“What’s your story?”
It’s a quick and easy way to allow someone to introduce themselves by telling you whatever they want you to know about them.
They can begin with where they were born or when they moved to town. You can start anywhere.
Have you ever thought about the story of your church?
What’s the story of the congregation that meets in your building? Where did they start? How did they start? What stories does the church tell about itself?
If someone asks, “Tell me about your church,” what stories do they tell?
Here’s why this matters…
Just like you can see how we’ll look as adults in our baby pictures, you can see the identity of the church in the early stories of the congregation. Who we are as a church comes from who we were in the beginning. Who we will become as a church is directly related to the church we are now.
As Americans, we’re all about the future. We are driven to know what’s next to the point that we miss what’s going on right in front of us. And of course, who has the time to look at the past? We all should have time to study our past. In fact, we should make time to do so. It’s only in understanding where we started and how we got from where we started to where we are.
In understanding how we faced these past challenges and in seeing what was revealed about our integrity and character in those moments greatly informs who we are — not only as individuals, but also as churches. When we faced something like this in the past, how did we handle it? In figuring out that answer, we may figured out how to face problems in our present and future lives.
Stories matter.
They define our past and determine our future. So, what’s your story?
There’s more in them than most of us know. Take the time to understand your stories. Trace the timeline from your past to your present. It’s in understanding where we’ve been that we can understand where we’re going.
