Customer Reviews

Experiential Storytelling: (Re) Discovering Narrative to Communicate God's Message (emergentYS)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I ordered this because I am a youth worker and mother of two teenagers, but after reading it, I want every teaching I am in to be as alive as Mark Miller proposes. It is not about some desperate attempt to reach the next generation. It is about putting creativity in the church where it should be and that applies to all ages. Miller does a wonderful job of helping his readers make a discovery, instead of just handing them to a conclusion. He has great personal examples as well as input from other experts from whom he has learned. It is an enjoyable and inspiring read!

Frustrated with the overall decline of church membership today, author Mark Miller examines the speaking techniques used in most churches and how people respond. After teaching a Sunday School class which started large and declined until it had almost no attendees, he found that experiential storytelling techniques brought people back in droves and allowed him to share the message of Christ in new and innovative ways.

Experiential Storytelling methods allow people to experience the story of Christ instead of sermonizing. This in turn makes the Bible more real to others. While many churches are stuck in a pattern that is hard to change and people in general tend to be resistant, youth groups are generally more open and the techniques in this book could easily be used there or in the Sunday School setting. Then, who knows, perhaps it will move into the primary service. Experiential Storytelling is highly recommended and church leaders should at least be aware of the techniques and potential.

As a senior pastor, I must say that I really enjoyed this book. It really made me stop and think about the way I preach a sermon. In fact, now, because of this book, my entire style of preaching has changed. Shockingly enough, I am actually keeping the interest of the teens for the entire sermon...which is a huge feat, let me tell you! Because of this book, I have started using more stories in my sermons and look for more ways to draw the listeners into the sermon through things they can experience.

That said, this book is not for everybody. It would probably be best used in the hands of a Youth Pastor, but could also be of some benefit to a pastor looking to make his/her sermons more interesting to the younger crowd. It does have an "Emergent" tone to the book that traditional pastors might not relate to. It also has a whole chapter on the "Jesus Journey" that would only be useful to somebody wanting to actually stage the "Journey" in their church. Also, his writing style is a bit in-experienced which might turn off some readers.

However, there was only one thing I was disapointed about. The book says that you can go to the author's website and look at stories other readers have left that tell about their experiments with "Experiental Storytelling." I went to the site, but there weren't any stories there. Now, I guess it isn't the author's fault if his readers don't want to share stories of things they've tried in their churches. I keep going back to the site hoping that maybe somebody, some day might share one of their own stories there.

All in all, I felt that this book was worth the price and was worth reading. My prayer is that more pastors will read this book and reconsider the way they present their sermons.

I appreciate the jist of what Mark Miller is trying to communicate in this book, but it seems that he doesn't really say anything of significance. The book is thin; the content is thinner. Miller's advice amounts to: know your audience, be creative (though he doesn't give practical advice on how to be creative), and get your audience involved in the story. Sadly, almost half the book is a re-cap of a single experience he had with his church, something called the "Jesus Journey."

This would have been a great 3-page article, but there's just not enough here to merit paying $15 for a whole book.

Too often "emerging worship" resouces focus on ways to entertain the crowds, instead of worshipping God. We get lost on the idea of bringing more people into the church instead of feeding people God's word. However, Experiential Storytelling is an example of utilizing today's culture as a tool to bring God's story to people. Miller shows us how he developed interesting and successful ways to present the gospel story to youth. Through innovative use of props and lighting, Miller has created presentations that do not overshadow the message, only highlight it. Overall, Experiential Storytelling is a good tool for churches that truly want to reach out to young people.

Miller asks a new question:

How do we meet and intersect with our youth and their experiences? In a world that questions facts, and where new experiences are needed in order to keep our youth engaged, there needs to be a shift in teaching styles.

This book provides any leader with every step that is needed to make a change. Everything from teaching outlines, how to provide an experiential setting for learning, and how to engage every thinking and learning style after the narrative is read is included and can be used for life application.

Miller suggests that experiences, which are interactive and relational, should be the basis for ministry as it will engage and educate. Even with all of this, there is something more. This type of ministry places trust in the learner so that they can wrestle with the narrative and derive meaning that speaks to their experiences. This is the beauty in teaching from a story foundation. It allows for teaching to become more missional - it allows teachers to teach like missionaries do. By engaging their culture, speaking their language, and becoming apart of their community, personal experiences are enabled and there is a greater emotional attachment to Jesus' story.

He asks a very poignant question:

"Do we trust our people and the Holy Spirit enough to allow them to think for themselves?"

From a jr. high standpoint, are we willing to allow experiences to begin and form without seeing the fruit of our work? Are we willing to allow the high school, or young adult ministry to be the final stages in personal decision to follow and live like Jesus?

Experiential Storytelling is just that - creating experience from sharing our story and, more importantly, God's story with those around us. This book is a must-own for any leader that wants to teach from a "storying" perspective as it will provide guidance, application, and insight into this wonderful form of communicating.

"The Gospel has come to life for everyone involved."-Mark Miller
That quote in many ways sums up this book for me. This book is about telling a story, and not just any story...the Greatest Story Ever Told. The Gospel.

Frederick Buechner said, "There is perhaps no better proof of the existence of God then the way that year after year He survives the way his professional friends promote Him." In his book, Miller touches on how we as a society have changed and how, all to often, the church has failed to adapt in the way that it communicates Gospel. Are we bringing the story to life for a new generation? Can they see that their stories are connected to His Story? Has the Gospel "come to life" for them?

Perhaps the key to the whole thing is found in the latter part of that initial quote, ...to everyone involved." Ultimately, experiential storytelling(in my understanding of the book) is about inviting people into the story. Not simply as observers, witnesses or spectators but as participants. It is as we participate in the story that we experience God in a way that is life changing. The Bible uses experiential language when it says to "Taste and see that the Lord, He is good. (Psa.34:8) Everyone deserves to hear the gospel in their "heart language" and for this generation-it is experience.

This book isn't a thesis. It is not necessarily a Christian "Classic" (my apologies to the author)either. What I did find was a well written book that acts as yet another chapter in a very important conversation that is taking place. The kind of conversations that must be happening within the Church if they are to assist travelers on this spiritual journey we call "life". The facts of the Story will never change but the way in which it is told? It absolutely must.

Overall this book disappointed me. Just a small fraction of the book really offers new ideas and new insight. The insight it did offer did not fit what I was looking for. If you are a youth leader or planning a retreat, this book would be a good tool. However, I found it extremely lacking for the preacher. I kept waiting for it to get to the "Aha!" moment, but it never came. I've been very interested in the Emerging Church, seeing as I am in my mid 20's. But, I did not find this book to offer any real substance towards actually changing the way I want to preach and "tell stories". I did enjoy the discussion on "experience". Basically for preaching, its back to "object lessons" for the congregation. Which is great, but nothing new. I would have liked to have seen more suggestions and tools for the congregational setting, instead of telling one main story about a retreat.
If you are a youth worker, this would be a good read.
If you are speaking before a congregation, there aren't enough suggestions or insights to be worth the read.

I know this book is a bit dated at this point (a 2012 (almost) review for a 2004 book), but I had this on my Amazon Wishlist for a couple of years and my wife got it for me for Christmas. I thought it would be about preaching in a way that involved the listener through story and narrative. While it seemed to try to address that at some level, I believe it missed the mark.

This book was more about theater...or how to use all of the senses in telling a story. I did not find most of the author's insights as insightful. Information about knowing one's audience, postmodernism, etc. really didn't give any new information. Some of this might be because of the age of the book. The section on creativity discussed why it was important, but I didn't feel it really addressed how one becomes more creative.

One of the reviewers mentioned that he thought the author needed to gain a bit more experience before writing a book like this. I would have to agree. There just wasn't enough experience contained in the pages to warrant a full book. It felt like the author had a good experience with a couple of 'event', but really didn't address how someone could do this week after week in a church setting. Could a small church provide experiential storytelling? Who needs to be on the design team (what 'type' of person)? What would the work flow look like week after week? Even starting with a biblical passage and moving through the creative steps would have been helpful.

The sad thing is I read the entire book in less than a day. When I went to the website...it no longer exists. I see that Amazon is still selling this book new, and you can purchase the Kindle version for $11. I would suggest getting one of the used versions (this is what my wife has done) if you really want to read it.

I'm giving it 3 stars because, for some, this all might be new stuff and it is at least a start.

This book has been great at getting me to rethink how to prepare talks and add stories to the mix. I wish there had been some more practical examples based on specific bible passages or examples which can be used within a specific talk.

That being said, the book has really gotten me to rethink the bible stories and figure out how to make them feel real to people. How to get a group of teens or adults to experience that they are a part of the story.

The example that continues to stay on my mind is bringing teens together to re-enact the Jesus story by blindfolding everyone for an entire evening until they find a Jesus character who saves them.