Evangelism Resource: The Story0

For the next five weeks, small groups will be studying and practicing evangelism.  We here at the EQUIP blog would like to complement that by pointing out some resources (tracts, books, audio and video files) that will be helpful to those who want to grow in this area.

The first is a twelve-page tract that several people at Southeastern Seminary and the Summit Church have participated in creating, refining, and promoting (for JD’s promotional video, click here).  In fact, you might have seen it at an EQUIP seminar, or an Advance conference, or at the seminary recently.  Here’s what it looks like:

You’ll notice that the creators have taken great care in presenting images and color.  It’s visually stunning, and every page contains recognizable and memorable images.  The Creation page is very green, like the cover.  The page on “The Fall” contains images that you might see on the worst news stories on a given evening.  ”The Rescue” section has a life preserver that is memorable.

While full of images, there is plenty of space for what David Platt calls “theologically rich” material.  Another strength of this resource is that it sums up the whole biblical narrative by moving through the story line of Creation, Fall, Rescue, and Restoration.  The message is made clear with mostly non-theological language, but does not shy away from heavy concepts like substitutionary atonement or hell.  Aware that there is so much ground to cover, The Story ends with a winsome recap, calls for a response, and offers next steps for a new believer.

Another distinctive feature of The Story is its language.  The narrative of Scripture is summarized using modern and simple language, where possible.  There are Scripture verses in it and they are easy to see for reference sake, but they do not dominate the script.  This could be a strength for the resource, in that it makes God’s Word understandable to those who would be tripped up by certain vocabulary.  It could be a weakness of the resource, in that so much of evangelism is speaking the words of God and letting the Spirit do His work in the person. Either way, The Story is tailored towards those who have little to no experience with the church and the bible (called “the radically un-churched” by some).  Use it accordingly.

To call The Story a “tract” does not do justice to the many resources that the creators have built around it.  The Story makes for a great phone app that is available at the website below.  You can read the whole document online as well, and see how other pastors are using it.  One of our pastors recently led his childhood friend to Christ on the phone by walking him through the website:   viewthestory.com

There is the site, have fun investigating all that this resource has to offer!