StorySeed Bible Telling Ministry
20/09/2010 9:00 am <>
Two or three years after attending an OMF Bible storying workshop, Julie, mother of 2 from an abusive working class background, began to reach out to the hapless and hopeless people in the mountains surrounding her home. It soon became apparent that God has given her a gift for telling His stories unforgettably. Her church recognized the gift, which coupled with Julie's self-sacrificial service and powerful prayer, has since brought over 200 to know and obey Him. They asked Julie to teach over 100 of their mixed-age children once or twice a month, for 1½ hours on Sunday, and to teach straight through the Bible! So far she has taught up to Kings & Chronicles with extraordinary results in 5 different venues, even using Bible stories in her English classes and an after school program at an elementary school. However, Julie needs coworkers.
How can people be trained and motivated to use Bible stories in their own neighborhoods and families, instead of calling in professional clergy?
The answer may lie in an energetic and eclectic training program road-tested in 19 nations of the world by professional storyteller, author and storytelling coach John Walsh. As someone who battled numerous learning disabilities to become a teacher and college lecturer, John knows how to use different learning approaches and methods with people of widely differing educational, cultural and interest backgrounds.
In July 2009 John Walsh taught missionaries and local believers how to learn and use Bible stories easily and effectively, stimulating the memory by using hand-signs, drama, music, poetry, and art. The pressure of producing an artistic rendering of the story to others in under 30 minutes effectively moved the story from the head to the heart for long-term memory and application. It ensured the story was communicated in art forms both familiar and comfortable for learners. At the same time each participant was exposed to each story at least 12 times in the course of the workshop. In all, over 200 were trained, with many enthusiastically asking for further classes and materials, and continuing to use Bible stories in their regular ministries. A vision was born for StorySeed Association, a nonprofit organisation to facilitate training and produce Chinese materials. Local evangelist Esther Hsiao undertook to register this with the government, a process finished in the last few weeks.
John Walsh responded to a warm invitation to return in October 2010 by offering to come and bring several disciples to hold workshops simultaneously in different cities. During October, 3 teachers will hold 6 workshops in 4 cities (Taipei, Chiayi, Hualien & Tainan), ranging from 1½ hours to 4 days in length. In some cities the spiritual atmosphere is quite cold, so much prayer is needed for high attendance of gifted and called change agents who will put what they learn to use in evangelism, discipleship and equipping the saints. Pray with us that God will put His vision on the hearts of those who can make an impact among Chinese and others around the world in these last days, and that He will use the BibleTelling workshops and StorySeed Association to glorify His name in this place.
Anne Alexander - Hsinchu
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