelling. I am seeing storytelling as both more important and more complex than I did several months ago.

In producing the video for the Friday plenary I was aware of the movement from stories that are general like "Old Turtle" to those that are very personal and specific like Stacy's. Making these two distinctions and even using them as coordinates to make four quadrants into which stories can be placed might be an interesting exercise, but it is not clear to me how this would in anyway benefit the religious educators.

I am now thinking that as well as these two dimensions, every story has a third dimension. It is the relationship that the narration has to the cultural context. It might be thought of as the "depth" dimension. This dimension is not a continuum like the other dimensions. Rather, it has layers. There is the top layer where a story may only be meaningful or make sense to one individual. Then there is the layer where the story connects with a particular social group or specialty group. I could imagine someone telling a story at a convention of physicians that would be very meaningful to them, but not make much sense to others. Then there is the layer where the story makes sense in the context of a particular cultural or language group. Finally, there is the layer where stories transcend individuals and cultures and touch on universals or at least trans-cultural realities.

Seeing that an individual's story can actually tap into the level of trans-cultural realities gives value to many personal stories. Ethnic stories of suffering can either stop at the level of one culture where they are filled with pity and blame or open up suffering at a trans-cultural level so that the stories are a means of understanding and reconciliation across cultural boundaries. Within a culture, the stories of suffering can take people beyond themselves to identify with and understand universal suffering. In all of history no culture was more successful in formulating its story of suffering so that it connected with reality at the deepest level than the Hebrews. Today their Jewish, Christian and Moslem heirs continue to benefit from their stories.

Patty Jenkins
lhchome@aol.com
January 1999
I often use stories (mostly original) for the Children's Lesson in worship. I am also getting involved in the Network of Biblical Storytellers (NOBS). NOBS teaches folks how to tell biblical stories as stories, to re-ignite the oral tradition. I also encourage people to tell their own faith stories as lessons to us all.

Beverly Bailey
baileybev@aol.com
January 1999
Children naturally want to tell you their stories. By the use of story in relating the Bible lesson, children immediately find connections in their own life. If you relate an incident about yourself or something happening that they can relate to that illustrates the biblical lesson, they immediately connect with their own lives. My company, New Paths (http:members.aol.com/newpaths1) merges art and the faith story. I am a Certified Christian Educator and musician, my partners are a musician educator and a visual artist. Our programs utilize story, drama, music and art. People tell stories when they sing hymns, as they work together over a group mural depicting the story. We start with story and work from there. We have people discover something new about themselves with every program. The use of story and art boosts self-esteem, also--as people discover they can create beautiful things.