Melbourne School of Theology, Australian College of Theology
Telling stories that point to God’s story (told as a story)
Narrative theology is often presented as an abstract object and much important research has been undertaken in recent years. However those seeking to put this important approach into practice often find more information about the what and why, but little practical material about the how. Part of the problem is that stories need to be culturally-contextualised and audience-specific in order to be meaningful. This paper provides a real-world model for one specific context.
Dr Bernie Power lived for over 20 years among non-literate Arabs in the Middle East and Asia. To share the good news of Jesus, he learnt Arabic, was given an Arabic name by his neighbours, and became a qassas, a traditional story-teller. Wearing the local Arab dress gifted to him by his adopted community, he moved around the Middle East, in countries like Jordan, Oman and Yemen, telling stories in local Arab dialects based on traditional Arab folk-tales. Most of his hearers could not read or write, so stories became the way that they understood and related to their world.
In this narrative-presentation, Mabruuk is an Arab who has decided to become a follower of Jesus. Mabruuk tells the story of his journey to faith and the folk-tales which helped him to answer the questions he was asking and overcome the obstacles he faced. Through these stories Mabruuk’s life-story became a part of God’s bigger story, begun in the Bible and continuing throughout history until today. Come and enjoy listening to Mabruuk’s journey to Jesus.