The Art of Bible Storying

Michael Novelli

     This week I finished reading a fabulous book by Michael Novelli called Shaped by the Story: Helping Students Encounter God in a New Way. My intention is not to write a review of the book here but only to introduce one concept that struck me as having profound implications for the way we teach the Bible to children (or anyone for that matter). That concept is that we as learners want to understand God's story and locate ourselves in his story. This stands in contrast to telling our own stories and then making a place for God in our stories. Often our vocabulary belies whose story we are in. When we say things about giving God the first place in our life or "putting him on the throne" of our life, we are actually saying that we are making room for God in our story. Instead, we need to understand that God is unveiling a cosmic story of creation-fall-redemption-renewal and we get to play a part in his story, which is a way better story than any that I could tell in any case! The Bible storying method that Michael describes focuses on discovering God's story and participating in that story instead of finding tidy application points for our lives as they are.
     After reading this book, I am very pleased to say that Michael Novelli is going to be leading a workshop on Bible Storying at Crossroads on March 17, 2012. He is the first of four presenters in a series of training workshops called "Spring Training." The workshops are open to all churches regardless of their affiliation (or not) with Crossroads. Learn more and register today by visiting: www.SpringTrainingWorkshops.com.

Learn more about Storying by watching this video: