Nuggets #10

An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus
hapter 5 Cultural Architecture
If you can discover and unwrap a culture's metaphors, you can begin to understand the essence of that culture.

Unwrapping God's Power
Stories contain within them the essence of ethos. You can either talk to people about God's power or tell them the stories that unwrap the power of God. You can talk to them about the power of a small group community in the work of evangelism, or you can tell them a story that fleshes it out. You can tell people that creativity is not only the natural result of spirituality, but also an extraordinary tool for evangelism in the post-Western environment; or you can let them be the product of that reality. You can talk all day long about the importance of servanthood and service; or you can work from the pattern of Jesus and exalt those who humble themselves, giving positions of greatness to those who are willing to be the least in the kingdom.

The stories you choose to tell inform the emerging culture. Stories that are rooted in the life of the congregation breathe life into the congregation. Great leaders are great storytellers. Great churches have great stories. Great stories crate a great future.

Okay, so I didn't get a whole lot out of Chapter 5, but I did like the concept of storytelling. I'm not much of an evangelist, maybe because I don't have any friendships with non-Christians, though I have those 2 minute shallow conversations with checkers and salespeople occasionally. The concept of storytelling, for me, takes a whole lot of pressure off, when it comes to sharing my faith. I'm full of stories of the great things God has done in my life and I love to tell those stories. According to the author, that goes a lot further than the 5 Spiritual Laws approach. Does that take the pressure of you too? Just being yourself and telling your God stories? So do-able! Let's do it together.