Finding God and Health In The Experience of Storytelling

HUFFINGTON POST
February 28, 2011

MASSACHUSETTS -- I've been eavesdropping on an unscientific experiment with storytelling and holy listening lately. As a self-appointed spy for hope amid the mainline denominations' well-reported decline, I've been looking at congregations who are stirring up a greater capacity for people to be authentically present to one another. This experiment -- part of The Fund for Theological Education's Calling Congregations initiative -- seeks to establish listening congregations as places that might foster a deeper connection to younger generations, especially millennials who tend to have little or no use for organized religion. Authentic connection is a key desire among churched and un-churched, young and old alike who are hungry for lives of meaning and purpose. When people are invited into a safe space to tell their own stories, a mystery unfolds that kindles the authentic connection many people seek. Sometimes it feels as if one of Jesus' parables is getting re-enacted before our very eyes. The churchly name for storytelling is "testimony" and congregations have been experimenting with new ways of embodying this practice.  [link]