You’ve probably heard this before: “Everyone has a story.” For some people, telling their own story comes naturally. But for others, it can be a real challenge. One of the main things that keep leaders from sharing their personal life story with students is insecurity. If you’re a leader who wants to witness the relational power of your life story, you can combat your storytelling insecurity by intentionally building 3 things into your life:

• Confidence in the value God gives to your story
• Practice with telling your story
• Dependence on the Holy Spirit to help you share your story

If you simply invest the time to build these three things, you can share your personal life story (and help other people share theirs too!) the way it was meant to be shared: as a gift that changes lives and deepens relationships in ministry.

 

 

CONFIDENCE IN THE VALUE OF YOUR STORY

 

Back in 2008, I went to Kyrgyzstan to help lead a backpacking trip for some local Kyrgyz youth and youth leaders. In the middle of our trip, one of the youth leaders shared his life story. Even though we didn’t know at the time, a 16-year-old boy was soaking up every word. The next day, that boy sat by a waterfall and tried to repeat the prayer for salvation he heard the night before. Hearing his leader’s story of redemption and watching him live out his faith on the trip help the boy finally realize that the God who saved his leader could save him too. He made his commitment to Jesus.

 

“I didn’t understand, but I wanted to be like these people. I grew up on a street in a very sinful area where they were doing all the bad stuff… drugs, alcohol… the people on the backpacking trip were the opposite. They were kind of strange, alive—reading the bible, praying before meals.”

 

Confidence in the value God saw in the leader’s story helped lead a student to salvation. Maybe your story is dramatic, but maybe it isn’t. It could be that you met Jesus when you were 6, and you’ve been walking with him, steadily or shakily, ever since. The thing to remember here is that your story doesn’t earn value by sounding “subtle” or “intense.” It’s crucial to understand as followers of Jesus that Jesus writes our stories—he intends to use them all to bring glory to himself.

 

“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.” -Psalm 66:16

 

Your story—whether it’s a gutter-to-grace drama or something more subtle—could be the difference in somebody’s life between finding hope and staying bogged down by hopelessness!

 

PRACTICE TELLING YOUR STORY

 

Practicing your story will help it flow more naturally when the right time comes. Here are two of my favorite formats to help you practice:

Chronological: answer these 3 questions in order

• Before: What did your life look like before you knew Jesus?
• During: What was happening in your life when Jesus started pursuing you?
• After: How has your life changed since you followed Jesus?

The 5 F’s: think about your life in terms of these 5 categories*

• Family: Who’s in your family? How have those relationships affected you?
• Friends: Who are your friends? How have those relationships affected you?
• Faith: When did you come to faith? What does that look like now?
• Fun: What do you like to do for fun?
• Future: How do you feel about your future? Plans? Hopes? Dreams

*The 5 F’s is a great way to guide younger students through their own stories too!

 

DEPENDENCE ON THE HOLY SPIRIT TO HELP YOU TELL YOUR STORY

As followers of Jesus, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit: God dwelling within us. No power is greater than this! When we speak—whether we share the Gospel story or our personal story—we should depend on the Holy Spirit to help us know what to say. In Luke 12, Jesus tells his disciples:

 

“And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself of what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” – Luke 12: 11-12

 

If you only take one thing away, take this…

Building confidence in the value of our personal stories and practicing them till they flow naturally are helpful steps to take as we get ready to share our stories. But at the end of the day, only the Holy Spirit can give our stories transformational power in the lives of others.

 

Dependence on the Holy Spirit is what truly makes a great storyteller.