Simply The Story and God's Story Result in Churches Being Planted

In Côte d'Ivoire, after the launching of the new Klah Dan God's Story translation in two villages and an Simply The Story workshop, attendees from the workshop took the new Klah Dan God’s Story to Guinea, which shares a border with Côte d'Ivoire near these villages. So many Klah people came to faith in Jesus that churches were planted near the border and in Guinea among the Klah people, most of whom are Muslims.

In Burkina Faso, after a Simply The Story workshop in 2019, the youth in the churches decided to go tell stories in the villages around the area. People listened to the Bible stories and also came to evening showings of God’s Story: From Creation to Eternity in the Moore language. As a result, many churches were planted in the nearby villages. 

Developing Leaders with STS

Simply The Story equips people with the skills of Bible storytelling and discussion leading. These new storytellers are also able to reproduce what they have learned in others. The STS training model allows for exponential growth in leadership. Learners are equipped with skills for discipleship and evangelism.

Many of those  trained through STS have experienced meaningful levels of transformation as a result. The impact on their lives makes them even more ready to be strong leaders in their church and community.

Those who are already leaders in ministry find they are even better equipped to raise up new leaders. The skills they learn impact their lives at both individual and community levels. The STS method allows leaders to engage literate and non-literate members of the community with a dynamic, oral teaching model that transforms lives and grows leaders.

Wednesday Nights with the Go-Getters

Our church has a robust ministry to those with special needs, from children to adults. I have had multiple opportunities to lead Bible story discussions using Simply The Story with a large group of special needs adults. These times of ministry are some of my favorite. The group is animated and engaged the entire time. While we might assume that cognitive challenges would result in an inability to think deeply about spiritual issues, this has been proven wrong to me during these story times. 

The last time I shared a story with this group I was brought almost to tears by the response of a young woman to one my questions. While I don't recall the story or the specific point she made, I do remember that I had never thought about that part of the story in the way she mentioned. No one had ever said what she said.

The following Sunday, after the worship service, as I was leaving the sanctuary, one of the participants in the story that week saw me and recognized me as the storyteller from Wednesday evening. She experienced great joy when I, too, recognized her. She then told me about the story we had discussed. 

These experiences bring fresh meaning to Jesus' words about childlike faith. That sort of faith is not childish, it is simple, pure and honest.

Stories Slip Behind Locked Doors and Into Locked Hearts

I just had the opportunity to go to a youth prison for the third year in a row. On the previous visits I had told a story. These youth are tough, mostly gang members. The answer to this one question is important to me ... "What is the long-term effect of these stories on the young men?"

This return trip offered an opportunity to see how God might answer my prayer to know if the story style of ministering to these hard core youths was making any impact. 

Just before going to the group of about 15 youths who would hear my story this time, the host took me with him as he stopped at a different area of this lock-up facility. This host is part of a group that ministers weekly to these juvenile offenders. A young man "Jack,' I will call him, was going to be released the next day. This prisoner and the host wanted to meet to say "goodbye" to each other. As we approached, Jack looked at me and said, "Hey, I remember you."

We three sat down to talk and I began to ask some questions. I wanted to know what Jack remembered from the storytelling the year before, and perhaps find out if the story had any long range impact. So I asked him, if he remembered what I had talked about. He said, "You told a story," Then, before I could ask if he remembered what story I told, Jack started to retell the story of Genesis 35:1-5. Then he said, "That story kept me thinking about what idols might be in my life that I'm still hiding."

I was astounded. 

AM, USA

A day after this prison letter came to us, a note from India arrived. An Indian pastor who uses STS Bible storytelling wrote … "In recent past, I had been invited to speak to teens in a Youth Camp. In the middle of my discourse, I asked, 'How many of you know the 'Ten Commandments by heart?'

"There were many teens present, but not a single person could raise hand. Almost all these teens have come from Christian homes and some whose parents are active in ministry. I was surprised to witness blank response!

"After the message, I discussed with the coordinator and expressed my regret to him. We can't simply blame the children; the reason for lack of understanding of God's word in present day youth is due to lack of effective Christian parenting at homes as well as us in ministry. I thank God for Simply The Story which teaches us how to keep God's WORD in our heart pocket …"

[Notice the contrast in the church kids, believers who could not remember the Ten Commandments and this teenage believer who as a prisoner a year later was still remembering and being affected by the story he heard one time!]

But What Did They Remember?

Modavador G's use of stories to minister in a particular high security prison was a new experience for him. But after only three times of ministering there, something significant occurred. 

A fourth visit to this prison was a time of celebrating the upcoming release of three Christian inmates. After various chaplains preached to 90 inmates, three soon-to-be-released inmates came forward to give their goodbye testimonies. These prisoners had been ministered to for years by chaplains and visiting speakers. The first inmate told this. "God showed me stuff in the Martha/Mary story that is going with me to the outside." (Then he shared specifically the parts in the story that impacted him.) 

The next prisoner testified, "That glass of oil story helped me and I will never forget it." (The inmate then told the part in the Elisha story that touched him, about God's care for the widow.) 

The last man shared this. "That King David story was about me." Testimony as told to us by Modavador G SC, USA 

After all the years of preaching and teaching that Christians had given these prisoners, in their goodbye testimonies, three for three, mentioned the impact specific Bible stories had had on them. These inmates even remembered the story content and ways the stories had impacted them.

Contact us if you would like to connect directly with Modavador G on the use of story for evangelism and discipleship with inmates, or on his Holy Hip Hop, Spoken Word version of God's Story: From Creation to Eternity.

Hamlin Fistula Hospital STS

Hamlin Fistula hospital treats women with childbirth injuries and other related complications. Many tribal communities in Ethiopia practice forced marriages and girls are usually given to marriage at very tender ages.  
  
When young married girls conceive after being married, they at times get injuries at childbirth and develop Fistula conditions and they can longer control bodily wastes- urine and feces.  
  
When this happens, the injured girl's in-laws and husband reject her. These girls are considered as cursed, so their husbands leave and remarry. The families go through great shame and the poor women are held responsible for bringing the shame to their families.

Usually, these girls are hidden by their families from the public as those families try to cover the shame. The effects of these on the affected women are great shame, feeling of rejection and dejection. Fistula hospital takes such women from the villages and treats them.

We visited the Hamlin Fistula Hospital. While there we showed the God's Story (Amharic version) to the patients. At first, the women looked very disturbed as they watched the scene where the Serpent deceives Eve. Later, when we asked the women why they looked disturbed when they saw the serpent, they said it reminded them of their condition as cursed women. As they watched the rest of the video, their faces lightened up and many of them shed tears as they were touched by God's Word. They realized that Christ took their place, just as the ram died instead of Isaac.

Later we held an STS workshop for the hospital medical and assisting staff. The stories of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38) and the One Leper (Mark 1:40) became the hospital favorites. As the members of the staff practice these stories with the patients, the patients saw the shame in the Martha & Mary story. In the One Leper story, patients identified with the rejection the leper faced. Like the leper, each of them also had gone through rejection by their families and husbands because of their condition.

There was a great change to the women after the stories. The women said they wanted Jesus to touch them as He had touched the leper. The women said they were happy to know that God hasn't cursed them; that He was providing a way out of their world of misery and shame. They were filled with joy and experienced new life and hope.

Journal of Discovering Story

(Many in Africa use Simply The Story as part of their medical missions work.  
The following four letters are from one such person. Jayne describes her journey, from discovering "story" in an STS workshop to becoming certified to train others in STS. She tells of choosing to adopt story as part of her spiritual outreach in Africa.)

My Call in Missions:

”I am a missionary with Africa Inland Mission, Int.  I am a nurse and my role is the HIV Education Coordinator for AIM here in Lesotho. 

“My ministry involves working with pastors in the mountain areas of Lesotho to help them understand the call of Jesus to be involved in the lives of people suffering especially with HIV. I also work with training support groups to provide care for those sick with HIV related illnesses and to educated to village people to understand about the transmission, ARV’S (antiretro viral medications for those with HIV) and how to take them, and to give hope in the Name of Jesus to those who have lost hope. 

“I also work with herd boys, the shepherds, teaching them about Jesus and who they are in Him and His creation.
After One Simply The Story Workshop:

“This is so exciting to see the shepherds come to understand through the stories about God and His purpose for us and His plan for us to know Him and be His forever more. They love to hear how He has used shepherds throughout the history of the Bible, and it gives them hope to know they are important to Him and He knows them.
“They easily listen to the stories and pick the truths from the stories and then look at their lives and how those truths apply to them. It is such a joy to share with them what God has been wanting them to know about Him for so long. 

“They cannot read or write, and have been left behind in hearing and taking His Word into their own lives. What a gift for me to be able to learn from them as they look at things in their eyes and come to understand our God.

After Two More Workshops:

[Jayne and two nationals, who also attended the first workshop in Lesotho, then traveled to serve as Provisional Instructors in STS workshops in Cape Town and Pretoria.]

“We just arrived back in Maseru this afternoon from the two workshops and WOW!!  What abundant blessings both were. Much of the time in Cape Town was used to move us toward certification as STS instructors. It was a great opportunity to be closer to being cleared to lead STS workshops in Lesotho. I know we can have our own workshops to teach the method, but I think it is very important in our context and working with the African cultures that we have the backing of the organization of STS and can state we are representing and teaching their material. It will give our workshops the credibility of STS’s reputation as it has been tried and tested for a years and has proven to be a very strong tool for teaching God’s Word. That is our plan for here in Lesotho. We are planning a two day workshop the middle of October in the mountains where I live.

Our East Africa Director is coming to South Africa, to speak at Lausanne in Cape Town. He will come to Lesotho first for our workshop and to do vision casting. He will also be able to check us off on a few more things. By the first part of next year we would like to have another workshop but a two/three day one. I will keep you informed about how those plans come along.

I just wanted to share with you and Dorothy how grateful we are for your prayers and support for these two conferences and for our work here in Lesotho.  I am so sure STS is meant to sweep the mountains and bring the “gift of the wonderful truths of the Gospel” to many rural villages where many people don’t read, can’t afford a Bible, or don’t want to read to come to know Jesus through His stories and God’s plan for them.  

I can’t thank you enough for what you do for those who can’t read His Word for themselves and depend on us to tell them. I feel God telling us to get back to His Word and depend on the Holy Spirit to bring It alive and active into the hearts and minds of those listening and discussing.

Mamotsoane and Sefiri both were great and are going to be great leaders and co-leaders. We all still have a lot to learn, but are committed to continue. They too are so grateful for all of your help. 

All for His Glory!

Jayne

What I Wrote My Supporters:

“I have talked before about using Simply The Story style of storytelling with the herd boys in telling them God’s story starting in Genesis. I have had the blessing of attending several workshops to learn and then teach this method of sharing the gospel. 

“We found that STS was originally created for those who were either non-literate or semi-literates, but it has become a tool to use for all who are wanting to learn about God. We have been certified now to have our own trainings in Lesotho, and we are making plans now to translate all the material into Sesotho. It is so very important to tell the Bible stories and to teach the STS method in a person’s heart language. 
“It is exciting to see what treasures people are finding for themselves from telling a Bible story and asking thought provoking questions that lead to discussion of what God is saying to us. And it is exciting to see where God is leading us to use His stories the way He taught in revealing His truths. 

“This method can be done anywhere because the only thing needed is one Bible for the storyteller to learn the story. Even where we don’t have Bibles available, we are praying for a supply of audio solar powered MP3 players with the Bible recorded. Those who can’t read can listen and learn the stories and then go out and tell them to others. 

“If you would like to be involved in providing these players, please write to me and I will tell you how you can do that. It feels as though God is saying ‘Get back to my Word and depend on the Holy Spirit to use it as the double edged sword that it is to cut to heart and soul.’”

Jayne Wilkins

If you would like more information about how STS is being used by Jayne or this area of ministry, please contact us and we will forward your request.