Unreliable Idea # 5 Telling Stories

Stories are powerful and yet undervalued ways of sharing, learning and catching peoples attention! Often times groups get stuck at an icebreaker level of 'community' when by using those opportunities to explore each others stories they could actually get much further. If you are using 'icebreaker' questions to help a group get to know each other then don't be frightened to 'deepen' the questions. Ask people 'whats your stort, use favourite hat, clothing, holiday, family time questions to learn about someone and ask them related questions in conversation to let them know you listened and to invite them to reveal more about who they really are.
Not only that but treat the gospel stories as interesting and insightful 'stories' and tell them that way to open up their potential for change, learning, and as evidence of the integrity and power of the story writ large.
This current generation of young people are not those who've opted out of 'church'... they don't know it by and large... they come to the stories fresh and on the whole are quite intrigued at a well told anecdote.
Let the story do the telling... and recognise that some stories are 'telling' compared to others!!
Note the Vicars first sermon in Dibley about the Sermon on the Mount as an example!! Series One Episode One 'The Vicar of Dibley'