Tell Your (Short) Story
Hey! Did you know that leaves change color in the fall? Me neither! But indeed they do – and they do it spectacularly in North Carolina. What a lovely trip to go “leaf peeping.” Which, to be honest, sounds vaguely creepy…but it’s not! I promise! The trees love it when I peep at them. They whispered that in my ear.
Enough about leaves and peeping – let’s talk stories. And short ones at that.
There is a legend that someone once challenged Ernest Hemingway to write a story in six words. It’s legend because there’s no proof that Hemingway actually wrote it. But that’s how legends go. Here’s the six-word story:
For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.
Wow. That story packs a punch. And mostly because we want to know more. This is a story that also elicits strong emotion. We want to know what happened to the baby. To the mother.
Longer versions of “flash” stories have been around forever (think of all those Grimm fairy tales). But there are five sub-categories of the Flash Fiction genre:
Flash Fiction: up to 1,500 words
Sudden Fiction: up to 750 words
Drabble (or micro-fiction): up to 100 words
Twitterature: up to 280 characters
Six-word story
Why in the world would this be of interest to you?
I think you might already know the answer.
All of us tend to get a bit wordy when we start talking about how wonderful our congregation is. We start listing all the good things we are doing and going into great detail about a particular ministry. But those descriptions are less compelling than they might be because we are using too many words.
There’s a place for that long-form story telling. There is. But let’s focus on the short-form.
What if you took thirty minutes at an Administrative Council or leadership meeting and had a writing challenge?
For your purposes use “Drabble” (fun word!), so no more than 100 words of – in this case – flash non-fiction. Split into two groups. Give each group one of these prompts:
#1: In 100 words, tell the story of our congregation.
#2: In 100 words, tell someone why they should join or become a part of our congregation.
People work individually.
Give them 10 minutes to write.
Everyone gets to read what they wrote.
There are a number of benefits of having people Drabble this way – the primary ones being:
- It will start your meeting in a creative and uplifting way.
- Everybody’s voice gets heard.
- And bonus! Some (or most) of these responses will be good enough to share in your newsletter, on your website, or in your worship bulletin.
There are many advantages to being succinct. When you’re trying to explain something in a restricted way (as in limited words), it forces you to get at the essence of who and what you are. You drill down to get the images and emotion just right.
The story of your congregation – and why someone should be a part of it – is an important thing to think about. And to get on paper.
It’s time to do a little Drabbling.
(Word count: 525)
Photo credit: Alexas_fotos @ pixabay
Cesie Delve Scheuermann (pronounced “CC Delv Sherman,” yes, really) is a Stewardship Consultant for the OR-ID Annual Conference. She is also a Senior Ministry Strategist with Horizons Stewardship. For 25 years, while working as a volunteer and part-time consultant, she has helped raise over three million dollars for numerous churches and non-profit organizations. While she was in Richmond this past week, she learned about the painting “Black Jesus” by Stanley Rayfield. Check out this wonderful video about the artist, his muse, and its meaning.
You can reach Cesie at inspiringgenerosity@gmail.com, at CesieScheuermann.com, or at cesieds@horizons.net. Want to schedule a meeting? She’s got you covered!
Schedule a meeting now.
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