Telling Your Faith Story

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

  • 8/9/2019 Telling Your Faith Story

    1/12

    Emotions are the language of values.

    Marshall Ganz

    The questions ofwhat am I called to, what my community iscalled to do, and what we are called to do now are at least as

    old as Moses conversation with God at the burning bush. Why

    me? Asks Moses, when he is called to free his people. And,

    who is calling me? And, why these people? Why here, now, in

    this place?

    We are here to learn to answer those questions for the Believe

    Out Loud campaign.

    Why do we need to tell our stories?

    Stories not only teach us how to act they inspire us to act. Stories communicate our values through the language of the heart, our emotions. Stories foster relationships. They engage others and create an empathetic link between the

    storyteller and the listener.

    Our feelings, our hopes, our cares, our obligations not simply what we know ultimately inspireus to act with courage. Since our stories relate our values through lived experience and not abstractdebate or argument, they have the power to move others.

    We can share the wisdom of our life experiences by telling our personal stories about thechallenges of living in a denomination where LGBT persons are excluded, the choices we havemade in response, and what we have learned from the outcomes. Such sharing will hopefully

    inspire others to join in our local work for full inclusion of ALL people in our church.

    Public narrative is a practice of leadership

    Public leaders employ both the head and the heart in order to

    mobilize others to act effectively on behalf of shared values. In other

    words, they engage people in interpreting why they should changetheir world theirmotivation and how they can act to change it

    theirstrategy. Public narrative is the whythe art of translating values into action through stories. It isa process through which individuals, communities, and nations construct their identity, make choices, andinspire action.

    Publicnarrativeis

    theartoftranslating

    valuesintoaction

    throughstories.

    Whenweanswerwhyme?

    questions,wenotonlyfind

    renewedenergyfromre

    discoveringourowndeeply

    heldcommitments,butwealso

    ignitethepassionofothers!

    Page 1

    Telling Your Faith Story

  • 8/9/2019 Telling Your Faith Story

    2/12

  • 8/9/2019 Telling Your Faith Story

    3/12

    Through narrative we can articulate our values by communicating their emotional as well as

    conceptual content through a simple plot:

    Public narrative combines a story of self, a story of us, and a story of now.

    A story of self tells why we have been called to serve. The key focus is on choice points, moments in

    our lives when our values are formed when we have to choose in the face of great uncertainty, When didyou first care about being heard, about concern with others, about abuses of power, about poverty, about

    the natural world? Why? When did you feel you had to do something about it? Why did you feel you

    could? What were the circumstances?

    A story of us communicates why our community, organization, movement, campaign has been called

    to its mission. Just as with a person, the key is choice points in the life of the community and/or thosemoments that express the values underlying the work your organization does.

    A story of now communicates the urgent challenge we are called upon to face now, the hope we can

    face if successful, and the choices we must make to act now (our strategy).

    These three stories can be woven together into one coherent story that links our values and passions withthat of the movement as a way to engage and mobilize others to take action.

    Challenge

    Choice

    Outcome

    SELF

    MOVEMENTNOW

    WhyareyoupartofMore Light Presbyterians?

    WhoarewetogetherasMore Light Presbyterians?

    Whatarewecalledtodonowas More Light Presbyterians?

    Page 3

  • 8/9/2019 Telling Your Faith Story

    4/12

    Guidelines For Telling Our Stories

    Stories should

    Be under 2 minutes: Good stories are focused and well-organized. Remember you are tellingthe story of one moment in time. Focus on one challenge, one choice and one outcome.

    Be specificuse details: Take the listener to the moment you are describing. What are thesights, sounds, smells, and emotions of that moment. Use present tense. Try telling the storywithout using the word and.

    Tap into emotion: Stories should pull at the heartstrings of the listener. Help the listenerunderstand the values you aredescribing through the language of emotion.

    Include a challenge, a choice and an outcome: Make sure these three points are clear andwell articulated.

    Offer hope: Stories should be inspirational. End on a positive note. Offer the good newsthrough your story.

    Communicate values: Stories have a point and that point is a value that you want to inspireand cultivate in the listener.

    Guidelines For Coaching Stories

    Coaching Checklist:

    DO

    Say what works first in the story, focusing on specifics. Identify both the CHALLENGE and the HOPE in the story. Clarify choice points, the moment when one thing happened and not another. Connect the dots in the narrative, helping to illuminate how someone got from here to there. Look for themes. Ask questions about the intended audience and the desired action or response.

    DONT

    Offer vague abstract "feel good" comments, unless youve established the context. Whatdoes the story teller learn from you did a great job, as opposed to, the way you describedyour moment of choice made me feel very hopeful because. . . .

    Make value judgments about the story tellers voice or the validity of the point they wantto make. The key here is that a person find ways to express themselves in their own voice

    word choice, humor, metaphor, etc. Of course they need to know if choices theyve made

    communicate what they want to communicate.

    Page 4

  • 8/9/2019 Telling Your Faith Story

    5/12

    Team Work 1: Telling Our Stories

    Goals

    The first teamwork youre asked to do is to coach each other in telling your story of self. One

    goal is to locate within these stores values you share, challenges you face, and hopes to which you

    aspire. Be prepared to take some risks, and support your team members as they step out on the

    limb themselves!

    Agenda

    TOTAL TIME: 30 min.1. Gather in your 4 person small group and choose a timekeeper. 5 min.

    2. Take some time to silently develop your own story using the worksheet. 5 min.

    3. Tell your story to your team members and respond to each other each

    person takes 2 min. to tell their stories, and the group has 5 min. to offerfeedback.

    NOTE: You have just 2 minutes to tell you story. Stick to this limit. Make

    sure your time-keeper cuts you off. This both encourages focus and makessure everyone has a chance.

    20min.

    REPORT OUT: Choose one person in the group whose story best

    goal is to articulate and share - the values that draw you to More Light Presbyterians. A second

    Page 5

    exemplifies why they are part ofMore Light Presbyterians.

  • 8/9/2019 Telling Your Faith Story

    6/12

    Work Sheet 1

    Telling Your Story of SelfReflection

    When was the aha moment of realizing you wanted to commit yourself to the movement for full

    Why did you come here today?Go back as far as you can remember. Focus on the challenges you had to face, the choices you made

    about how to deal with them, and the satisfaction or frustration - you experienced. Why did you makethose choices? Why did you do this and not that? Keep asking yourself, Why?

    have stories of loss, we would not understand that loss is a part of the world, we would have no reason to

    try to fix things. But we also have stories of hope. Otherwise we wouldnt be trying to fix it.

    A good public story is drawn from the series of choice points that

    structure the plot of your life the challenges you faced, choices

    you made, and outcomes you experienced.

    Challenge: Why did you feel it was a challenge? What was so

    challenging about it? Why was ityourchallenge?

    Choice: Why did you make the choice you did? Where did you get

    the courage or not? Where did you get the hope or not? How did

    it feel?

    Outcome: How did the outcome feel? Why did it feel that way?

    What did it teach you? What do you want to teach us? How do youwant us to feel?

    inclusion in the Presbyterian Church USA?

    What experiences have drawn you to More Light Presbyterians?More Light Presbyterians:

    Why are you part of the More Light Presbyterians movement? Can you recall a particular incident or moment that led you to become a More Light

    Presbyterian?

    Many of us who are active as More Light Presbyterians have stories of both loss and hope. If we did not

    Page 6

    Take time to reflect on your own story of self. Think about why you are called to be part of

  • 8/9/2019 Telling Your Faith Story

    7/12

    Record Your Thoughts About Your Public Narrative

    Tips for Brainstorming your Public Narrative

    Determine the challenge, the choice, and outcome you want to focus on for this story. Add specific details. Reflect on how it makes you feel. Keep it short you only have two minutes.

    Map the Challenge, Choice, and Outcome for your story here:

    Challenge Choice Outcome

    Record feedback/comments from your team members here:

    Page 7

  • 8/9/2019 Telling Your Faith Story

    8/12

    Coaching Your Team's Public Story

    As you hear each other's stories, keeping track of the details of each persons story will help you to

    provide feedback and remember details about the people on your team later. Use the grid below to track

    each team members story.

    Name Challenge Choice Outcome Notes

    Page 8

  • 8/9/2019 Telling Your Faith Story

    9/12

    Building Relationships

    Through our stories we reveal our values and

    discover the basis for forming relationships with one another.

    Relationships are the key to organizing. It is in and through our relationships that we discover the hidden

    stories of others and the values those stories reveal. By building relationships, we build, strengthen andgrow our movement.

    Relationships are essential because:

    We create change by building relationships that are rooted in a commitment to a shared future. Relationships help us identify common interests so that we can work together for change. We build relationships by both telling and listening to the stories of our individual and communal

    journeys.

    The stories we tell reveal our values through the choices we have made and help us identify commoninterests.

    We elicit other peoples stories by listening carefully and asking good questions about the choicesthey have made and the moments that reveal values and common interest. For example:

    o Why did you go to this school rather than that school?o Why

    did you study this rather than that?o Why did you become Presbyterian and not join another denomination?

    Page 9

  • 8/9/2019 Telling Your Faith Story

    10/12

    One on One Meetings

    One on one meetings are the key to building and sustaining successful relationships and organizations. Bytalking with someone, one on one, we learn their story, unlock their passion and discover values that we

    share. These shared values become the basis for working together to create change. We should think of

    one on one meetings as tools we will use throughout our work to invite people to trainings, to call new

    leaders onto our teams and to invite people to our BOLD gatherings.

    One on One Meetings are:

    Scheduled not accidental. Leaders initiate relationships with others. Purposeful not chit-chat. Leaders initiate one to one meetings for the purpose of finding common

    values and interests.

    Intentional not casual or haphazard. One to one meetings establish a public relationship for publicwork together.

    Probing notprying. One to one meetings help participants discover each others interests andstories when participants exchange many why? questions.

    One on One meetings are not:

    Sending an email or even exchanging an email. Making a phone call or leaving a message. Asking someone to do something without establishing a relationship first.The elements of a successful one on one meeting include:

    Attention we have to get another persons attention to conduct a one on one meeting. The best wayis simply to be up front about your own interest in the other person and the purpose of themeeting.

    Interest There must be a purpose or a goal in setting up a one on one meeting. It could range from,Im starting a discipleship group and thought you might be interested to Id like to get to know

    you better.

    Exploration most of the meeting time is spent in exploration. We probe to learn about the personsvalues, resources and interests by asking why they made the choices that they did and sharing our

    own. This is different than prying into one anothers personal lives.

    Exchange we exchange resources in the meeting such as information, support, and insight. Thiscreates the foundation for future exchanges.

    Commitment - a successful one on one meeting ends with a commitment, most likely to meet again.By scheduling a specific time for this meeting, you make it a real commitment.

    Page 10

  • 8/9/2019 Telling Your Faith Story

    11/12

    Team Work 2:

    Common Interests, Shared Resources

    Goals

    The goals of this team work session are to identify the interests that you and your team members have in

    common, identify some of the resources to which you have access, and consider commitments you might

    make to one another that could enable you to act on these interests. First you will work with one partner,probing each others stories to learn each others resources and interests, and identifying common

    interests on behalf of which you may commit to working together.

    Agenda

    TOTAL TIME: 25 minutes

    1. In pairs, practice a mini one on one with each other. Begin with the story of

    self you heard your partner tell in the last session. Follow up with questions

    you might have that will help you understand more deeply their values,

    interests and resources. Spend 5 minutes on each person.

    10 min

    2. Report back to the group, the shared interests and resources that emerged

    from your conversation.

    5 min

    3. As a group, reflect on the interests and resources named. What interests do

    resources do they have to offer? What is the story of us that is beginning toemerge?

    List the two or three interests and resources to report out. The groupchooses the person who can best articulate interests and resources they

    share.

    10 min

    Report Out: Your spokesperson will report the teams

    interests and resources.

    people in your group hold about More Light Presbyterians? What

    Page11

  • 8/9/2019 Telling Your Faith Story

    12/12

    Work Sheet 2:One-on-Ones

    ONE ON ONE PRACTICE

    for your partners interests to what goals does s/he aspire, what is s/he trying to make happen, what doess/he want to be doing in 10 years, what legacy does s/he want to have?

    Also listen to your partners story for the resources to which s/he has access. Be specific.

    Steer clear of the temptation to talk about issues in an abstract sensetalk about why YOU care about

    that issue because of your experiences and circumstances.

    Record here the interests that you and your partner share.

    Record here the resources that you identified during your one on one.

    Building on your personal stories of why you were called to be part ofMore Light Presbyterians, probe

    Page 12