I am a member of an Australian Mission Order (Cornerstone Community) who are focused on Missional Discipleship Training. At the moment we state on our web-site : Cornerstone Community - Discipleship that's whole of life (winning, training & mobilising genuine disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ to live radical Christian lifestyles)
We have been "Literature" & "Discussion" oriented in our teaching, with some Storying, but are growing in our understanding of the need for (and a love of) Storying (following Yeshua). Yeshua, it turns out focussed on various Oral/Aural teaching strategies in his method of Announcing, Displaying, and Interpreting the meaning of the coming rule of God, that he was embodying. His Writing career, it also turns out, was mostly on the hearts of people, or in the dust of the road. (Though, praise be to the Great Creator for the skill of writing, that I am using now, that this web-site uses a lot, and that his disciples finally used before they all died, to record the life & orality (and aurality) of this man of god, and this god of a man.
As such I have been experimenting with following not only the message, but also the methods which Jesus used, and left for us as part of our inheritance.
Some mutual friends suggested we contact some people who were doing a similar thing in another part of the world. We've just come back from a visit & found that they were trained by STS and have seen fruit from putting it into practice.
I've checked out the STS web-site, looked at some of their training material and feel so far that we probably have slightly different theological expressions, different methods, but are also probably one in spirit and overall aim. The STS handbook looks fantastic, I am very grateful that STS have shared it freely.
I think it is significant that Mark FFsays that Jesus never addressed the people without using parables. That Mark actually copies Jesus' method by communicating the gospel via a set of about 90 little storylets woven together to tell an even more profound bigger story. And that the other 3 First Century Evangelists, that we have records of, also follow this same method. This method appears to me to be like nuclear Fusion, compared to the Dynamite of Evangelical Churches evangelistic methods in Australia that mostly still appear to be a hang-over of Modernistic methodology (theological dot points).
I was talking about this with a local Assistant Minister today, who is also a local art teacher. As I tried to elucidate Jesus’s (and his messengers’) method (of
- describing the intended function of the coming/past communication (tagging)
- storying, analogies
- questions,
- signs, or examples, foretastes of the coming life & rule of God
- pithy/hook-in/memorable sayings)
- NOT explaining things, unless there was a definite commitment to further ... (obedience?)
as distinct from my inherited Evangelical Australian Church’s theological dot point method, I bemoaned my own propensity to still distill everything to “dot-points” of theology/practice, (even though I see this method that Jesus used as so much more creative & empowering & aiding in the discovery of God’s truth, rather than people discovering how great I am).
He said, to help me get it out “Well, tell us - in dot points”. And so I gave up the fight against dot-points, and started.. As I opened my mouth, something clicked in my mind.
“It is like trying to teach people to draw by joining the dot-points, instead of observing closely, and letting your hand rest on the page & trying to draw again what you see through the eye in your (head/ mind) ”. He added, “..or using a stencil”. We discussed then how actually joining the dots & stencils could get things going and be a small aid in helping children draw. He cited how when his child used a stencil to draw a helicopter (to his chagrin), he watched, and the child then drew in a sheep hanging off the helicopter and a landscape of other things. But mostly (it appeared to both of us), stencils and whole books of join-the-dot drawings function to stop people growing as artists, or to help them give up when they don’t get the proportions right (etc...) as beginning artists on their own. He then added, “A picture like that helps a real lot”.
Thank you God, for a clear analogy that did the job of helping us “SEE” the difference, then the discussion and insight that this brother added to it, and the sharing of life & owning of the analogy that you gave us as we struggled to understand & express truth, and follow him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Oh, I love you, and the way you do life, - and communication, - and love!}
Anyway I am keen to continue to learn from the Lord Jesus, and if you people are willing to teach/share. I want to see the Lord Jesus' people in Australia have a go at reaching our culture, in our generation with the news of the one whom the High God has christened (anointed) "Leader of Humanity" (High King, High Prophet, High Priest).