Experiential Storytelling: [Re]Discovery Narrative to Communicate God's Message

by Mark Miller

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 • 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

Genres: Christian Living, Christianity

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the author makes a lot of really good points in this book when it comes to being familiar with scriptures. I was especially interested in using the ideas in here for teaching LDS seminary. I want to be a good story teller! There is great power that comes from a story that can relate to scripture.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great teaching and guide for creating innovative worship environments for a restless culture that desires experience and being a part of the story.

[Donna Flint · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ideas for large events, but the author kept hinting about narrative as a tool to replace or enhance the “sermon” but never really addressed that.

[Adam R. Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miller asks a new question:

How do we meet and intersect with our youth and their experiences? In a world that questions facts, and where new experiences are needed in order to keep our youth engaged, there needs to be a shift in teaching styles.

This book provides any leader with every step that is needed to make a change. Everything from teaching outlines, how to provide an experiential setting for learning, and how to engage every thinking and learning style after the narrative is read is included and can be used for life application.

Miller suggests that experiences, which are interactive and relational, should be the basis for ministry as it will engage and educate. Even with all of this, there is something more. This type of ministry places trust in the learner so that they can wrestle with the narrative and derive meaning that speaks to their experiences. This is the beauty in teaching from a story foundation. It allows for teaching to become more missional - it allows teachers to teach like missionaries do. By engaging their culture, speaking their language, and becoming apart of their community, personal experiences are enabled and there is a greater emotional attachment to Jesus’ story.

He asks a very poignant question:

“Do we trust our people and the Holy Spirit enough to allow them to think for themselves?”

From a jr. high standpoint, are we willing to allow experiences to begin and form without seeing the fruit of our work? Are we willing to allow the high school, or young adult ministry to be the final stages in personal decision to follow and live like Jesus?

Experiential Storytelling is just that - creating experience from sharing our story and, more importantly, God’s story with those around us. This book is a must-own for any leader that wants to teach from a “storying” perspective as it will provide guidance, application, and insight into this wonderful form of communicating.

[Sagely · Rating 2 out of 5]

My congregation is in STORYTELLING MODE right now. We're mapping out our church's story as we ramp up to a 50th anniversary. So when this book tumbled into my hands, I was hopeful. Maybe it would give me a silver bullet for a celebration that equips us for ministry rather than simply drains energy.

But ES isn't quite that.

What ES is, in fact, is a fairly early emergent-ish stab at large group/youth group worship experience how-to. ES seems to have been published before emergent developed its critical social conscience; justice and empowerment are not its themes. Rather ES presents a glancingly pomo attempt at more-than-JUST monologue communication.

ES did push me to consider more wholistically the format of a church retreat I planned, but offered few practical resources as to how draw in more learning styles for groups with low production budgets and wide age ranges.

[Tim Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

i've been drawn to the theme Story for some time now. I've struggled to figure out how to implement 'story' more into my youth ministry.
Experiential Storytelling didn't tell me anything i didn't already know or hadn't already thought of. but it did confirm in me the desire to implement a more interactive process to storytelling - particularly the stories of the Bible.

Mark Miller's book was an easy, quick read - with larger print and plenty of quotes.

if you are intrigued with the idea of storytelling or 'storying' as another author has put it - this book is good for you.

i am already planning on implementing more story into our weekly youth gatherings staring in the fall.

[Tom Leary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been great at getting me to rethink how to prepare talks and add stories to the mix. I wish there had been some more practical examples based on specific bible passages or examples which can be used within a specific talk.

That being said, the book has really gotten me to rethink the bible stories and figure out how to make them feel real to people. How to get a group of teens or adults to experience that they are a part of the story.

The example that continues to stay on my mind is bringing teens together to re-enact the Jesus story by blindfolding everyone for an entire evening until they find a Jesus character who saves them.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not prepared for my mind to be blown when I looked over at our shelf and picked out one of Jessica's books I've never noticed before. I can not wait to see how God uses experiential storytelling in my life. The author gives some great back story on the history of preaching and how our postmodern culture thrives with experiences and the teaching that follows. Youth pastors and volunteers, pick up this book and read it.

[Bradly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because it was about things that are out-of-the-box. Some of the things here may be more than what I would put into practice, but the overall point was to encourage creativity in the church, which is a good thing.

[Jt]

okay

[Brendyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh...It has some good points.

[Tyler Jarvis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main idea is good, though not particularly unique. The writing is subpar. The examples are super cheesy. The quotes interspersed throughout the text are distracting, and often irrelevant to the topic.