Telling Your Faith Story

“Emotions are the language of values.”

Marshall Ganz
The questions of what am I called to, what my community is
When we answer “why me?”  called to do, and what we are called to do now are at least as
questions, we not only find  old as Moses’ conversation with God at the burning bush. Why
renewed energy from re‐ me? Asks Moses, when he is called to free his people. And,
discovering our own deeply  who is calling me? And, why these people? Why here, now, in
this place?
held commitments, but we also 
ignite the passion of others! We are here to learn to answer those questions for the Believe
Out Loud campaign.

Why do we need to tell our stories?

• Stories not only teach us how to act – they inspire us to act.

• Stories communicate our values through the language of the heart, our emotions.

• Stories foster relationships. They engage others and create an empathetic link between the
storyteller and the listener.

• Our feelings, our hopes, our cares, our obligations – not simply what we know – ultimately inspire
us to act with courage. Since our stories relate our values through lived experience and not abstract
debate or argument, they have the power to move others.

• We can share the wisdom of our life experiences by telling our personal stories about the
challenges of living in a denomination where LGBT persons are excluded, the choices we have
made in response, and what we have learned from the outcomes. Such sharing will hopefully
inspire others to join in our local work for full inclusion of ALL people in our church.

Public narrative is a practice of leadership Public narrative is 

Public leaders employ both the “head” and the “heart” in order to the art of translating 
mobilize others to act effectively on behalf of shared values. In other values into action 
words, they engage people in interpreting why they should change through stories.
their world – their motivation – and how they can act to change it –
their strategy. Public narrative is the “why”—the art of translating values into action through stories. It is
a process through which individuals, communities, and nations construct their identity, make choices, and
inspire action.

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 How Public Narrative Works
The key to motivation is understanding that values inspire action through emotion.
Emotions inform us of what we value in ourselves, in others, and in the world, and enable us to express
the motivational content of our values to others. In other words, because we experience values
emotionally, they are what actually move us to act, not only the idea that we ought to act. Because
stories allow us to express our values not as abstract principles, but as lived experience, they have the
power to move others.

Some emotions inhibit action, but other emotions facilitate action.

Action is inhibited by inertia, fear, self-doubt, isolation, and apathy. Action is facilitated by urgency,
hope, YCMAD (you can make a difference), solidarity, and anger. Stories mobilize emotions of action to
overcome emotions that inhibit us from action.

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Through narrative we can articulate our values by communicating their emotional as well as
conceptual content through a simple plot:

Challenge 
Choice 
Outcome 

Public narrative combines a story of self, a story of us, and a story of now.

A “story of self” tells why we have been called to serve. The key focus is on choice points, moments in
our lives when our values are formed when we have to choose in the face of great uncertainty, When did
you first care about being heard, about concern with others, about abuses of power, about poverty, about
the natural world? Why? When did you feel you had to do something about it? Why did you feel you
could? What were the circumstances?

Why are you part of More Light Presbyterians?

A “story of us” communicates why our community, organization, movement, campaign has been called
to its mission. Just as with a person, the key is choice points in the life of the community and/or those
moments that express the values underlying the work your organization does.

Who are we together as More Light Presbyterians? 

A “story of now” communicates the urgent challenge we are called upon to face now, the hope we can
face if successful, and the choices we must make to act now (our strategy).
These three stories can be woven together into one coherent story that links our values and passions with
that of the movement as a way to engage and mobilize others to take action.

What are we called to do now as More Light Presbyterians? 

SELF

NOW
MOVEMENT

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 Guidelines For Telling Our Stories
Stories should…
; Be under 2 minutes: Good stories are focused and well-organized. Remember you are telling
the story of one moment in time. Focus on one challenge, one choice and one outcome.
; Be specific—use details: Take the listener to the moment you are describing. What are the
sights, sounds, smells, and emotions of that moment. Use present tense. Try telling the story
without using the word “and.”
; Tap into emotion: Stories should pull at the heartstrings of the listener. Help the listener
understand the values you are describing through the language of emotion.
; Include a challenge, a choice and an outcome: Make sure these three points are clear and
well articulated.
; Offer hope: Stories should be inspirational. End on a positive note. Offer the good news
through your story.
; Communicate values: Stories have a point and that point is a value that you want to inspire
and cultivate in the listener.

Guidelines For Coaching Stories

Coaching Checklist:
DO
; Say what works first in the story, focusing on specifics.
; Identify both the CHALLENGE and the HOPE in the story.
; Clarify choice points, the moment when one thing happened and not another.
; Connect the dots in the narrative, helping to illuminate how someone got from here to there.
; Look for themes.
; Ask questions about the intended audience and the desired action or response.
DON’T
; Offer vague abstract "feel good" comments, unless you’ve established the context. What
does the story teller learn from “you did a great job”, as opposed to, “the way you described
your moment of choice made me feel very hopeful because. . . . “
; Make value judgments about the story teller’s voice or the validity of the point they want
to make. The key here is that a person find ways to express themselves in their own voice
–word choice, humor, metaphor, etc. Of course they need to know if choices they’ve made
communicate what they want to communicate.

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 Team Work 1: Telling Our Stories
Goals
The first “teamwork” you’re asked to do is to coach each other in telling your story of self. One
goal is to articulate – and share - the values that draw you to More Light Presbyterians. A second
goal is to locate within these stores values you share, challenges you face, and hopes to which you
aspire. Be prepared to take some risks, and support your team members as they step out on the
limb themselves!

Agenda

TOTAL TIME: 30 min.

1. Gather in your 4 person small group and choose a timekeeper. 5 min.
2. Take some time to silently develop your own story using the worksheet. 5 min.
3. Tell your story to your team members and respond to each other – each 20min.
person takes 2 min. to tell their stories, and the group has 5 min. to offer
feedback.
NOTE: You have just 2 minutes to tell you story. Stick to this limit. Make
sure your time-keeper cuts you off. This both encourages focus and makes
sure everyone has a chance.

REPORT OUT: Choose one person in the group whose story best
exemplifies why they are part of More Light Presbyterians.

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 Work Sheet 1
Telling Your Story of Self
Reflection
Take time to reflect on your own story of self. Think about why you are called to be part of
More Light Presbyterians:

• What experiences have drawn you to More Light Presbyterians?

• When was the “aha” moment of realizing you wanted to commit yourself to the movement for full
inclusion in the Presbyterian Church USA?
• Why are you part of the More Light Presbyterians movement?
• Can you recall a particular incident or moment that led you to become a More Light
Presbyterian?
• Why did you come here today?

Go back as far as you can remember. Focus on the challenges you had to face, the choices you made
about how to deal with them, and the satisfaction – or frustration - you experienced. Why did you make
those choices? Why did you do this and not that? Keep asking yourself, “Why?”

Many of us who are active as More Light Presbyterians have stories of both loss and hope. If we did not
have stories of loss, we would not understand that loss is a part of the world, we would have no reason to
try to fix things. But we also have stories of hope. Otherwise we wouldn’t be trying to fix it.

A good public story is drawn from the series of choice points that
structure the “plot” of your life – the challenges you faced, choices
you made, and outcomes you experienced.

Challenge: Why did you feel it was a challenge? What was so

challenging about it? Why was it your challenge?

Choice: Why did you make the choice you did? Where did you get
the courage – or not? Where did you get the hope – or not? How did
it feel?

Outcome: How did the outcome feel? Why did it feel that way?
What did it teach you? What do you want to teach us? How do you
want us to feel?

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Record Your Thoughts About Your Public Narrative

Tips for Brainstorming your Public Narrative

• Determine the challenge, the choice, and outcome you want to focus on for this story.
• Add specific details. Reflect on how it makes you feel.
• Keep it short – you only have two minutes.

Map the Challenge, Choice, and Outcome for your story here:

Challenge Choice Outcome

Record feedback/comments from your team members here:

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Coaching Your Team's “Public Story”

As you hear each other's stories, keeping track of the details of each person’s story will help you to
provide feedback and remember details about the people on your team later. Use the grid below to track
each team member’s story.

Name Challenge Choice Outcome Notes

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 Building Relationships

Through our stories we reveal our values and

discover the basis for forming relationships with one another.

Relationships are the key to organizing. It is in and through our relationships that we discover the hidden
stories of others and the values those stories reveal. By building relationships, we build, strengthen and
grow our movement.

Relationships are essential because:

• We create change by building relationships that are rooted in a commitment to a shared future.
• Relationships help us identify common interests so that we can work together for change.
• We build relationships by both telling and listening to the stories of our individual and communal
journeys.
• The stories we tell reveal our values through the choices we have made and help us identify common
interests.
• We elicit other people’s stories by listening carefully and asking good questions about the choices
they have made and the moments that reveal values and common interest. For example:
o Why did you go to this school rather than that school?
o Why did you study this rather than that?
o Why did you become Presbyterian and not join another denomination?

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 One on One Meetings
One on one meetings are the key to building and sustaining successful relationships and organizations. By
talking with someone, one on one, we learn their story, unlock their passion and discover values that we
share. These shared values become the basis for working together to create change. We should think of
one on one meetings as tools we will use throughout our work – to invite people to trainings, to call new
leaders onto our teams and to invite people to our BOLD gatherings.

One on One Meetings are:

• Scheduled – not accidental. Leaders initiate relationships with others.
• Purposeful – not chit-chat. Leaders initiate one to one meetings for the purpose of finding common
values and interests.
• Intentional – not casual or haphazard. One to one meetings establish a public relationship for public
work together.
• Probing – not prying. One to one meetings help participants discover each other’s interests and
stories when participants exchange many “why?” questions.

One on One meetings are not:

• Sending an email or even exchanging an email.
• Making a phone call or leaving a message.
• Asking someone to do something without establishing a relationship first.

The elements of a successful one on one meeting include:

• Attention – we have to get another person’s attention to conduct a one on one meeting. The best way
is simply to be up front about your own interest in the other person and the purpose of the
meeting.
• Interest – There must be a purpose or a goal in setting up a one on one meeting. It could range from,
“I’m starting a discipleship group and thought you might be interested” to “I’d like to get to know
you better.”
• Exploration – most of the meeting time is spent in exploration. We probe to learn about the person’s
values, resources and interests by asking why they made the choices that they did and sharing our
own. This is different than prying into one another’s personal lives.
• Exchange – we exchange resources in the meeting such as information, support, and insight. This
creates the foundation for future exchanges.
• Commitment - a successful one on one meeting ends with a commitment, most likely to meet again.
By scheduling a specific time for this meeting, you make it a real commitment.

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 Team Work 2:
Common Interests, Shared Resources
Goals
The goals of this team work session are to identify the interests that you and your team members have in
common, identify some of the resources to which you have access, and consider commitments you might
make to one another that could enable you to act on these interests. First you will work with one partner,
probing each other’s stories to learn each other’s resources and interests, and identifying common
interests on behalf of which you may commit to working together.

Agenda

TOTAL TIME: 25 minutes

1. In pairs, practice a mini one on one with each other. Begin with the story of 10 min
self you heard your partner tell in the last session. Follow up with questions
you might have that will help you understand more deeply their values,
interests and resources. Spend 5 minutes on each person.
2. Report back to the group, the shared interests and resources that emerged 5 min
from your conversation.

3. As a group, reflect on the interests and resources named. What interests do 10 min
people in your group hold about More Light Presbyterians? What
resources do they have to offer? What is the story of us that is beginning to
emerge?

List the two or three interests and resources to report out. The group
chooses the person who can best articulate interests and resources they
share.

Report Out: Your spokesperson will report the team’s

interests and resources.

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 Work Sheet 2:One-on-Ones

ONE ON ONE PRACTICE

Building on your personal stories of why you were called to be part of More Light Presbyterians, probe
for your partner’s interests – to what goals does s/he aspire, what is s/he trying to make happen, what does
s/he want to be doing in 10 years, what legacy does s/he want to have?

Also listen to your partner’s story for the resources to which s/he has access. Be specific.

Steer clear of the temptation to talk about issues in an abstract sense—talk about why YOU care about
that issue because of your experiences and circumstances.

Record here the interests that you and your partner share.

Record here the resources that you identified during your one on one.

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