Last week, we shared a video about “timelining” Scripture—the practice of organizing the diverse stories of the Bible into a larger narrative to make it easier to see how they all fit together. Did you have a chance to try it out? If not, take a few minutes to watch the video to see how it works—it’s a simple way of engaging with the Bible that anyone can do!
This week, let’s look at a closely related approach to the Bible. While timelining focuses on charting out the broader story of the Bible, the practice of storying Scripture is a way to more deeply interact with specific stories in the Bible.
The Scripture Engagement section of Bible Gateway explains the practice of storying Scripture in detail. It requires no fancy knowledge of the Bible or advanced degree in theology; all it requires is a willingness to start listening and speaking Bible stories in addition to reading them quietly on the page. Here’s how it works:
Storying the Word is the process of helping people discover the truths of the Bible through hearing the stories of the Bible. Have you ever noticed how often the Bible uses the word “hear” and not “read?” Bible scholars tell us the Bible is really a book designed to be listened to, not to primarily be read by an individual (which really wasn’t practical until the printing press was invented and Bibles eventually became more plentiful).
There are a number of ways a person can “hear” the Bible. People all over the world listen to recordings of the Bible as a means of hearing God’s Word (if you are a reader, try reading and listening to a recording of the Bible at the same time; it will enhance your experience). Scriptures can also be read aloud at worship services. Another technique is called “storying” and has been used by missionaries for years.
In storying, a teacher tells a Bible story by memory to a group of people. The listeners then retell the story together back to the teacher as best as they can. The teacher than tells the story again until all of the listeners have the story in their memory. The group then discusses the story and relates their own lives to the story. The goal is for the listeners to learn the story so they can share it with others; in a sense, becoming walking, talking Bibles.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be a “walking, talking Bible”? To show you how this works in practice, here’s a video that shows a Bible study group storying Luke 24:
As you can see, it’s simple to do and is perfectly suited for a small group Bible study. If you’re interested in this and other ways to make your Bible engagement more meaningful, we encourage you to read about storying Scripture and many other strategies in the Scripture Engagement section of Bible Gateway. There you’ll find over a dozen different ways to approach the Bible, courtesy of Taylor University‘s Center for Scripture Engagement.