How to Tell Your Story, Learn From it & Change Your Life
June 8th, 2014 | John Chandler
Why Story Nights?
The word “disciple” simply means “learner.” A disciple of Jesus is a person who is actively learning to think like Jesus and do the things he said to do.
A learner is a person who reflects on key moments, ideas or scriptures and asks two questions:
“What is God telling me?”
“What am I going to do about it?”
Story nights are an opportunity to “learn how to learn” and grow in our ability to be like Jesus.
What Happens at Story Night?
At each story night we’ll get together in groups of men or women. We’ll share a meal and two people will share a specific story from their life. Afterward, the group will help them wrestle with the question “What am I going to do about it?” By the end of our time together, we’ll have a plan, and know how to support the other person in their growth.
You will find the directions for telling your story below, or you can download a worksheet here.
When are Story Nights?
Women’s Story Nights—June 26, July 24 and August 21.
Men’s Story Nights—June 12, July 10 and August 7.
How to tell a story for learning
The purpose of this exercise is to retell a story from our lives in order to learn from the experience.
Think of a significant moment in your life. This could be something that happened long ago or just this week. To help tell your story, consider:
- When did the story take place?
- Where did the story take place?
- Who was involved in this story?
- What background details are important for understanding the story.
- What happened?
- Why did it happen?
- How did you feel when it happened?
Write the story down. Focus on the facts. Do not try to find metaphors or morals in the story.
It may help to write the story down. It should be approximately one typed page, single spaced.
How to Turn Your Story into a Learning Experience
Use these questions as a guide to help you turn your story into a learning experience that will help you live more like Jesus.
- God is always inviting us to become more like Jesus. How does this story fits in to that journey?In light of this story, who is God inviting you to become?
- What is one step you can take toward becoming that person?
- Reflect on this story with your group.
Try to articulate what should you learn from having lived this experience.The goal is to identify one of the following types of objectives: knowledge, behavior or experience, and write it in a single sentence. Some examples include:- Knowledge objective: To memorize the Sermon on the Mount
– Behavior objective: To regularly serve my spouse in a way that he/she appreciates
– Experience objective: To volunteer with a local refugee service. - When will this take place? Choose a specific time range to complete your objective.
- How will you know? Describe how your life will be affected by this experience.
- What’s the cost? Describe what your life will be like if you do not have this learning experience.
- What tools do you need? List the specific resources you need to achieve this objective.
- What help do want? Ask others to help you in specific ways at specific times.
- What is your immediate next step?