ENS: "Storytelling" transforms Europe's Episcopalians

By Matthew Davies,
October 20, 2008

Excerpt:
New model of formationThe convention's new storytelling model is based on the Transformed by Stories (TBS) program currently being developed by the European Institute of Christian Studies (EICS), the education department of the convocation, as "an attempt to approach formation differently," said Felicity Handford, EICS chairman. "The wonderful thing about stories is that you can go to places that you wouldn’t ever dream of."

The program, made possible in part through financial support from the Episcopal Church's Office of Ministry Development and a Constable Fund grant, works as a three-part series:

telling God's story as my story;
telling my story as God's story;
and telling our story as God's story.

Describing the initiative as a good way to share and build up community," the Rev. Bill Franklin, a member of the TBS development team and associate director for external affairs at the American Academy in Rome, said, "At this convention we are telling stories that define who we are as a people in Europe at a pivotal moment in the history of the Episcopal Church."

Some delegates described the story of the convocation as dynamic and representing the Episcopal Church at its best, on its mission frontier in Europe. The TBS storytelling format, they say, allows them to tell the convocation story in an interesting and innovative fashion...

Another quote:
Schori: "When we connect the stories that we know with great faith stories, we are doing the work of the gospel," Jefferts Schori told the delegates. "We are telling the world and each other how we know God. I give thanks to you and celebrate what is going on here."
the rest

[Once upon a time....telling your story as my story as God's story as our story as the church's story...Arrrrrgh!!!!! I feel dizzy...]