Teaching Through the Art of Storytelling: Creating Fictional Stories that Illuminate the Message of Jesus (Youth Specialties) [Kindle Edition]

Jon Huckins (Author)

Book Description

As communicators in a culture saturated with storylines, we have the
profound opportunity to invite our students into the masterful Story of
God. There are a variety of ways to invite our students into this
Story, but this book discusses and explores how to teach through one of
Jesus' most powerful modes of communication--fictional storytelling.
Rabbinical storytelling (otherwise known as Jewish Agada) embraces the
narrative of Scripture and invites its listeners into understanding and
participation. Our Rabbi, Jesus, employed this mode of communication
through his parables. Approaching the topic as a theologian,
philosopher and artist, Jon invites and teaches how to create
modern-day parables that illuminate the message of
Jesus. These stories do not simply illustrate the message; they are, in
fact, the message. Whether hoping to articulate deep theological
concepts or relevant topics, teaching through the art of fictional
storytelling has the potential to engage and invite our students into
The Story.

In this book:

• You will learn how to create your own fictional stories (modern day parables) that use a realistic setting, engaging characters and a thought provoking plot to communicate a specific topic.
• You are given practical worksheets that offer guidance in developing such stories
• Jon includes a variety of stories he has developed over his years of youth ministry and offers them as a resource to any youth pastor/communicator.

Editorial Reviews

Review

I found myself wrapped up in its pages and receiving personal learning. It's a rarity in youth ministry as it has the potential of impacting not only youth but also their youth leaders. --Dan Kimball - author of They Like Jesus but Not the Church

About the Author

Jon Huckins is a veteran youth pastor and public school teacher who is now on staff with NieuCommunities, a collective of missional church communities who foster leadership and community development. After much international travel and study in the Middle East, Jon focuses much of his writing and graduate studies at Fuller Seminary on ethics and social advocacy. Further, Jon writes for Youth Specialties and loves to tell and live out new stories with teenagers. He lives in San Diego with his wife Jan, daughter and three legged dog. Contact: http://jonhuckins.net or [e-mail]

Product Details

• File Size: 1296 KB
• Print Length: 176 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 5 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
• Publisher: Zondervan/Youth Specialties (January 4, 2011)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishing
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003TFE5OK
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #360,648 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Your students want you to read this book... January 3, 2011

By Chip Johnson

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

There are too many books (and degrees) out there trying to teach you a formula for how to teach students God's Word. Many of them are helpful tools, many of them function like a Colorado mountain guard rail--creating only false confidence and proving largely ineffective when it matters. Instead of teaching ABOUT God's Word, why not actually teach it's profound and beautiful story--through story? Huckins answers this call in a great way. He writes the way he would talk to you which makes it an easy read and his insights are as deliberately simple as they are profound.

In my ten years as a youth pastor, the greatest success I experienced in teaching students was when I threw out the props and power point and just told God's story. Do yourself (and your youth group, Bible study, small group, children) a favor and read this book!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal resource for anyone who teaches young people or anyone at all December 30, 2010

By Nate Millheim

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I just finished Teaching Through the Art of Storytelling, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend it to anyone in youth ministry, and really to anyone who regularly teaches groups of people the way of Jesus. The author spends time in the beginning of the book laying out a framework for a theology of storytelling, using the great teacher Jesus as a primary example. Included is a primer on narrative theology in the vein of authors such as N.T. Wright, which would also be very helpful for youth pastors. Finally the author gets to the nuts and bolts of storytelling...plot, character development, setting, etc. The short stories uses as examples were fun and well crafted, giving the reader an idea of how this could practically work.

It's amazing that youth pastors and other spiritual teachers can spend so much time on other aspects of programming and even skill development while neglecting a serious process for storytelling. When we think about it we know that stories are what move us and inspire us. This book will help the reader value the art of storytelling and gain a new understanding and theology of storytelling as well as very practical resources and helps.

It's a wonderful book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging people in following in the way of Jesus September 10, 2011

By C. Christopher Smith

Format:Paperback

[ This review originally appeared in
THE ENGLEWOOD REVIEW OF BOOKS - 19 August 2011 ]

In their new book, The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry, Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean argue that the youth group in churches can be a place for significant theological reflection and engagement with God's mission in the world (Watch for our review of this book in our next print issue). One of the key pieces of this task however, is introducing students to, and immersing them in, the biblical story. In this vein, comes Jon Huckins's new book Teaching Through the Art of Story Telling: Creating Fictional Stories that Illuminate the Message of Jesus. For a number of years now, Huckins has been engaging the youth of his church by telling modern day parables that spur reflection and invite students into the way of Jesus. In this new book, Huckins explains why he has been drawn to storytelling, as a compelling way of engaging the hearts and minds of the youth in his church, and he also explains how he creates and tells such stories. In the final section of the book, he provides several sample stories that he has used. Huckins's work here is refreshing in that he shows a deep understanding that humankind lives by stories and forms his practice around the ways that he has seen stories work in the teaching of Jesus, as well as in contemporary culture. He says: "There's something about stories that engage not only the mind, but also the heart. We become part of the story. We picture ourselves living out this life that's being revealed to us, and subconsciously we relate it to our own."

The narrative approach that Huckins describes here is effective for teaching youth, and I would even argue that preachers - and those who would be preachers - can learn much from Huckins's reflections that would benefit teaching those of all ages in the church. Although Huckins clearly intends this method of teaching to engage people in following in the way of Jesus, my concern with this book, as with most books that focus on "how to" methods, is that readers of the book might be tempted to be enamored with the means (i.e., the method) and not give sufficient attention to the ends. Storytelling could thus become just the latest means to propagate any of a number of culturally domesticated gospels that do not demand the sort of radical self-denial and love for God and all humanity that Jesus taught. I find Huckins's work in Teaching Through the Art of Storytelling therefore to be compelling, and recommend it with the caveat that readers should not just take it as the latest fad in teaching or preaching, but rather submit themselves to Huckins's narrating of his own work and seeing how well these ideas might be adaptable to their own contexts, be they among youth or among broader swaths of their church population.

More About the Author

Contact: http://jonhuckins.net or [e-mail]
Jon Huckins is a veteran youth pastor and public school teacher who is now on staff with NieuCommunities, a collective of missional church communities who foster leadership and community development. After much international travel and study in the Middle East, Jon focuses much of his writing and graduate studies at Fuller Seminary on ethics and social advocacy. Further, Jon writes for Youth Specialties and loves to tell and live out new stories with teenagers. He lives in San Diego with his wife Jan, daughter and three legged dog.