The longer I serve as Lead Pastor of National Community Church the more I feel like one of my primary roles is that of Chief Storyteller.
I'm the keeper of stories. And it's incredibly important to tell those stories as consistently and creatively as possible so they become part of our culture, part of our legend, part of our vision. That is especially true at NCC since we experience 40-50% turnover per year.
I spent quite a bit of time at our retreat sharing genesis stories. It's so easy to learn how and forget why. So I told stories of why we give so much money to missions and why we're a multi-site church and why we have a free market system of small groups. Most of those methodologies and theologies and philosophies trace back to a genesis moment.
For example, I told the story of the first $50 check we wrote to a missionary. At the time, we were NOT a self-supporting church. In fact, our income was $2000/month. And $1600 of that went to rent the DC public school where we were meeting. That left $400 for salary and discretionary spending. But I felt like the Spirit of God said to me that we needed to start investing in missions. So we did. It was tough to write that check, but God blessed it. The next month our income skyrocketed 300% to $6000. And we've never looked back. I think we'll top $500,000 in missions giving this year. But it traces back to that first $50 check. That was the genesis moment. That was the big bang.
As a leader, you need to tell half a dozen stories over and over and over again! If you don't, those genesis stories get buried in the subconscious of your congregation and you can easily forget where you come from and why you're headed where you're headed.
As the Chief Storyteller, you need to turn past experiences into metaphors for the future. Just as it's God's faithfulness in the past that gives us faith for the future, it is the defining moments in our past that give us vision for the future. Vision doesn't happen in a vacuum. It is stories of the past that frame visions for the future.
For what it's worth, Jesus is the greatest storyteller of all-time. History is His-story. Hear his stories once and you remember them forever! When we think of becoming more like Christ, his storytelling ability isn't one of the dimensions that generally comes to mind, but maybe it should be. Just a thought.
I'm the keeper of stories. And it's incredibly important to tell those stories as consistently and creatively as possible so they become part of our culture, part of our legend, part of our vision. That is especially true at NCC since we experience 40-50% turnover per year.
I spent quite a bit of time at our retreat sharing genesis stories. It's so easy to learn how and forget why. So I told stories of why we give so much money to missions and why we're a multi-site church and why we have a free market system of small groups. Most of those methodologies and theologies and philosophies trace back to a genesis moment.
For example, I told the story of the first $50 check we wrote to a missionary. At the time, we were NOT a self-supporting church. In fact, our income was $2000/month. And $1600 of that went to rent the DC public school where we were meeting. That left $400 for salary and discretionary spending. But I felt like the Spirit of God said to me that we needed to start investing in missions. So we did. It was tough to write that check, but God blessed it. The next month our income skyrocketed 300% to $6000. And we've never looked back. I think we'll top $500,000 in missions giving this year. But it traces back to that first $50 check. That was the genesis moment. That was the big bang.
As a leader, you need to tell half a dozen stories over and over and over again! If you don't, those genesis stories get buried in the subconscious of your congregation and you can easily forget where you come from and why you're headed where you're headed.
As the Chief Storyteller, you need to turn past experiences into metaphors for the future. Just as it's God's faithfulness in the past that gives us faith for the future, it is the defining moments in our past that give us vision for the future. Vision doesn't happen in a vacuum. It is stories of the past that frame visions for the future.
For what it's worth, Jesus is the greatest storyteller of all-time. History is His-story. Hear his stories once and you remember them forever! When we think of becoming more like Christ, his storytelling ability isn't one of the dimensions that generally comes to mind, but maybe it should be. Just a thought.
5 Comments:
Amen Mark! I think that stories and narrative are our primary currencies now and those of us who are leaders in the church are definitely chief story tellers!
Thanks for the reminder.
What an incredible responsibility. Thanks for the reminder
Mark you should check out my start-up http://heekya.com
As a youth group leader and long time church attendee -- I understand what you're saying about remembering the "genesis" moment.
It might be that same way with our own personal walks and not just the church corporately.
As a side note, I'm officially "chief storyteller" for our company :-) -- join the club.
Mark
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Defining moments come to each of us at different times and for various purposes. Storytellers make the best preachers and teachers.
Have a great day
Fantastic stuff, but I'd want to say a bit more about vision than 'It is stories of the past that frame visions for the future.' They have a significant role and part of their power is in reminding us of our specific spiritual DNA. However, they cannot always frame all matters of the past. How would you then get a paradigm shift? There is also the qualification that they must be open to reinterpretation, just as the New Testament shines a different light on Israel's history from the commonly accepted one.
Many thanks - I'm new to your blog and I find it so worthwhile.
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