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The greatest story
January 2014

By Anna McShane — Discipling people to conversion and beyond is a concept that is not well understood in the North American context where we focus on point-in-time conversion, not the process that brings us to the Lord. Those who work in other cultures, especially Asian and Middle Eastern, understand more fully that discipleship takes place as much before salvation as after, and the moment of conversion may not be fully clear either to the disciple or to the discipler. Stories from the Word are a powerful tool to disciple people living in community cultures.

One of SEND’s workers among Muslim people in Southeast Asia compares sharing the Good News to the propagation of bamboo. He writes, “The beauty of bamboo is in its simplicity. A closer look at bamboo reveals character properties that are exceptionally light, that exceed the tensile strength of steel and concrete, while providing the extreme flexibility that withstands super storms. Incredibly, some varieties grow up to one meter a day! Bamboo’s beauty and simplicity extend sub-surface with anchor and feeder roots that maximize balancing nutrient storage and reproduction. Even a single bamboo cutting stuck in the ground has the ability to grow new roots and self-propagate.

“We can’t duplicate this masterpiece of God’s creation, but we can replicate some of God’s creative principles. Simplicity over complexity leaps out at us as we think about our personal spiritual growth and reproducing ourselves in second-generation believers. As we share the Good News, we want to do so in ways that produce new shoots and clusters, clusters that produce even more groupings. In the fast pace of our global society, imagine being lighter, stronger and more productive. God designed us in His image, let us walk in that!”

Story-telling is a growing movement to share the Good News among people who are not highly literate, people who love being in groups and will likely make faith decisions in a community, rather than as disparate individuals. Another worker on the same Southeast Asia team writes about how storytelling is impacting their ministry.

“This past quarter, our team has focused on creating small group studies where we discuss core stories from the Bible. As students and friends leave their small group studies, we hear of them retelling their lessons in their homes, dorm rooms, from child to parent and parent to child. From values classes, parent/child gatherings, literacy programs, agricultural training, development training, campus classes and seminars, and of course in classic Bible studies, we are hearing how God’s Word is being shared again and again, replicating in the lives of our Muslim friends like a stalk of bamboo that takes root and propagates into a cluster of vibrant stalks.”

One of the campus students told her teachers, “I shared two stories from our study with my family over semester break; they really liked it. When we go home for weekends or semester breaks, we always share some stories from our study with our families. Our Grannies especially like that because they remember some of the stories but not in as much detail as we give. At night, in the dorm, when it’s too hot to study or sleep because the electricity went off, we get into our beds and recall aloud the stories we’ve studied with you. We help each other remember details in case someone leaves something out!”

Even though this teacher is not yet seeing fruit of faith, all the girls enjoy discussing the meaning of the “stories” while they are together. It’s special that they enjoy retelling the stories to their families. In the re-telling, may God’s Spirit touch the lives of the tellers and listeners. 

What is it about stories? While we love them as children, we still love them as adults. A story gathers a group together and binds us in suspense, especially if the stories are told at night, in the dark. A short-term worker on the Muslim team says, “My time in [Southeast Asia] has taught me many things, and when it comes to telling stories there’s one big lesson I’ve learned: there is beauty in darkness.

“When the lights are off there’s an impression of awe and anticipation in my listeners. The darkness of night brings a sense of security and they seem to relax as I breathe out stories of my life, the prophets, and even of Jesus.

“We recently shared the story of the Lost Sheep during a sleepover. With eyes wide the children listened as the shepherd left his 99 sheep for that one who was lost. The darkness of night and the comfort of our beds set the stage for these children to learn the story… but where would it go from here? The point isn’t just for them to listen, the point is for them to live it and share it.

“The story cannot stay in the darkness; it needs to be retold in the light. We ended our time with a challenge: learn the story and pick someone to share it with. The children took turns naming those they would share with. Just like that, with a simple story told when the lights are off, a bamboo-propagating process has begun.”

Bamboo, stories, pushing back the darkness with the Light of the world.  May the adult in our heads never forget that the child in every man and woman is longing for stories that will make sense of life and bind us together with others. The story of Life in Jesus is the only story that will hold the world together.



SEND teams serve in more than 20 countries around the world. Explore our ministry guides to learn about the cultures and people groups we serve.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anna McShane
Anna's lifelong involvement with missions has included ministering throughout Asia.

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