The Power of Story

One of the central emphases of the Imagine Project has been in helping churches rediscover the power of stories and testimonies. Testimonies are of course an old, old idea…but at the same time they remain powerful. Although many churches still use testimonies we have tried to help them reflect on their function and content. In addition, we try to underline the significance of a number of elements to testimony that have often been missed or ignored and emphasise the power of stories from the Frontline. Here we identify a number of key elements...

Stories reveal significance
Take a moment to think about the life stories that you hear at a church service on a typical Sunday. What are they about? Who are they about? Who shares those stories? In which settings do the stories take place? What do they concern - are they primarily about church activities or the activities of people’s lives? Finally, what was the conclusion and explanation of the story?

We tell stories about the people, things, experiences and places we see as significant. In a church context what we tell stories about communicates what we value. Who speaks from the platform and shares stories tells about who we see as authoritative. Where stories are located shows where we consider are the places that we recognise God is significantly at work.

Stories give significance
It is important to highlight that stories of significance are often invited stories. That is, they are deliberately sought after and asked for. Being asked to share their stories and experiences is a very real encouragement to people. For leaders this means part of their task when out and about or meeting with their congregations is to listen to people with an ear for their daily stories. Individuals may not recognise the worth and implications for others of their own stories, it is others who recognise significance.

Inviting stories also means providing space and opportunity for stories to be shared. People often refrain from sharing their stories because they are afraid of judgement; consequently, it is important that story sharing is done in a safe environment and an atmosphere of encouragement.

Stories stimulate imaginative possibility
Stories are powerful because in the mind of the listener they paint a picture that goes beyond a communication of a simple fact or message. Annette Simmons notes, "Story is a reimagined experience narrated with enough detail and feeling to cause your listeners' imaginations to experience it as real." The colour and vibrancy of a good story stimulates an emotional and empathetic response. Hearing a good story the listener is forced to ask ‘what would I have done?’ This is a powerful question that stimulates reflection.

Further, stories show the dynamics, complexities and ambiguities of situations. Stories resist the urge we might have to boil situations down to a simple morality which is so rarely discovered in everyday life. Stories show the dynamics and trajectory of change, the real decision making processes that people enter into on a daily basis. Stories embed truth in everyday life, experience and its attendant uncertainties.

Stories emerge in the context of everyday life
The setting of a story is significant. If we only tell stories about church events and activities, we may risk suggesting that only in church activities do we see God at work. Who knows the best stories and examples from everyday life? Often it is the church member, who is out every day in the workplace. The best person to tell these stories is the person involved; leaders do not need to become the mouthpieces for others.

Leaders, in allowing their congregations to hear stories from everyday life (and we acknowledge that at first these stories may seem hard to discover), give people a model for how to view their own everyday lives: as significant places in which God is active both in using the disciple but also in shaping and forming the disciple.

Of course this doesn’t mean that all stories from everyday life are helpful. A good question to ask about a story you hear is, ‘does this story provoke me to wonder, encouragement or question my presuppositions about life?’

Stories create understanding
Translating our experiences into shared stories gives us the opportunity to understand and reflect on real life. We learn spiritual lessons through everyday life and the stories that emerge in that context. Church can and should play a crucial role in helping individuals process and make sense of those lessons. The importance could be theological, what this reveals about God and how He works, or personal, what we understand about ourselves. Sharing these stories gives an opportunity for creating understanding – an understanding that isn’t abstract but wisdom situated in experience.

Stories need interpreters
Whereas stories are often best told by the person to whom they happened, they may be best understood by others. We are often unable to see the wider significance of our own stories. Of course, others may interpret it differently or see other significances in a story and engaging in this kind of reflection is a valuable exercise. The role of the church leader is particularly important in this respect, they ‘frame’ the story, revealing its larger context and significance. Further, it is the role of the leader to call attention to how the small story is wrapped up in and echoes the big story of the gospel, the activity of God’s kingdom and the mission of the Church. The leader performs the work of contextualizing the story, creating a framework in which the story can be heard and understood.

Not all stories conclude neatly
We have to be careful of stories that we can reduce to neat little morals. Sometimes it is powerful to share stories of situations that are already emerging and still developing or haven’t yet concluded. In this way we communicate to people that it is not only the conclusion, but that the journey is equally valuable. Again, in hearing stories that are current, we recognise that we own these stories as a community. ‘Success’ stories are not the only ones that need to be told in a church context. We need stories that are real, can be learnt from and encourage; such stories come in many forms and have many different endings.

Recently one of the pilot project churches invited one of their members to share about his experience as a Post Office worker deciding whether to take part in union strike action. This was a new step for the church. The man asked for prayer for wisdom about what he should do. Significantly, he was asked whilst still in the midst of the strike. Some in the church were uneasy about this – feeling that a Christian shouldn’t strike, but crucially it provided an opportunity to reflect together on the reality of where this Christian was working.

Stories create community
Although stories are individual, they are not individualistic. Hearing the testimonies that emerge from church member’s lives gives the community the opportunity to celebrate, rejoice and on occasion mourn and weep together (Rom 12:15). Communities need such occasions. Consequently, it is important to emphasise, although testimonies may well be individual stories, communities own these stories together. In this way, stories create connections that in turn strengthen the community.

Stories spark stories
Stories breed other stories. When a person has begun to see the significance of someone else’s story, it brings to mind their own experiences which they in turn are able to share. We hear our own stories in the light of other people’s stories and ultimately in the light of the biblical story. In this way you can see a snowballing of story sharing which becomes an exciting and dynamic celebration of God at work.