Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Review of TELLING THE GOSPEL THROUGH STORY by Christine Dillon
Photo Credit: Intervarsity Press
Who the book is for: Christians interested in storytelling and sharing their faith
Rating: 5 out of 5
The gospel of Jesus Christ, the message that Jesus died in our place to reconcile us to God, is the most important message in the world. It’s a message that is meant to be communicated and responded to. But too many times we don’t do it justice. Too many times we communicate an incomplete gospel, a gospel that is detached from real life as people know and experience it. How do we communicate the gospel in a way that keeps people engaged and left inspired to either embrace it or investigate it further?
TELLING THE GOSPEL THROUGH STORY is a new book from Intervarsity Press by Christine Dillon. In the book, she walks readers through a way of communicating the gospel message through a method called storying. The message of the Bible, after all, is presented to us in story form. From beginning to end, the Bible is the story of God, the story of Jesus, and the story of us whom he created and died for to redeem.
I love stories and storytelling, so I really resonated with the ideas in this book. Dillon rightly shows that people get wrapped up in stories, and this was Jesus’ primary way of communicating to people. She also shows that the gospel story only makes sense when the key points of the story are all communicated. For example, the story of the Fall is vital to understanding why Jesus needed to die for humanity. Storying gives us the opportunity to communicate the message of the gospel so that people can see how relevant it truly is to their lives, and because stories captivate us, people stay interested and are moved to respond in some way.
Dillon walks readers through how to develop a basic story set that we’re ready to communicate to people. She also shows the importance of not trying to memorize stories word for word because it’s not natural. Storying is great because it gets people journeying through the Bible. Dillon then walks through teaching storying to others, as well as how to have meaningful discussion.
Everybody loves a great story, and TELLING THE GOSPEL THROUGH STORY gives everyone the opportunity to learn how to be storytellers of the gospel story. It’s a great way to introduce people to the gospel. Obviously, it’s not the only way to evangelize, but it would be great for Christians to learn how to do Bible storying.
I received this book for free for review from Intervarsity Press, and the opinions contained in this review are completely my own
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