2025 Week 3 Adult 19+: Interactive Biblical Storytelling

Interactive Biblical Storytelling

Much of the Bible originated as oral tradition, stories that were told and retold over the years. Jesus told stories as a key part of his instructional technique, and these stories were retold by his followers. Today, the Bible is a written text, but one way of bringing the stories alive is to remember their origins and to re-work them into a storytelling format.

This can mean anything from simply learning the words of a story in a particular version of the Bible by rote and presenting that, through to creative re-writings of the text with sounds and actions with which audiences can join in. This course will focus on telling stories with children in mind, however, the techniques and the stories developed are applicable to a wide range of ages in appropriate settings.

There are many ways to tell stories, and this course will specifically focus on one technique for bringing stories alive, by finding interactive moments within stories for audiences to join in with. The course will also help those who attend to think about how a story is situated within the wider context of worship or a teaching environment, and how the story can work alongside interpretative techniques.

 Those who complete this course should:

• Grow their confidence in telling Bible stories.
• Develop their skills in engaging their audience.
• Grow their abilities to re-work Bible stories into a storytelling mode for themselves.
• Develop their understanding of how to aid children in their understanding of biblical stories through storytelling.

Bring with you:

• • The Bible – Bring your own preferred version.
  • If you have one, and if it is light enough, bring a Bible that has been designed for storytelling or specifically for Children. This is just so that we can share ideas for resources among the group.