Teaching like the Bible’s Master Storytellers

 This article was first published in French at TPSG.

 

Everyone loves a good story. The best teachers are often the best storytellers. This was certainly the case with Jesus. While his preaching included straightforward imperatives and declarations on the nature of God and his Kingdom, he often chose to illustrate his message through parables. Sadly, however, in our Western, highly literate culture, we sometimes believe that as we mature, we outgrow the need for stories. Some preachers may even avoid them in their sermons because they perceive such anecdotes as superficial or as a digression from the text. Yet the example of Scripture indicates that stories are powerful pedagogical tools that we would do well to avail ourselves of. Post-modern culture values story, and we the Church can enrich the understanding of our smaller stories by properly teaching the metanarrative of God’s work in the world, i.e. creation, fall, redemption, consummation.

 

Training Pastor’s Wives in Senegal

While training rural pastors’ wives in Senegal, I sought to use the power of stories as I taught systematic theology. Rather than teaching in the linear, Western fashion that comes most naturally to me, I chose to teach theology through biblical narratives. What I discovered through discussion-style teaching is that these non-literate women knew many of the stories of the Bible quite well! All I had to do was highlight how certain details instruct us on fundamental doctrines. After all, Jesus used story to communicate a deeper truth. The story was a tool, and not an end in itself.

 

Zacchaeus: A Conversion Case Study

For example, I chose Zacchaeus as a model of genuine conversion (Luke 19:1-10). What is so remarkable about his story is that when he trusted in Jesus, his repentance was so sincere that he readily offered to give half his possessions to the poor, and to repay anyone he had defrauded fourfold. What a model to us all! Perhaps we as readers don't recall those specific details as easily, but these oral learners did. It was so encouraging to see the women interacting with the text and retaining some of the core doctrines I was drawing out for them.

 

Scripture’s Story-Centric Approach

If we were to categorize all of Christ’s teaching in the gospels, we would discover that the vast majority consists either of stories or discussion through questions. Even when he fields questions from friends and foes, he often answers with a question, rather than giving a straightforward answer. As the ministry of the nascent Church unfolds in the book of Acts, we see a similar use of stories culminating in the ultimate story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, whether it’s Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-41) or Stephen’s testimony before the Sanhedrin (Acts 7). And even in the epistles, Paul employs the imagery of running, boxing, warfare, and farming, among others, to illustrate elements of the Christian life. 

 

If we go further back, we can see that the Old Testament prophets were equally adept at using story. Nathan didn’t confront King David directly following his sin with Bathsheba. Instead, he used a story to “go in through the back door” (2 Samuel 12). And the prophet Hosea’s life was itself a living illustration of the spiritual adultery of apostate Israel. 

 

Story-Telling and the Post-Modern Mind

The truth is that storytelling is not just an effective means of communication among rural pastors’ wives in Senegal. Orality resonates with our post-modern culture as well. Many tell their story in order to articulate their truth. And yet, that’s the danger. In a culture that rejects absolute truth, everyone’s story is given equal weight. And that’s where the Christian world view can bring a corrective element to our culture’s use of story. By training our minds to submit all of our small stories to the metanarrative: the great and glorious story that began in the Garden and culminates in the New Jerusalem.

 

4 Lessons for Bible Teachers

That having been said, what can we as Bible teachers and students learn from this story-centric approach?

 

1.     Study and teach Biblical narrative. 

Dr. Green, my favourite professor in seminary, once noted that many pastors fresh out of seminary tend to teach what they’re comfortable with, namely the epistles. He challenged his students to push themselves to think outside that mold. Indeed, I’ve discovered that we mine great riches when we teach narrative, and when we model how to study it to those we teach. It may require more work, but it’s well worth it.

 

2.     Teach the heart and not just the mind.

 

The heart does not respond to mere facts and dogmas. But when we teach God’s truths through story, they move beyond the intellect to the emotions. I’m not suggesting manipulating or entertaining through stories, but rather allowing the wonder of the drama of redemption to stir the hearts of our hearers to draw them to God. This means that we don’t teach Exodus or Mark in the exact same way we would teach Philippians or 1 Peter. Teaching narrative requires a different set of tools (as does teaching poetic or prophetic literature).

 

3.     Teach memorably.

 

Most of us want our hearers to remember what we’ve taught. Yet ensuring they do is another story. Stories, alliteration, repetition, rhyming, and short, “sticky” statements are just a few examples of devices we can use to help our hearers retain more. Jesus employed these strategies and built on what his contemporaries already knew. He would spotlight deep truths through imagery from the world of agriculture, shepherding, weddings, servants and masters, and more. Similarly, the best preachers utilize simple illustrations from everyday life that require little explanation to understand.

 

4.     Appeal to all the senses.

 

Humans process information in three main ways: Audibly, visibly, and tactile. Studies show that 65% of people learn primarily through seeing, 30% learn through hearing, and 5% learn through doing. Yet most of us appeal exclusively to auditory learners when we teach. So, how can we bolster the learning experience of our hearers for maximum retention? The more we appeal to all the senses, the more our hearers are likely to remember. Especially when we consider that people remember 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read, and 80% of what they see.

 

Jesus may not have had a PowerPoint Presentation, but he had the sights and sounds of the Judean countryside at his disposal. There’s a good chance that when Jesus said, “Consider the lilies of the field,” that he was pointing at one (Luke 12:27-28). When Jesus wanted to instruct his disciples on humility, he didn’t tell, he showed, by washing their feet (John 13:3-17). He observed a poor widow give all that she had to live on in order to teach his followers about generosity (Mark 12:41-44). 

 

Scripture as Story

The reason story-telling is so important in Scripture is because the Bible is one great story. In his infinite wisdom, God led authors separated by hundreds of years and hundreds of kilometers to tell one united account of God’s great rescue plan for the world. Our culture needs to encounter the God of this great story, and we have the privilege of serving as his storytellers. As we make disciples in our post-modern world, may our teaching bring this reality to life. Let’s avail ourselves of little stories to retell the great drama of redemption of our glorious God and Saviour.