Start Your Group!

Of course there's your friends; they'd probably be your best starting-point. Or if you have family in the area, how about them? This could be a great way of strengthening those relationships, not to mention you won't feel guilty about only seeing them at Thanksgiving anymore. Seriously consider your neighbours also. Even if they're non-religious or belong to another religion, storytelling is so laidback they might really enjoy it. And if they're already believers, it could be the start of a beautiful experience of local church. And how about your coworkers, what do you do over lunch hour? How about grabbing a bite together over a story and some brisk discussion and making everybody else jealous?

Also, don't forget the kids in your life! Children love stories, and statistically speaking most people come to faith when they're in their childhood or teens. Plato had it right for once when he said "Let us pass a leisure hour in storytelling, and our stories shall be the education of our heroes." What if you started a storytelling group with the kids in your neighborhood and the permission of their parents? This is even easier if you're a parent and your kids already play together.

That's just the people in your present social circle! If you wanted to reach out, you could start a storytelling group with the inmates at the closest penn. Often all it takes is a call to the chaplain. Or how about the homeless people at that park downtown? Or the seniors at the old folks home? Ask God to give you some ideas and he might surprise you with something that could be the start of a great adventure. Like, assuming you don't enjoy being bored.

You don't have to get together and only tell the story and talk about it. Throw a dance party at your place, or a costume party! Do a potluck. If you're outdoors, play games!

Or your group might enjoy helping people with things like yardwork, home repairs, vehicle maintenance, or babysitting. Like what if you took that single mom's kids to the park for the afternoon and did the story there?

There are tons of interests you could create a storytelling group around too. Riding motorcycles, for instance. Or watching the UFC. Or knitting. The neat thing about interest groups is that even if someone isn't into the Bible, they may hang out with your group because they're into whatever it is. What starts with flyfishing, could end with fishing for men.

You could storytell through a book of the Bible. Or go through the parables. Or you could take turns telling your favourite stories! The Story Lists in the Resources menu above could help.

As for who's telling the story, as the host you'd probably tell the first story unless you can find somebody else to take that on; after that anything is possible! You could take turns, or if somebody's really into it they could tell the story every time. Not that that would help the rest of you become better storytellers, just sayin'. Whatever you decide, the How to Storytell pdf in the Resources menu above should come in handy.

Weekly is pretty common. But depending on your schedule you could do every other week, or even just once a month if people are interested but already involved with other groups. Something else to consider is inviting people for a specific period of time, for instance an eight-week storytelling experience. Then they won't feel like they're committing for life and at the end they can decide whether to continue or not.

Go build a campfire, duh! Haven't you seen every picture on this website? Lol. If that's not possible how about that firepit in your backyard? If it's too cold there's always the coffeeshop or pub, and you never know who might be listening in. You could also try a community center or library, especially if you're starting a group where anyone's welcome. People will feel safe visiting and the center can list you on their calendar. Or how about outdoor locations you already go to, like the park or the beach? And last but not least, there's always your living room.

Let's say you're starting a group and wanting to reach out to new people. Word of mouth still works best because people trust what their friends tell them. Social media can help with that, let's say if you create an event or a group on Facebook that can easily be shared. You could put an ad in Craigslist or Kijiji, or create a group on meetup.com or couchsurfing.com. Some of it depends on who you're trying to reach, too. Once I started a potluck group for college students. So I put up posters on the college billboards and at all the bars in town and left notes on the vehicles in the college parking lot. The response was great!

That may be where we come in. If you wanted to take this stuff and run with it all by yourself you could. But it might be a little lonely...and not just for you, for your group too. You'd never believe this in the honeymoon phase, but at some point your group will go through a hard time and if you're just out there by yourselves you're probably going to break up. It's how humans work. When that challenge comes what's going to make all the difference is knowing you're connected to other groups, that you belong to something bigger.

And that's not just true of your group, either - same goes for you as a group host. When crunchtime hits and you need some outside help or advice, you'll have people to go to. Of course, we're not going to tell you what to do. We'll just be there to offer support and practical help. And who knows, maybe the opposite will happen and you'll never need us but you'll find other group leaders reaching out to you.

That's why, after you've read through these "Why" and "How" pages, we hope you'll take a couple minutes to connect with our network through the "Start Storytelling" page.