12 Stories of God
We want to teach you a disciple-making strategy so old, it seems brand new.
It wasn’t until 200 A.D. that the first building was erected to provide a place for larger groups of Jesus followers to meet together. Spiritual education began to take place in those buildings. Believers began to isolate themselves from those around them in everyday life.
The development of the printing press made it possible for people to have their own copy of the Bible. They could read it for themselves and come to their own conclusion about what it said and meant. People stopped “talking” the Bible together. This led to isolation, individualism, and independence.
Paul wrote, “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” For 5,500 years the Bible was taught one story at a time to individuals and small groups of people. Frequently this was around a table in the home at mealtime. Telling and teaching these stories was a very Jewish strategy for making disciple-making disciples of Jesus. It was personal, not a program.
- Learn to tell the stories in order.
Every new story builds on all of the previous ones. If you skip ahead, the people you are discipling will not understand how the individual stories lead to the person of Jesus Christ. - Watch the sample video of the story.
- Memorize the key verses.
They are highlighted in bold. We use the New American Standard Bible. Make sure you learn to quote the verses correctly in the proper place in the stories. - Use your own words.
Use the story points to begin telling the story in your own words. Master a few story points at a time. Don’t leave out any of the story points or memory verses. - Start practicing.
Once you have a little bit of confidence, begin practicing the story with other people as your audience. Look for God-given opportunities to begin telling and teaching the stories to people in your sphere of influence. Always tell and teach the stories in order. - Ask questions.
After you have told a story, ask the following questions to a conversation about it.- What caught your attention as I was telling the story?
- What does this story say about God?
- What does this story say about mankind or yourself?
- What is this story telling you to do differently or better?
- Watch God change your life as you teach these stories to others. Encourage the people you are discipling to find others to teach what you are teaching them.
STORYTELLER GUIDES
Memory Verses, Story Points, Video Examples