Rocky Mountains Archives

Spreading our wings in West Africa

Our vision is to help people in 500 unreached language groups become followers of Christ in
a growing community of faith by the year 2025.

Dance is an integral part of worship in Africa

“Every morning and afernoon session began with worship. Dancing is an integral part of worship, and everybody has to dance. I’ve never experienced anything like it. The beat, the style and rhythm are so diﬀerent, and ofen there is a lead singer with the crowd cheerfully responding with a chorus,” reported Mark Steinbach, StoryRunners Director. Mark was at the very frst West Africa Train the Trainer workshop held this summer.

The workshop saw 41 leaders from churches, para-church groups and other ministry leaders gather in West Africa along with three members from StoryRunners in the US. With representatives from Burkina Faso, Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Togo, the event was the frst of its kind for StoryRunners and the African leaders. Its main purpose was to train the African leaders to become trainers for future School of Storying (SOS) projects.

During the three-week training, everyone developed oral Bible stories using our six-step process and learned how to coach a story development group. The participants also gained practical experience. Using Bible stories developed on the ‘F’ SOS project (name undisclosed for security reasons), some of them taught
‘ F ’ – speaking people how to learn and discuss stories in a Story Fellowship Group (SFG).

For many of the participants, it was their first authentic cross-cultural experience. They had to work with a translator to reach a people who spoke a language diﬀerent from theirs. Another team also reached out to students at a nearby university to help plant a new Cru ministry in that campus.

Story development in progress

The workshop culminated with the certification of 31 participants as ‘Assistant Trainers in StoryRunners School of Storying.’ This is a huge milestone for us as we have now more than doubled our training capacity—with African nationals ready to work with other unreached language groups. We are incredibly grateful to
these African leaders. Please pray that they will faithfully share the gospel through these oral Bible stories.

We are also very grateful for your prayers and partnership. We could not have done it without you.

A glimmer of hope for the Haka people

This summer, we joined forces again with E3, a partner mission agency based in Dallas, Texas. We sent one of our team leaders to revisit the *Haka people, an unengaged and unreached people group who live in a restricted country in Central Asia.

Afer a challenging two-week session, we were delighted to see encouraging improvements among the participants. When Maria, one of the participants, told the story of Jesus calming the storm to her son, she experienced a ‘breakthrough’ moment. She told our team, “Suddenly, the story came alive to me for the frst time. It was like I was sitting on the boat with the disciples, feeling the water on my face.” We are now planning to complete the project in early 2018 to fnish the story set and continue our training with E3 partners in Bible story development. We praise God for this glimmer of hope. Please also pray that the Haka participants will be steadfast in sharing the gospel among their people.

“I was losing joy in serving God but this trip helped me get the joy back!” Exclaimed one of the 25 students who exclaimed one of the 25 students who
participated at our Rocky Mountain Summer Mission. look out for more exciting stories on this in our next edition!

Praise & Prayer

PRAISE:
1) Praise God for the recently concluded second part of the Haka School of Storying, for the changed hearts among our participants there, for their renewed
commitment to using oral Bible stories, and for their partnership with us.

2) Praise God for the recently concluded Cru17 US Staﬀ Conference in Colorado that our team attended from July 16 – 24.

3) Praise God for our summer mission, which fnished earlier this month. Our 32 participants learned about oral Bible storying and shared their faith all over the
Rocky Mountain National Park using Bible stories. Read next month’s newsletter to learn more.

PRAYER

1) Pray for our upcoming SOS trips in the fall: for preparation by our nationals in the feld, safety and health for our travel teams, and for full funding for each
language.

2) Pray for the 31 African leaders we trained to be School of Storying Assistant Trainers to continue to develop their storying skills and gain more experience.

To receive regular updates from StoryRunners, follow us @storyrunners on our Social Media sites: Facebook, twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube

Spreading our wings in West Africa – StoryRunners

“GOD DOESN’T SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE”

Our vision is to help people in 500 unreached language groups
become followers of Christ in a growing community of faith by the year 2025.

Recording songs in Ewo.

He came to her with a simple request, but the implications would be huge. Hera, leading our first School of Storying (SOS) in Cameroon just two months ago, tells the story:

“God told me to ask you something,” one of our translators told me. “For a long time, I’ve been bothered that we have no real worship songs in our language. When the missionaries came through our area, they taught us songs in French, and those are the songs we sing today. Our mentality is that God doesn’t speak our language. But I think we should be able to worship God in our own language, so I’ve translated some of the French songs. Would you record me singing them so that we can worship in our heart language?”

We crammed five people and a keyboard into our sweltering makeshift recording studio, a tiny 2×8 foot space. With sweat running down their faces, they raised their voices in praise to God in their heart language. I felt so privileged to be there to record. Eight songs later, the translator thanked me profusely. “You have no idea how appreciated these songs will be. They will change everything.”

Acting out the Pentecost story to help them remember.

I adore that my job is to give people the opportunity to realize that God speaks to them in their heart language – that they don’t have to have a fancy education to talk to God and learn about Him!

As the fifteen SOS participants diligently worked to develop Bible stories in the Ewo language, we witnessed the impact the stories were having on their own lives, too.

“Listening to all these stories really touched me,” one man, Moses, explained. “The stories came alive-as if they affect us still today. I’ve been waiting 30 years for a training like this. Now, after just three weeks, I have all these stories. I can’t tell you how much that means to me.” Another participant, Luke, exclaimed, “When I listen to these stories, I’m really struck that I’m part of this spiritual legacy of prophets and kings, taking God’s rescue plan to the world.”

Retelling His story.

We have had an incredible ministry here! More than 1800 people heard stories over three weeks, and 308 story groups were started in this area. They plan on starting another 88 groups over the next three months, on top of continuing the groups they’ve already started!
Thank you for praying this team! Your gifts and support are helping us take His stories to people who have never heard them.

-Hera, from Team Ewo

WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS SUMMER?
If you are 18-24 years old, join us for a fun-filled 10-days camping and hiking in the Rocky Mountains as we reach out to other hikers by sharing
Bible stories to spark spiritual conversations. Learn how to tell your story, how to listen to another person’s story, and how to tell God’s
story.

It’s from July 25 – August 3, 2017. Get more information and apply at: storyrunners.org/summer-projects.

Subscribe to our newsletter and keep abreast of our ministry around the world!

“GOD DOESN’T SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE”

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Taking Bible Storying To New Heights

College students from campuses all over the country shared a week together in the Colorado Rockies this summer, conquering way more than the fear of the rugged outdoors. Leaving their comfort zones below the timberline, they quickly learned how to initiate spiritual conversations by sharing stories from the Bible. The result? Nearly 250 visitors to the Rocky Mountain National Park heard about God’s love for them and had a chance to respond. And the best part? These students returned to their campuses this fall with a powerful tool for reaching their peers!

God showed me I can share my faith!! He took away the fear of judgment and the fear of not being perfect at talking with people about Jesus. -Sam | Texas

This summer mission helped me take God out of my little Cru (ministry) box and learn ways to evangelize other than the typical ways I’ve done it back on campus. -Micah | Michigan

We really wanted to share stories, but, on the first day, we were scared of initiating conversations with people. Now, I am so fired up to do more outreach on my campus this year because I am equipped with these stories. -Camille | California

Kelsie (a Florida sophomore) shared this after returning home: “At a youth Bible study, when the leader read the Scripture passage about the pearl of great price, I was sitting there thinking, ‘They aren’t getting it. Say it in a story!’ So when they let me chime in, I retold the passage in the form of a simple story. I wish you could have seen their reaction. And they were able to answer the questions better. I am so excited!!!” This semester Kelsie is involved in a Bible study with international students on her college campus.

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news!” Isaiah 52:7

in Field Reports / North America / School of Storying / Summer Missions 0 comments