Business & Professional
Bible Storytelling is not just for Sunday School, youth group and the mission field. Many business professionals have found that using stories the STS way has been a blessing to them and those with whom they interact. A lunch break Bible study focused on Bible stories with discussion is a very comfortable and inviting way to reach out to coworkers. A five-minute conversation during a coffee break offers great opportunity to connect a Bible story to someone's life situation.
Many professionals have recognized the value of storytelling in general in their business settings. A regional sales manager for a large insurance company had been trained in STS. She believed that the STS approach to Bible story discussions, in particular our use of open ended questions, was a great fit for her district managers and sales reps. When an STS workshop was to be hosted by her home church, she got permission for her company's HR director to offer the STS training to her staff. This was offered as an optional training, anyone who chose to decline the offer was offered a paid day off. Her entire staff attended.
This eclectic group of people was spread across the spectrum spiritually, from Bible believing to agnostic. During the last hour of the workshop, we offered a focused time of discussion with the business group to explore how they could make authentic use of what they had learned in their work setting. Every one of these professionals found the training to be enjoyable and immediately applicable to their lives and professions.
One of the women who attended told us that she didn't know if she even believed in God. She had never been in a church. However, on a business trip shortly after the workshop, she was seated next to a young woman with whom she struck up a conversation. Our storyteller's seat mate shared that she was contemplating suicide when she got home. At this, the STS trained businesswoman shared a Bible story she had learned during the training. After talking about the story, the depressed woman was so moved that she decided to seek out help rather than end her life. Truly God's word does not return empty, even when shared by a non-believer.
Bible stories are not just for children, they are not just for vacation Bible school, they are not just for the non-literate overseas. Bible stories are for each of us wherever we find ourselves.