Jesus is perhaps the greatest Storyteller in history. He told stories not to entertain crowds, not to carry on a philosophic dialogue with seekers and skeptics, and not to establish a name for Himself as the Transmitter of knowledge and wisdom. He told stories—simple and elegant—to reveal the nature of God, the problem of sin, and God’s redemptive mission. Jesus was the Great Communicator of the deep and abiding lessons in the plan of salvation in simple and understandable forms.1 He spoke the language of the people and showed keen understanding of their pains and pleasures.2 As a Master Teacher, He taught theology that was rooted in day-to-day life and experiences rather than in abstract and abstruse theories. Although His stories and sayings were vivid reflections of everyday life of the period3 in which He lived, they still carry a timeless value to our own time.
Although parables predate Jesus, no one used parables more “consistently, creatively, and effectively as He did.”4 Parables played such a significant part in His teaching that one-third of His teachings were in this form, and they were Christ’s favorite mode of teaching.5 There are several reasons why Jesus used parables as a primary mode of His teaching. Robert Stein mentions three: (1) to conceal His teachings from those outside; (2) to reveal and illustrate His message to His followers and to those outside; and (3) to disarm His listeners.6 Other reasons include provoking and challenging His listeners’ thoughts and also allowing them to make the connections for themselves through His vivid illustrations and images of the love of God.7 Ellen White, perhaps, says it best: “Jesus sought an avenue to every heart. By using a variety of illustrations, He not only presented truth in its different phases, but appealed to the different hearers. Their interest was aroused by figures drawn from the surroundings of their daily life. None who listened to the Saviour could feel that they were neglected or forgotten. The humblest, the most sinful, heard in His teaching a voice that spoke to them in sympathy and tenderness.”8
Stories and their functions
Time was when teachers communicated with devices such as word pictures, metaphors, and stories, unlike the abstract reasoning and verbal prose of the Greek tradition common to Western education today.9 Scholars of narrative theology inform us that God the Father is a Storyteller. A survey of the 66 books of the Bible reveals that one-third of the books use story as the primary genre of communication, and those 22 books account for half the Bible.10
What does all this mean to us? It means that to be effective in telling our generation about God and His love, we must learn the simple art of storytelling to connect our hearers with the great truths about God. Note some of the powerful qualities stories have to transmit the message of the gospel:
- Stories have the power to entertain by grabbing our attention, involving our emotions, and stirring our imaginations to fresh thinking.
- Stories create a sense of community by building bridges between people of the past and those of the present, and between one people group and another.
- Stories teach us great truths simply and effectively and show us how to live and think.
- Stories are enduring—we may forget theories, but rarely forget stories.11
Once upon a time, God incarnated as a Storyteller—the Word—which is the lesson from John’s theology of the Word of God (John 1:1–3, 14).12 That is to say, God is not a notion, He is a Person. “God is not concept; God is story. God is not idea; God is presence. God is not hypothesis; God is experience. God is not principle; God is life.”13 However, before He embarked on His mission of telling stories, Jesus first listened to stories.14 Although He must have had lots of stories to tell about the kingdom above, He first took time, actually 30 of the 33 years of His life, to listen to the stories from His community. It was in this matrix that His theology was shaped, a theology that was deep yet simple, divine yet enfleshed. His theology was His story, and His story was His theology.15
Stories, values, and the media
Stories define our reality. How do we determine what is good and bad, right and wrong, friend or foe, person and nonperson? The stories we heard from childhood shaped our worldviews and determined for us what was acceptable conduct and what was not. Once upon a time, parents and the elderly in the community told stories to young children. Some stories were historical, others were mythical, while others were simply bedtime stories. The strange thing is that we have never forgotten those stories.
Who’s telling the stories today? Hollywood, telenovelas, and the Internet, and the results are there for all to see. The media powerfully and purposefully directs the values and morals of society today.
In the light of this growing trend, is there something Christians can do? Although the church has achieved a lot in transforming the beliefs and behaviors of people everywhere, there is still much to do; and much can be done through storytelling. Here are some areas where Christian storytelling can help advance the cause of the gospel.
1. Use stories in your preaching to help cultivate a positive and joyous attitude to life. Without a Christian attitude to life, church members, in times of crisis or conflict, revert to pre-Christian practices and habits, thus not providing room for the sanctifying power of God in their lives. Annette Simmons, in her book Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins, explains that stories have the power to change reality.16 Stories we heard as children taught us to fear ghosts, spirits, and darkness. In other words, one can so paint a picture in the mind of a listener that it can trigger many emotions: pain, anger, sorrow, empathy, fear, and joy. Unfortunately, churches today place more value in abstract, theoretical, and rational methodologies for teaching doctrines. As a result, despite the fact that the minds of many are convicted of the truth, the hearts have remained unconverted. The role of emotions has thus been disregarded in the work of conversion. The result is spiritual dissonance—convinced heads, but untransformed hearts. Salvation and the kingdom must be represented as the Master Communicator did, in stories that touched the hearts and transformed the lives of hearers. While narrative preaching is important, appropriate stories leave indelible moral and doctrinal emphases on the mind.
2. Use stories to speak about the salvation story in simple, understandable language. When speaking about eternal life, the kingdom of God, and unseen spiritual realities, Jesus often began with the phrase, “The kingdom of God is like . . .” Then came a story or an illustration that the hearers in that communal context could identify and connect with. Even in the Old Testament times, whenever God sent a prophet with a message for His people, this message was often delivered in metaphors, illustrations, word pictures, and object lessons, never in complex philosophical constructs that only the trained or elite could understand. Nathan needed only a story to bring King David to a shocking realization of the gravity of his sinful conduct (2 Sam. 12:1–14). A rational logical exposition on sin may never have achieved that effect.
3. While propositional methods have their place, try narrative and illustrative witnessing whenever you can. Too often, witnessing takes a propositional form. This is not strange considering the fact that most ministers and educators are trained in an educational pattern rooted in dialectics or philosophy. But that is not the only mode in which learning takes place or truth can be taught. Postmoderns can be reached as we change our language and method of doing ministry by employing “faith stories, testimonies, public drama, role-plays, and skits”; thus we can communicate the gospel story boldly, knowing that it “has an inherent and innate power.”17
4. Try media presentations to enhance witnessing. Perhaps electronic media television and the Internet—stand as the most powerful communication tools to convey and influence popular opinion and action today, as witnessed by the recent political movements across northern Africa. The Arab Spring revolution is a graphic reminder of the power of the electronic media to bring about political and social change. Television, Internet, YouTube, Facebook, and other social media are largely responsible for worldwide changes in attitude to such matters as sexual orientation and same-sex marriage, for instance. How has the church handled these powerful electronic media in accomplishing its primary mission? On the one hand are those who employ these services to preach the gospel effectively, promote their ministries sincerely, and raise funds for constructive global projects. On the other hand are those who have turned the television into a medium to demonize and condemn people as sinners bound for hell, make people live with a guilt complex, and amass wealth for questionable purposes. While the potential for good and evil are present in mass media, it cannot be denied that television is one of the greatest forces of globalization that has created a common culture among youth all over the world. Has the church done anything to utilize this great communication opening?
The History Channel produced a series on the Bible that was a huge success and led people to ask whether
these stories were actually in the Bible, with some persons even stating that they never knew the Bible was so exciting. Yet, this was not an initiative of any church, but by Hollywood. Could it be possible that the Lord is nudging us in a direction we have always been reluctant to go, and like Peter, we are reacting by saying, “Not so, Lord” (Acts 10:14, KJV). While there is reasonable concern about obsession with fiction, Christ’s method should be the model.
5. Relate your preaching to current events and stories familiar to your audience. The church has a duty and responsibility to get more involved in the activities of our respective communities. Until we learn the stories that define their hurts, worries, pleasures, and needs, we will continue to speak above their heads. But the moment we understand their stories and can connect those stories with God’s salvation story, transformation will occur. Passion will be kindled, and hunger and thirst satisfied.
6. Make the best of the metanarrative of the great controversy to provide a relevant context for your preaching. Within this grand narrative of the cosmic conflict is a series of stories: the role of the Godhead, the Son particularly, in the drama of the ages that has raged between God and Satan; the mind of Satan at work; the consequence of unbridled ambition; the fall of the first humans; the result of divine submission in the Person of the Son to redeem the fallen humanity; the role of God’s covenant people and the contours of their history; the Cross and the Resurrection; the mission of the church; and the final events of the cosmic victory over evil. The biblical metanarrative does not focus on lust and deceit, envy and revenge, such as what constitute the themes of many popular sitcoms viewed by millions around the world; it focuses on unconditional love and unparalleled self-abnegation. But which story is heard louder and better? In the law courts, as lawyers quickly learn, the best story wins. If indeed the best story wins, as was demonstrated by Christ as He shared glimpses of the Father with the people of His day, the question we need to ask ourselves is, What stories are we telling? Perhaps what it requires is for Christian witnesses to
spend more time in reflection on how to illustrate, or present, the gospel in appealing forms.
References
1 Simon J. Kistemaker, The Parables: Understanding the Stories Jesus Told (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1980), 13.
2 Gary M. Burge, Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller: Uncover the Ancient Culture, Discover Hidden Meanings (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 16.
3 David Wenham, The Parables of Jesus (Downers Grove, IL: Inter- Varsity Press, 1989), 13.
4 Klyne R. Snodgrass, Stories With Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2008), 37.
5 Burge, 19.
6 Robert H. Stein, An Introduction to the Parables of Jesus (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1981), 33–35.
7 Wenham, 14.
8 Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Washington, DC: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1941), 21, 22.
9 Burge, 15, 16.
10 John A. Beck, God as Storyteller: Seeking Meaning in Biblical Narrative (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2009), 1.
11 Ibid., 2, 3.
12 John Navone, Seeking God in Story (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1990), 185.
13 C. S. Song, In the Beginning Were Stories Not Texts: Story Theology (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2011), 7.
14 Navone, 184.
15 Song, 18.
16 Annette Simmons, Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate With Power and Impact (New York: Amacom Books, 2007), 3.
17 Carlos C. Roberts, Christian Education Teaching Methods—From Modern to Postmodern: Teaching the Faith to Post-moderns (Bloomington, IN: Author House, 2009), 10, 11.
