In the 2018 Leadership Institute seminar Building Blocks of a Missional Church, Randy H described the value telling stories as a method of mentoring.
“In the Bible, mentoring is throughout the narrative, but it’s a bunch of stories like spaghetti on the wall. It’s all over the place” he said. “So there’s not necessarily a formula, it can be messy, and it’s not about me telling my story. It’s a door to building relationships.”
He added that he often tells Muslim that he works with that he’s been married for 26 years, “and I ask them to ask me how I’ve done it. When they do, it lets me tell them of God’s commands regarding marriage.”
He followed the example with five key questions that can be asked to help pull listeners into a spiritual story:
- What was interesting to you in this story?
- This is God’s great story; He is the main actor. So what did you learn about Him?
- What so we learn about humans? How do we respond or not respond to God?
- What is our response to God?
- Who might we tell this to?
Randy H is a global worker serving through EPC World Outreach and serves in a location that is undisclosed for security reasons.
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