Today, we launched the first story in our new Biblical Storytelling series: Biblical Storytelling: The Feeding of the 5000 with Kathy Culmer For Groups. This is a brand new series with unique classes designed around performances of stories from scripture by biblical storytellers, and we are excited to be able to offer it.

Today’s biblical storytellers base their craft on the oral tradition through which many of the stories in scripture were told for centuries. They prepare their performances of stories in prayer and contemplation, internalizing the stories and conveying them to their listeners with the goal of communicating God’s word to the heart as well as to the mind.

Each class in our new series will begin with a lesson about the craft of biblical storytelling with Kathy Culmer. We will base the second lesson on a biblical storytelling performance of a story from scripture. As is usual for our For Groups classes, each class will include a Participant Guide containing material that people in the group can use when they gather to discuss the story and a Facilitator’s Guide for people who want ideas about leading a group through the class; we have adapted these guides to suit biblical storytelling performances. The classes also offer suggestions for ways to integrate these stories into your church ministries.

We hope that you enjoy Kathy’s moving performances of these stories as much as we have. We are very glad to be able to offer this new kind of class, and we hope that you find ways to use the stories with your congregations to the benefit of your fellow parishioners and to the glory of God.