Southern Africa Opens to
Simply The Story (STS)
The East Africa Director for The God’s Story Project and Pro Tempore Director throughout Africa for Simply The Story was invited to be a speaker at Lausanne 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa.
As a member of the International Orality Network team in attendance, many opportunities opened in Cape Town for him both to trumpet the vital importance of incorporating oral strategies in Great Commission work and to demonstrate our style of biblical storytelling and discovery called Simply The Story.
Here is just one of his letters to our headquarters from Cape Town.
“Greetings from Cape Town. As promised, I want to try my best to keep you posted on my time here in Lausanne so that you can know what's happening and also how to mobilize prayer.
“Yesterday I left Lesotho a very happy man and arrived in Cape Town safely. The reason for my happiness over Lesotho was the workshop we just held. My personal recommendation for Sefiri, Mamotsoane and Jayne is to put them at the level of certified instructors. I was much pleased with their presentations and further explanations of the "why's" behind each element in the schedule.
“They also understand that this only means they can only create practitioners and also they must keep close connection with TGSP for updates on any new things we learn in the process of further development of STS. My plan is to work further with them just as I plan to work with William and others on how to develop leaders.
As I watch their potential and abilities in this, I will give you further thoughts on their journey to senior instructor status. Maybe next year we will focus more on that as we are seeing strong leadership developing across the continent.
“Back to Lausanne:
“We had a dialogue leaders meeting yesterday and I got clarity on several items. We also met with the orality team today and I learnt more about my role at this conference.
“On Tuesday we will have a dialogue session on orality which has a minimum of 60 people. I have 30 minutes there to do a model story and then other people will cover the "why's" of orality.
“We have 4 other dialogue sessions throughout the congress and I will have about 5 minutes to share testimony.
“On Friday early afternoon we have a multiplex session that's estimated to have anything between 600 and 1300. The orality movement has a total of 90 minutes and it will be shared mostly for introduction to orality and other subjects. But here is where you get excited, I have 40 minutes approximately there for a model story.
“Am still on the plenary for the parable of the sower by the way.
“On sides, you know me and networking! I spent 3 hours today with a man from Kenya who lectures at the Pan African Christian University. He heads up a team that is designing a new syllabus for the diploma and degree in youth ministry for the institution.
Well he said he has been wondering, ‘How do we teach these students to go out and communicate in a culturally appropriate and context to the youth who won't read as much as we expect them?’ well of course I did a story with him and that hit home.
“I then told him of our US involvement with Endeavor [Christian Endeavor] and our proposal to Endeavor Movement for Africa. I introduced him to Tim who attested to the effectiveness of STS. So the conclusion was I should commit to go in and train the students in STS at the university then they will be required to go and setup and "endeavor" type group where they disciple youth through STS and that will go towards their degree.
“I met a top Bishop who had come to the 2008 Nairobi training and we lost touch with him and he said he had lost my information... He came praying that we would meet... Rwanda is opening up.
“The general secretary of an international fellowship of evangelical students and I did a story and vision casting. He has a big conference in next year that will be bringing university students from all over Africa.
He wants us to train them in STS and vision cast well enough so that we start training as many evangelical university students most of who are taking secular degrees so that they may graduate with skills to influence their professional fields with the deeper Word of God.
“I also reconnected with the lady who hired me to my first job back when I was 19 and she was thrilled to hear. She works with a network of ministries that's in 81 countries. She says I will be surprised by the opportunities coming to us through that network... She was so thrilled to see where God has taken me in those many years. She lives and works from the UK so I mentioned Bryan Thompson.
“Well that's that for now, I need to go my next meeting...
Workshops in Lesotho and South Africa Plant STS Deeply.
Host Gerhard Marx of Davar set up workshops in Cape Town and Pretoria. According to our instructing staff, hailing from USA and Africa, the key leaders gathered in Pretoria expressed excitement and amazement over the usefulness of what they learned.
Gerhard wrote, “I hope you are all doing just fine! We already miss you all. We need to get another STS going, it was great! One testimony I just received this week in speaking to one of the people who attended the STS in Pretoria:"
"'I have learned more about the Word of God in the 5 days of STS compared to 3 years of Bible School!’”
Gerhard continued … “This was mind blowing, as I know this person very well.”
Lesotho
Multiple trainings in Lesotho already show fruit, both in outreaches and in depth of leadership.
Three of the attendees from the first ever STS workshop done in Lesotho traveled a month later to a Cape Town workshop and there served as Provisional Instructors. The instructor to attendee ratio was high, so a lot of time could be spent in deepening the skills of the assembled Kenya, USA and Lesotho Provisional Instructors.
The following week, all of these instructors (headed by one African Senior Certified STS Instructor) led a workshop in Pretoria.
These eager learners from Lesotho, two nationals and an “expat,” began using STS in their own lives and circles of influence. (An expat is the abbreviated form of expatriate, a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence. Often missionaries are referred to as expats.)
See Journal of Discovering Story for this expat medical-missionary’s embrace of STS.
Then, a month later, a second workshop was done in Lesotho. At the end of that week, the Senior STS Instructor recommended moving several of the Provisional Instructors on to Certified STS Instructor status.
This Lesotho recap shows how people first learned STS, and became practitioners and began using those skills in their daily lives. Then they helped in several more workshops to deepen their instructing knowledge and skills. All those experiences combined, enabled them to become certified STS Instructors. This was a living demonstration of how STS practitioners are fashioned and Certified Instructors are “born.”
This following testimony was a letter sent to our headquarters. It is an example of how people apply their newly acquired STS skills.
No Way! At a Funeral?
“Good Day
“I was invited by my zone pastor to go with him to a family that has lost a father, who is a brother to a lady that goes to my church. The pastor wanted me to pass a word of encouragement and to share a word from scripture. I decided to tell a story.
“In my culture this is not something that I have seen anyone do. Asking people questions to answer in this kind of setting! I prayed to God to lead me, also to let me know if this was a thing to do or not to do.
I told my pastor what I wanted to do and he told me to just encourage people in the usual manner and we would talk about this new way that I wanted to try afterward. He also told me that he did not think anyone would respond to my questions.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT:
“I stood and told the story of the One Leper. I had informed the people that I would like some contribution from them as I pass a word of consolation to the family of the deceased.
“Then I went straight to asking questions about what people learn from what the man did when he saw Jesus coming into this town. Without hesitation one lady answered that she learned that this man had faith.
“Then I asked about what we can learn from the circumstances of the man in the story looking at what he did. The lady added, ‘That the leper knew something about Jesus and that Jesus could help meet his need.’
“I had not expected a response to come that quick! I asked also what could be learned from Jesus' touching the man and not just commanding the healing as he had done before and probably even after this incident (which was said when I asked what Jesus could have done different.)
“From there I moved to applications. I started preaching at this point (I know this was outside of STS) about how the same Jesus that reached out and touched this man in that age was still reaching out to touch our broken hearts and to heal us today.
“As my pastor and I were offered cookies and a drink before we left and some people were leaving, a man that had said, when asked about the choices that Jesus had, that ‘This is a difficult one, I am not sure what kind of answer you want for this one,’ told my pastor and me that, ‘This story I take with me in my heart pocket. I will use it if I have to speak anywhere in the future.’
“He said more. ‘I am sure that even some of the pastors would not have spoken in this manner as you did today as I have heard none do such a thing before.’
“He asked me if I was a pastor and I said, ‘no.’ The other people were not saying much. This was different. However they had smiles on their faces.
“Then it was my pastor and I on the way home. He was so overwhelmed and said. ‘I had no idea how you were going to do what you had briefly explained to me because I have never seen it done before.’
“He told me, ‘This is sooo powerful. I was also afraid earlier that the senior pastor would hear I had been asking people questions with the zone pastor’s permission hence was not sure what the pastor would think about that.’
“I can just imagine what he is going to tell my senior pastor! But I also know that until the senior pastor experiences it himself, he will not get what it really is. Now I know that it really takes people tasting to know how it touches lives!!!
“To God be the Glory Great Things He continues to do!
“Mamotsoane”
From Amazed Pastor In Zambia Who Was Recently Trained In STS
"When time came for me to preach to day, (it was Sunday), I stood up and cheerfully announced to the congregation: 'Brothers and Sisters, I have some good news for you. My trip to Mozque was a great success: But for a change I want to share with you in my message to you, a Story, it is a story I am sure you will likely to enjoy. The first time I heard this Story I really liked it. So let us sit and relax and enjoy this unique Story. So please follow me and together let us sail through this Story.'
"As I said that , especially think I was doing that for the first time I had to capture everybody's attention. Then I noticed every one, including those who used to "sleep" during sermons, sat up and were together to hear this Story. I said to my heart, 'Lord, this is it: Now I want to practice the STS principles, so make it for me.'
"I gave them the Title of my Story. The Story came from the Book of LUKE chpt 13 verses 10 to 17; How Jesus healed the woman with infirmity. I went through all the stages I learnt in MONAPO as taught by Sister Andrea. Then I felt like God was telling me, 'Davison, go on I have given you the Story, tell them, they like it....
"Yes, to my amazement at the end of it, the whole congregation could not even think to stop hearing the Story. Many participated in giving treasures and I asked question, they gave answers.
"WHAT A DAY! No body looked at time and even all those old ladies who normally sleep out during sermons were wide alert and awake, I believe enjoying the STORY.
"All done, we completed the Service: I was surrounded by the people asking me 'Pastor, why have you NOT taught us that way in a long time. Next week , please give us another Story, we love it and we will go home remembering every bit of your Story and what the treasures means to our lives....'.
"The Youth Director asked me later in the evening when he came to our home, 'Where in the world did you learn that...?'",
"Learning what?" I asked him.
"Your method of presentation of the Gospel to us in the Church."
"I then explained all about the STS and how much the Church and others who would love to hear the Truth about God and His Son, Jesus. Two members in our church rang me, they too wanted to know about this new method. THANKS to you and Andrea. Most of teachings will use my STS principles. At a later stage I plan to organize other pastors to share with them how much the Church can benefit from applying the STS method. My wife and children love this method.
"THAT was my first test in the field."
|
