May 29, 2022 |
“We’re doing a Story Journey tomorrow to go along with our church’s yard, garden and bake sale. We’re featuring Laura Alary’s book, What Grew in Larry’s Garden. We’re so excited.” My good friend, Laura Duggin, minister...
Jul 12, 2020 |
by Sharon Warkentin Short The need to make sense of our lives seems to be a fundamental human drive. We all do it by interpreting our individual experiences in light of some larger controlling story. The “small stories” of our everyday lives take on whatever meaning...
Jun 1, 2012 |
By: Tell us about your spiritual journey.” The simple request hung in the air. I anxiously scanned the new members around the table. I had not been at the church long, and the congregation set in place the new member ritual long before they called me to serve...
Jun 1, 2012 |
By: The novelist Henry James once said, “Stories happen to people who can tell them.” In other words, learning stories helps us give shape and meaning to experience; without them, we are victims of circumstance. The kinds of stories we learn shape how we experience...
Jun 1, 2012 |
By: Al Mulder Storying is the telling of our stories. Although “storying” is not in any dictionary, it is part of the vocabulary at Faith Alive Christian Resources. Storying was introduced to Faith Alive by D. John Lee, a psychologist at the Michigan State University...
Jun 1, 2012 |
By: Several years ago, I sat at the notorious Sing Sing Prison in New York listening to a convicted murderer tell me his story. He told me about the night he had been accused, and later convicted, of killing a 92-year-old woman after breaking into her house with two...
Jun 1, 2012 |
By: “A story is a picture that I have in my head that I wish you could see. In order to move that picture from my head to yours, I use everything I have: my face, body, voice, my sounds and words. And when you laugh, it doesn’t say, ‘That was funny.’ When you laugh,...
Jun 1, 2012 |
By: It was cold and snowy as I drove downtown to the church early that Sunday morning. I shivered as I walked into the cathedral-like Presbyterian church where I worked as the Christian education director. I wondered if there would be any children in Sunday school. As...
Jun 1, 2012 |
By: As he left worship last August, Ted commented to me, “I bet if we had been telling these stories about ourselves, we wouldn’t be where we are today.” On this particular Sunday the mayor of the city, the school district superintendent and the...
Jun 1, 2012 |
By: Former APCE president John Johnson has been selected to fill the new cabinet position of coordinator of technology and social media. There was a day when APCE depended on the postal service to deliver newsletters and flyers about the great opportunities and events...
