Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

On Sunday, I spent an hour walking around Prospect Park in Brooklyn listening to the new Serial podcast, from This American Life. It’s a gripping story about a murder that will be told over many episodes. As I walked around the park I was totally engrossed in the story, and I’m already looking forward to listening to the next episode.

This made me think about the power of storytelling, a topic I return to often and one I think churches should consider as well. After all, a well-told story draws people in; and we all know the Episcopal Church is working hard to do just that.

In my experience, many people come to church because of personal connections that they have or hope to forge. There was a time when we didn’t need to work very hard to convince people that they should come to church, but that time is long past. Now, we need to be intentional about showing people, through our lives and our storytelling, who we are, why we go to church, and why church matters to us.

What does this look like in your church? If we’re not a denomination keen on sharing conversion stories during and testimonials, and we’re not knocking on our neighbor’s doors to invite them to church, how is it that we’re telling our stories? What does storytelling look like in the Anglican Church?

At my own church, St. Lydia’s, we share stories and experiences after the sermon time. This practice works well in our small community of about 30 people. The stories that are told each Sunday are as varied as the people who tell them—sometimes joyful and other times sad or full of doubt—and they often make me feel connected to the other people around me and help me understand why they are there in church.

One example in the Episcopal Church are the I Am Episcopalian videos, in which individuals speak about why they are Episcopalian.

I am certain this is happening in many other ways throughout the church, but it is a question worth returning to: How are we telling out stories? Are you providing time for members to tell each other about their faith lives? Do you have a place on your website that tells the story of your community and its members? If you are seeking to grow your community, is storytelling explicitly a part of your plan?

Each individual story provides a new opportunity for someone outside the church to relate to our experiences, to understand not just the “what” and the “how” of the church by the “why,” and in particular, why me? Why should I care? Why would I want to be here? Each story is a new opportunity to draw someone in.