Stories aren't just for kids: Busting 10 Myths about Bible storytelling

By Christine Dillon

In a world increasingly anti-Christian, how can you communicate in a way that leaves listeners hungry for more? 
Stories are a God-designed way to impact hearts. 
But many Christians reject stories as just for kids. Christine Dillon has trained thousands of people in storytelling. 10 myths come up over and over again, and they block Christians from using this life-changing ministry tool.  
MYTH 1: Adults won't listen to stories
MYTH 2: Stories are only for non-literate cultures 
MYTH 3: Men won't listen to stories ...
MYTH 6: Storytelling won't grow mature disciples
MYTH 8: Storytelling will lead to heresy ... 

Using stories from around the world Dillon tackles each myth and challenges you to master this tool. 

Christine Dillon is a Bible storyteller and trainer who works in Asia and Australia. Her book, Telling the Gospel Through Story: Evangelism that keeps hearers hungry for more (IVP, 2012) has inspired many to start telling the greatest story of them all.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christine Dillon
• Release date: Sep 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9780648129622

Christine Dillon

Christine Dillon works as a church planter in Taiwan with OMF International. She has been a missionary there for the past twelve years, but lived in Asia as a child while her parents were missionaries as well. The prevalent belief system in Dillon's area is ancestor and idol worship with only .8% of the population being christian. Her evangelism approach consists of storying, discipling, and training of locals and other missionaries. Dillon previously published 1-2-1 Discipleship in 2009 (Christian Focus).

Book preview

Stories aren't just for kids

STORIES AREN'T JUST FOR KIDS

BUSTING 10 MYTHS ABOUT BIBLE STORYTELLING

CHRISTINE DILLON

LINKS IN THE CHAIN PRESS

www.storytellerchristine.com

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Stories aren’t just for kids: Busting 10 Myths about Bible storytelling

Copyright © 2017 by Christine Dillon

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Many of these stories first appeared in Telling the Gospel Through Story: Evangelism that keeps hearers hungry for more (IVP, Downer’s Grove, Illinois, 2012) or on the www.storyingthescriptures.com blog

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Cover Design: Lankshear Design

ISBN 978-0-6481296-2-2

With grateful thanks to those who belong to the Bible storytelling community. And to those who have allowed me to tell you stories. You’ve enriched my life beyond measure.

CONTENTS

My own myths about storytelling

MYTH 1: Adults won’t listen to stories

MYTH 2: Stories are only for non-literate cultures

MYTH 3: Men won’t listen to stories

MYTH 4: Mixed groups won’t work for men

MYTH 5: You can’t mix Christians & non-Christians

MYTH 6: Stories won’t grow mature disciples

MYTH 7: Long-term churchgoers won’t appreciate stories

MYTH 8: Storytelling will lead to heresy

MYTH 9: Storytelling is too slow a method

MYTH 10: It’s impossible to learn a story so accurately

Take the one month challenge

Endnotes

Acknowledgments

More about Bible storytelling

Become a storyteller friend

Non-fiction by Christine Dillon

Fiction by Christine Dillon

Like this book?

Introducing Christine

MY OWN MYTHS ABOUT STORYTELLING

If someone were to suggest to you that you could bring people to faith in Jesus by telling stories, what would you think?

Stories are just for children, surely adults won’t listen to them? Or, Stories are too unsophisticated and simplistic.

These were some of my thoughts when I first heard about Bible storytelling. I dismissed this tool as ‘not for me’ and went on with leading evangelistic Bible studies. This took up most of my available time. It was obvious learning Bible stories would need even more time. Time, I didn’t think worth investing.

Thankfully the Holy Spirit didn’t listen to my excuses. I began to feel an inward urge to learn one story. The urge grew so strong that it couldn’t be ignored. My first story was lengthy and covered sections of Genesis 1-3. I looked for a person to share it with so I could tell God, I tried and then return to more familiar methods.

The lady at a local photo-developing shop had always been friendly.

Can I tell you a story?

We have too many customers, she said.

I’ll move to the side each time a customer comes in.

That first story was interrupted about ten times but it didn’t seem to matter. After each customer left, she turned towards me ready for the next section of the story. She also knew exactly what point the story had reached. I was telling the story in Chinese, so I doubt I tried to lead any sort of discussion. It was a relief simply to finish.

The next week I dropped into the shop again and she said, What’s the next story?

My friend now forced me to go on a journey I never intended. Her insistence on a new story each week alerted me that there was something special about storytelling. I started experimenting with all kinds of people: men and women; young and old; Asian and Western. I don’t know why I was surprised that nearly all the adults I met loved hearing stories. After all, movies, publishers, and novelists make their money from this fact.

That first story was told in 2004. Since then I have told thousands of stories in many contexts: nursing homes, Bible study groups, church services, church camps, and on buses, trains and planes. In the first model I received, the stories were long and included explanation and summary within the body of the story. I quickly realized that the story set I received was much too complicated and I started rearranging it. As I loved teaching and making things clear, my stories still had explanations within them. After all, most models we see (usually in Sunday School) are not straight scripture.

It wasn't until several years later that I realized I was assuming the Bible needed my explanations so that people could understand it. Surely God’s word needed the Holy Spirit, not me, to interpret it? In 2009, I heard John Walsh, an American Bible storyteller, accurately tell stories about Elijah from 1 Kings. John’s model further pushed me to make my stories closer to the original text. Each change in style was mirrored in the video sets on www.storyingthescriptures.com.

This closer to scripture method was easy for short stories but I still struggled with what to do for longer stories like Noah, which is three chapters long. It wasn’t until 2015, that I met other storytellers in an organization called Simply the Story. Their storytelling presented me with a method