5 Ways to Share Your Compelling Story

Have you ever gotten lost in a great story? Maybe it was a book you couldn’t put down, a movie that made you feel like you could take on the world, or a story told around a campfire. Stories have the power to make us laugh, comfort us in challenging circumstances, bring us to action, and help us see the world with new eyes.

Whether you know it or not, you are part of a story.

We are all writing some sort of story with our lives. If you are a church leader, you have the privilege of leading a piece of the story that Jesus is building through the Church. Your church’s story can have the power to inspire people who will dream with you, rally behind you, face the challenges of life with you, and fund your mission. It also has the power to influence the people around you to let their lives be a part of that story.

If you are not utilizing the story God has given you, you could be missing out on a vital tool God has given you to engage and connect the people around you. People connect with compelling stories.

A compelling story:

1. LEAVES AN IMPRESSION

Your story should be long enough to take the listener on a journey, but short enough to be memorable. When thinking through your story, you should consider a main theme that becomes clear through the details.

2. EVOKES EMOTION

This is a prime way to have people connect with your vision and let your story be another way to communicate your vision. Here’s a great example of a story from Musicbed that evokes emotion. Take a couple minutes to write down how you feel after you watch this one.

3. SHARES THE WINS AND LOSSES

What fruit has your church seen over the past years? What can you celebrate? When has God shown His faithfulness through difficult seasons and how did He bring you through them? For those who have been a part of your church for a while, this will serve as a chance to become reacquainted with where you have been together. For those who may be newer, it will help them feel part of the ministry without experiencing it firsthand.

4. IS FOR THE AUDIENCE

Think about who this story will impact and what details will be the most important in helping them take hold of your purpose. When writing a story, it can be too easy to tell the story that we want to tell, rather than the one that is most effective. Before sharing your story with your congregation, have someone you trust read it through and tell you what it specifically communicates to them.

5. ANTICIPATES THE FUTURE

The story of how God brought you from your beginning to where you are today is so important, but something is lost if you do not anticipate all that God has in store for your future. Here are some verses to think about in anticipating God’s plans for His children and the Church:

Jeremiah 29:11
Ephesians 3:20-21
Matthew 16:16-18
Philippians 1:6

TEST DRIVE

If you haven’t written your story, now is the time! Bring out those old journals, spend some time with the people who have been with you from the beginning and have supported you along the way, and go back to the beginning.

  • Where was the first place you ever met?
  • What was the dream God placed in your heart when you were called into ministry?
  • How much have you grown from your first day?
  • How has God used you in the community?
  • Who are some specific people in your community who have been affected by your church?

If you have written your story in the past, maybe it’s time to update it.

Unless you are intentional about telling your story, it will be forgotten one day. Schedule a time to share your story with your people. This could be done through a Sunday message, a video produced by your creative team, through social media, or through a letter. The purpose of having a story is to tell it!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Rivers

Chris Rivers

Over the last eight years, Chris has worked with ministry leaders to provide solutions to the challenge of vision transfer in the areas of finance, process, and leadership development. In 2008, he partnered with a startup called SecureGive. SecureGive was the nation's first giving kiosk designed to help churches empower their people who wanted to give but did not carry cash or a checkbook. Chris then joined a new division of Shelby Systems called ArenaChMS, where he collaborated with church staff of various ministry departments to create customized solutions for their ministry needs. In 2010, Chris joined the staff at NewSpring Church in Anderson, S.C., to help them rethink church technology. During his time at NewSpring Church, Chris created a staff development program that would transition new staff into ministry with clarity. Within 18 months of launching staff development, NewSpring hired 147 additional staff members, which nearly doubled the staff’s size. Increasingly pastors were asking him for ideas about better strategizing their visions, which led Chris to create CultureBus, an online training resource that gives ministry leaders practical ways to transfer vision to their teams. Chris lives in Anderson, S.C, with his wife, Rachel, and their three children, Riley, Finn, and Blythe. You can follow Chris on his blog at culturebus.cc.

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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
— Scott Michael Whitley
 

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