Prep The Story
Storytelling is definitely more caught than taught. At the same time, most of us never caught it from anyone, so we need to be a little more intentional about learning this ancient craft. The biggest tip we can give you is to just start doing it and you'll get better as you go! Here's an approach we've developed that works well for us. Try it, experiment with it, and feel free to adapt it to your own style and needs.
You'll notice too that these are instructions for how to tell the story word of mouth. If you're not sure you could do it this way you could start by telling the story with your Bible open in front of you to glance at when needed, or you could even read the story straight from the Bible. The important thing is that you start somewhere and experience this for yourself!
1. Pick your story.
This is something your group may have already figured out. Are you going through the stories of the New Testament, or maybe tackling the stories of the Old Testament? Are you going through them chronologically, thematically, or more randomly depending on the story you want to bring? (The lists of Bible stories could help.)
2. Read through the story.
You may find it helpful as you read to watch for specific things. First, remember that all stories have a beginning/end with a middle where certain people are doing/saying certain things in certain places. The simplest way of remembering this is the classic fairy tale formula: "Once upon a time in a land far away, these people did and said these things, the end." So as you're reading note the time and place/s, watch for the action, and listen for the quotes. Or if you're into technical terms and alliterated lists then watch for these six elements: Commencement, Context, Characters, Chronology of action, Conversation, and Conclusion. (And then Credits, if it's a movie.)
3. Organize the action and quotes.
Writing bullet points, or drawing or acting it out, could help you see the storyline in your mind's eye. This is like the skeleton.
4. Form the story in your mind.
This is like fleshing it out. Do your best to form the story accurately, so try not to add stuff or leave stuff out. At the same time, form it in your own words and in such a way that your hearers will feel like they're right there. Go over in your mind when and where the story happened. Imagine the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations the people in the story were experiencing. Include those details in your tale because, after all, "de tale is in the details!"
5. Do some background research.
Think as if you'd be telling the story to a group of people who had never read the Bible before, because hopefully you do have some people like that in your group. Look at maps and learn a little of the geography. Read about what else was going on in history during that time period. Read Bible commentaries on the passage and learn about any words or customs people may not understand. You may also want to just read the story in a couple different translations to give you the fullest sense possible, not to mention this will help you remember it better.
6. Practice telling the story.
If this is still new to you practice telling the story to a real person until you can remember and tell it smoothly; invite them give you feedback on how you could tell it better too. This could even be a sneaky way of telling God's stories to someone who wouldn't otherwise hear them!
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do, and I understand. ~Xunzi