Looking for the story worth telling, and the right audience

Before there was “Bob the Youth Guy” there was “Bob the Writer.” In 2nd grade my teacher, Miss Kjos, invited me to read my first original story to my fellow 7-year-olds, and I was hooked. I knew I wanted to make a name for myself by putting words together to tell a story. My love for reading, and for the characters that populated the colorful pages of my school library books, made my mind naturally turn to creating new characters and new stories that could bring satisfaction to other readers. Just as important, of course, was encouragement from Miss Kjos to keep writing. So it was not hard for me to spin a new yarn in my head, or to sit still to write it down on a rainy day, complete with pencil-drawn illustrations. I imagined the impressively long list of “other titles by this author” that my publisher would one day have to squeeze onto the inside cover of my newest novel. I considered various pen names. And I kept reading, of course. (Dr. Suess, you may not be surprised to hear, was a particular favorite through grade school.)

By high school though, I was experiencing frequent “writer’s block” and not producing much new material. My standards for my own fiction-writing, I suppose, were psyching me out. I wanted to make sure it was good enough to share with the world. The words that used to go together with such ease now stubbornly refused to be coaxed over that uncomfortably high fence, and the writing I did eventually produce was often late and rarely what I wanted it to be. It actually got worse in college, where I designed my own “fiction and fiction-writing” major in St. Olaf’s Para-college program (a totally hippy-era creation, but one in which they still expected some actual written work…) I didn’t seem to have any stories worth telling anymore. So I wasn’t telling any. My future as a professional storyteller did not look promising.

In 1982 two friends invited me to come work with them as a Bible camp counselor. That summer changed my life, as I discovered a community where I thrived, where I got to use my gifts by telling Bible stories in creative ways, and found children and teenagers to be an audience that inspired me. And now that I had a significant story to tell them, a story worth telling, the words and the confidence came back.

As I try to help prepare Gethsemane’s youth to share this task of telling God’s story in the world, I am regularly met with resistance to the words “evangelism” and “witnessing.” Many of them visibly cringe at the idea of saying “I’m a believer” or “I know I’m saved by grace through faith.” They speak with dread of answering the door when the Jehovah’s Witnesses come to visit, and they are slow to see their own testimony as any less unwelcome. They do not trust that the story of their relationship with Christ needs telling—or they worry that telling it is equal to pressuring other people to subscribe to it—and they are protective of other people’s rights to believe something else, because this is America.

We used to be taught to politely avoid talking about religion or politics, and stick to the weather! Now the only taboo seems to be religion. Although it is okay to eagerly share comical YouTube video clips, and influence each other’s clothing choices and musical tastes and favorite professional athlete, spiritual beliefs seem ‘out of bounds’ to bring up in everyday conversation out of respect for people’s freedom not to hear about our spiritual values.

For some teens (and adults) the reluctance could very well be a fear of getting the details wrong, of looking stupid because we can’t answer all of the logical questions. This is a reasonable concern! But another part, especially for teens, is whether their own faith is solid yet. They don’t want to be hypocrites if they are still wrestling with their doubts. My encouragement, of course, is to keep learning by reading Scripture and worshipping, keep praying for God to make you certain, and to watch for your moment when you’re ready to tell somebody the beliefs that are shaping you.

Trust the story. Trust that it is worth telling and worth hearing. Find your audience, the person or community that God has prepared you to reach with your personal story of faith. And then tell it. God will do the rest.