Last year I went to a story telling workshop by Ira Glass. He is host of “This American Life” and in my opinion, is the finest story teller alive today.
His goal: tell stories that are exactly human sized.
Our media finds or even manipulate stories to be larger than life. Sensationalized in order to grab people’s attention or money. (The current Charlie Sheen craze comes to mind.) On the other spectrum, your boring uncle tells stories that are smaller than life - they don’t move you at all and they seem petty.
Ira says a modern story teller will learn to discover and tell the exactly human sized stories. Everyday people. Concrete examples. Extraordinary stories.
I love that.
I see a very dangerous trend happening in Church communication nowdays. We somehow think we have to fall into the media trap of telling sensationalized stories. Some of Christian media’s best sellers right now are books that challenge us to be sensational, but do so in an abstract, undefined way. Some recent best sellers degrade the global church by caricaturing it as some kind of super holy group of super Christians and then compare that caricature with the American church with its laziness and apathy.
No doubt, the American church is lazy and apathetic. Its the natural consequence of a culture giving you everything you want. But the global church is no picnic either. I’ve worked with pastors in Kenya, Haiti, Dominican and Mexico and none of them would describe their churches as healthy, let alone holy. In fact, we have fast bonded by realizing that our discipleship challenges are freakishly similar.
What people at our church are most hungry for are not abstract, sensational challenges, but concrete examples of everyday people following Christ. Exactly “God through human” sized stories.
I pastor a suburban, predominantly white middle/upper class church. Yes, I am the most uncool pastor in America. My hairstyle hasn’t changed since I was 13, no tattoo to be found and once in a while I even drive a minivan.
Thank you for continuing to read :)
The truth is, I LOVE our church. LOVE IT. Because the people are unflinchingly honest and equally open. They spend their own money to visit a global partner. They arrive there with no agenda other than to serve and bless. They work hundreds of hours to fund raise for a family battling cancer. They spend their own money to adopt a child because of their theology. One of our children gave up his 7th year birthday party gifts so people would give to our Kenyan partner. Concrete, exactly human sized examples of what happens when God works in every day people.
For every larger than life abstract challenge to “live radically” I can show you a man, woman or child who is living concretely and exactly human sized. And God is using these people to do extraordinary things.
