What is Biblical Storytelling?
Everyone loves a good story. And when it’s told by someone who loves, feels, and embodies the story, you become part of the story. The Bible gives storytellers (and educators) many opportunities to share God’s Story. Bible stories have rich characters, emotions, and actions to bring to life.
Biblical storytelling is more than just “telling the story.” It is a discipline in which the storyteller takes a passage from the Bible, studies and reflects on that passage, and then tells it in a way so that the hearers may best connect with the story as well.
Everyone Can Be a Storyteller
Tracy Radosevic, Biblical storyteller extraordinaire, says, “Everyone is a storyteller . . . we just fall at different places on the storytelling spectrum.” This ranges from those who tell stories professionally on stage, to those who tell stories in the classroom or pulpit, to those who tell tales around the kitchen table.
This fall at a conference where she was keynoting, Tracy shared her “Storytelling Rules of Thumb”:
- Stay true to your personality when you’re telling stories
- Don’t make the audience work any harder than they have to
- Identify what about the story most resonates with you
- Less is More (a.k.a. KISS: Keep It Simple Silly!)
- Get your audience involved – even if they are all adults!
Tracy recently spoke with Faith & Leadership (Duke Divinity School) about what it means to be a biblical storyteller and why leaders should help others tell their own stories. Watch the video clip of her telling the story of Bartimaeus as well as read an edited transcript of the interview here.
Learn more at the Network of Biblical Storytellers International