Each of the stories we tell chaotically, yet perfectly, merge into God’s Story. It is just a matter of making the effort to see where it connects to God and his heart. Jesus, as the first Storyteller, had no bias as to who he shared stories with–it was all inclusive for believers and nonbelievers.
“Another story. ‘God’s kingdom is like a pine nut that a farmer plants. It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years, it grows into a huge pine tree, and eagles build nests into it.’
Another story. ‘God’s kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread – and waits while the dough rises.’ All Jesus did that day was tell stories – a long storytelling afternoon. His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy: I will open my mouth and tell stories; I will bring out into the open things hidden since the world’s first day.” [Matthew 13:31-35 MSG]
Each believer has been given an innate ability to retell the stories of the Kingdom of God. Each story is simply where you’ve seen God active and alive around you. It is not about fluff or charisma or delivery. It is all about authentically retelling where you’ve been, what you’ve seen and how it connects back to God.
In that spirit of storytelling, there is a couple that works as CarePoint directors in Guatemala and their story starts when their son was working in a clinic outside Guatemala City for six months. One day, the son calls his mother and asks for her to make his lunch bigger the next day. She asks why, and he replies that he had been sharing his lunch with three brothers that had been hanging around the clinic. They were hungry, and he felt led to share his food. The situation made his parents curious, so they came out to visit their son at the clinic. What they found in the community was poverty they did not know existed in their country. Shocked and desperate for God to bring change into the lives of the community, they started visiting families in their homes and entered into what would become life-changing relationships for all involved.
Each step they have taken has been a step in faith and obedience. They had never run ministry for children before. They had never stepped into that level of poverty before. And they had no experience in running an after school program.
What had started out as a son sharing his lunch with new friends has now turned into 250 kids gaining access to food, resources and friendly faces that are trying to make a difference. It has also turned into a community center that welcomes not only the kids, but also the mothers.
Their engagement in the community inspired the people to go to the mayor and ask for a building owned by the city to be opened to the ministry. The mayor agreed, and now the ministry is working from a much bigger compound to provide services to the community.
I shared with them I was fascinated by their ability to say ‘Yes’ when they had no experience, but to them, once they met the community and saw the need, ‘No’ was never an option.
It makes no earthly sense why the three brothers chose the young man. It makes no earthly sense for a young man to be assigned to a rural clinic, encounter hungry kids and draw his parents into something they would have never imagined for their journey with God. God had so divinely directed their every step into the community, there was no room for ‘No.’
These are the stories we get to tell. These are the stories that point back to God in such a way I would never be able to articulate on my own. These are Kingdom stories, and it is our responsibility as believers to share those stories as storytellers. There is no application to fill out. No interview procedure. No acceptance process to be a storyteller. God has already given everyone he has created a voice to use for him.
It could be your own story. It could be the story of someone you have known. It could be the story of a complete stranger.
The value in all stories bridges any cultural, linguistic and social barrier. As believers we should take every opportunity to tell stories, because even when our audience doesn’t contain a single person who believes in Jesus, the stories we tell point back to our God whose love is not only consistent, but constant.
And every story carries incredible value in Kingdom currency.
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We LOVE to hear about our partners’ experiences. Your stories matter, and we want to share them. Contact our Content Manager, Dana Bright, at dbright@hopechest.org to share!
