Teacher as Storyteller or Storyteller as Teacher?

              I sat in class and cringed. The presenter was reading off of the sheet word for word and then referenced an article which was read word for word. This painful style of teaching went on for over an hour. But when came next might have been worse. He began to tell stories. Stories that even though they happened to him, he had no ownership of, as the word “ummm” was constantly interjected as if he had lost his place or forgot what came next. The stories were filled with details that were unnecessary and made the story much longer then necessary. You got so lost in the details that you couldn’t see the connecting point that was trying to be made. It was if the story was told to fill time more than be an example. Or worse, as if the stories were being shared for the validation of the teacher instead of the benefit of the student.

Part of preaching is storytelling. Preachers retell the Bible story each week and then pick out other stories that illustrate points or help congregation members find themselves in the text. Storytelling can be transformational and it is critical to some of my favorite forms of Bible study including Wisdom’s Table and Soul Stories. But storytelling can never be for the sake of the storyteller, at least not in teaching. If it is simply the teacher being a storyteller the value of the story is lost inside of self-indulgence. But if teachers transcend themselves and see storytelling as a tool to help transform their students, transform their congregations, then storytellers become teachers. Lessons can be found and people can relate to what is being said. Stories are told for the value of another, and as such details are trimmed that block people from seeing themselves in the story, and they are presented clearly. The storyteller becomes a vessel instead of the subject. We need more storytellers in the church, those who seek to reach others, instead of simply hear themselves speak for the sake of speaking.