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    Experiential Storytelling: (Re) Discovering Narrative to Communicate God's Message
    Experiential Storytelling: (Re) Discovering Narrative to Communicate God's Message
    Experiential Storytelling: (Re) Discovering Narrative to Communicate God's Message
    Ebook148 pages1 hour

    Experiential Storytelling: (Re) Discovering Narrative to Communicate God's Message

    By Mark Miller

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    About this ebook

    The “Been there, done that” culture is starving for reality. Hardly satisfied with the modern conventions of citing facts and figures and pushing propositions, emerging churches are jumping into the narrative form of communication with both feet. But not all emerging church leaders have an inherent handle on the craft and skill of using narrative as a sermon form. Experiential Storytelling zeros in on the hows and whys of narrative, as well as the importance of sharing personal experience to double your storytelling ammunition. In addition, author Mark Miller goes several steps further, giving examples of real-time, hands-on experiences for church members as innovative extensions of traditional teaching and preaching that offer them greater scriptural understanding and ownership of the gospel story.Chapters include:• The Dawning of the Age of Experience• Once Upon a Story• Awakening the Sleeping Giant in the Church—C*R*E*A*T*I*V*T*Y• Reimagining the “Sermon”• Elements of Experiential Storytelling• Killer Apps
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateJul 27, 2009
    ISBN9780310830504
    Author

    Mark Miller

    Mark Miller (BA, Evangel University) is executive pastor at NewSong Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and he consults for other churches on reaching postmoderns, creativity, and leadership. He is the founder of The Jesus Journey, an experiential storytelling retreat that makes the story of the Bible accessible to postmoderns. He is married to Stacey and has two daughters.

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      Book preview

      Experiential Storytelling - Mark Miller

      "John Lennon’s memorial in Central Park is inscribed with the single word, Imagine. This little book has more big ideas and does more to get the church to ‘imagine’ than most books 5 or 6 times its size. A real gem."

      —Leonard Sweet, Drew Theological School, George Fox University, preachingplus.com

      Mark Miller has many gifts: an eye for what’s worth saying, a knack for saying it clearly and memorably, and enthusiasm that will keep you reading until the last page. And unlike many books that make their point early and then ramble on, this one picks up speed with each chapter, starting strong and saving the best for last. If you want to learn to speak the language of the emerging culture, let Mark be your mentor.

      —Brian D. McLaren, pastor (crcc.org), author (anewkindofchristian.org), and fellow in emergent (emergentvillage.com)

      For more than four millennia, God’s people have been sitting around campfires, in synagogues, and in churches, telling the story of God and God’s people. Mark Miller is onto something here: combining that great tradition of telling God’s story with new ways of bringing people into that experience. Read this book and know that centuries from now hundreds and thousands of believers will have come to face to face with God through experiential storytelling.

      —Tony Jones, author, Soul Shaper: Exploring Spirituality and Contemplative Practices in Youth Ministry and Postmodern Youth Ministry: Exploring Cultural Shift, Creating Holistic Connections, Cultivating Authentic Community (Youth Specialties)

      Mark has performed a noteworthy task…functionally applying postmodern thought to the drive of the church to make the message more creative, meaningful, and experiential. His talent as a practitioner gives him the ability to make each idea and concept immensely practical, not just theoretical. This book belongs on your desk…not stuffed in your bookshelf. You will reference this often.

      —Kevin Salkil, associate pastor at First Christian Assembly in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also leads a ministry to postmoderns (www.fcacincinnati.org).

      Mark Miller is the real deal. He’s a tour guide, a cultural native, who will take you on a journey of discovery, offering the chance to experience communication forms that can make sense of the gospel in post-Christian times.

      —Earl Creps, Ph.D., D.Min., Director, Doctor of Ministry Program, Associate Professor of Leadership and Spiritual Renewal, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary

      "I’ve utilized Mark’s concepts in a postmodern setting with great response. If you intend on communicating effectively in this emerging culture, implement the concepts of Experiential Storytelling and watch a generation’s thirst for ultimate Truth be quenched."

      —Curt Hughes, lead pastor of LifeChurch, Wheaton, Illinois (www.getalifechurch.com)

      ZONDERVAN and YOUTH SPECIALITIES

      Experiential Storytelling

      Copyright © 2003 by Mark Miller

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

      ePub Edition JUNE 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-83050-4

      Requests for information should be addressed to:

      Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Miller, Mark, 1968—

      Experiential storytelling : (re)discovering narrative to communicate God's message / Mark Miller.

      p. cm.

      ISBN-10: 0-310-25514-7

      ISBN-13: 978-0-310-25514-7

      1. Preaching. 2. Storytelling—Religious aspects—Christianity. I. Title.

      BV4235.S76M55 2004

      251—dc22 2003015958

      The examples used in this book are compilations of stories from real situations. But names, facts, and issues have been altered to protect confidentiality while illustrating the points.

      All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible:New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

      Published in association with Yates & Yates, LLP, Literary Agent, Orange, CA.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

      06 07 Bullet 10 9 8 7 6 5

      This book is dedicated to

      Stacey, Raegan, and Ramsay.

      Table of Contents

      Praise

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      During a Jesus Journey…

      Why Experiential Storytelling?

      Chapter 1

      The Dawning of the Age of Experience

      Chapter 2

      Once Upon a Story

      Chapter 3

      Awakening the Sleeping Giant in the Church—CREATIVITY

      Chapter 4

      Re: Imagining the Sermon

      Chapter 5

      Elements of Experiential Storytelling

      Chapter 6

      Killer Apps

      The Next Chapter

      About the Author

      Bibliography

      About the Publisher

      Share Your Thoughts

      During a Jesus Journey…

      Just prior to Free Time, a guide announces with a deadpan face that a terrible disease has been making its way through the camp. He says that it affects people in different ways. A bowl is passed around and the guide tells the teens that whatever affliction was in that bowl has now struck them. Some teens are struck blind (using blindfolds), some lose the use of one arm or leg (using rope), and some are declared unclean (using signs). Those who are unclean cannot come with fifteen feet of anyone (unless that other person also is unclean). They also must yell unclean wherever they go.

      The guide explains there is no cure for this mysterious disease. They are told, however, that a rumor has been going around about a man with a red blanket draped over his shoulder who has the power to heal.

      It’s interesting to watch the teens form communities based on their afflictions. The lucky ones with only an arm affliction occupy their time trying to find the man with the red blanket. This exercise goes on for about an hour. Finally, at long last, the Jesus figure steps onto the scene.

      I recall the first time we did this. A teen is sitting on the floor with a blindfold over his head. He is rocking back and forth, very much into the part. The Jesus figure enters the room with the red blanket that had been under the candle during the second Journey. In perfect King James English, this Jesus person (who is unscripted) walks up to the blindfolded teen and says, What troubles you, my son?

      The teen says, I am blind, but I was told there was someone with a red blanket with the power to heal me.

      The Jesus person replies, Your faith has made you well. He takes off the teen’s blindfold and sternly warns him, Now do not tell anyone else about this.

      Without hesitating, the teen runs upstairs shouting, I’m healed, I’m healed!

      A swarm of young people suddenly rushes downstairs and through the back door after the man with the red blanket. Some teens lead their blind friends. Others carry the crippled.

      Nothing prepared me for this next moment. The mob finally catches up with the Jesus person and gathers around him. One by one he touches them and removes whatever troubles them. As the signs, ropes, and blindfolds come off, the teens begin to jump up and down for joy. The Jesus person then walks into the midst of the unclean group and heals them.

      The gospel has come to life for everyone involved.

      Why Experiential Storytelling?

      This is a book born from experience and written out of frustration. As I write this, I am sitting next to two women at a Starbucks® who are discussing how one of them has lost her brother to Christianity. It is obvious they have no genuine concept of Jesus or the Church. To them, all this Jesus stuff is a major red flag.

      I wish that these women were atypical of the attitudes of most Americans today. The reality is that while America is still the most religious industrialized country in the world, Christianity increasingly is losing its influence. This bothers me! A few years ago the Church’s decline hit me hard, and I came to the conclusion that I had only three options. I could sit back and watch it happen. I could take the more popular route of pointing out what was wrong with everyone else. Or I could dive in

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