Mum and prostitute hear Bible in Brisbane
In a globalised world, the world has come to Australia and there are many opportunities to be involved in the reaching the unreached in our daily lives.
On the day WEC worker Linda Hoadley decided to tell a Bible story at her local playgroup, a middle eastern woman chose to attend.
Having learnt about the effectiveness of storytelling during the recent 12-week orientation for new church planters in western Sydney, Linda returned to Brisbane and decided to share Bible stories at her playgroup.
“The area we are located in is not very multi-cultural, so I was surprised that Enas chose to come to playgroup that day!” Linda said.
“I had chosen the story of the criminals on the cross beside Jesus and was worried Enas might be uncomfortable, but she told me she was keen to learn more about Christianity and hear the Bible story, and she listened intently while I was sharing.”
“As I chatted to her I found the cultural awareness training we did at C3PO really useful in finding points of connection to talk about.”
“She even laughed as we spoke about cultural differences in a way she could relate to.”
During the C3PO storytelling training, candidates are encouraged to share Bible stories without interpreting them, so that the listener can think through the meaning for themselves.
Linda was able to use this approach recently, when she came to be chatting to a woman who works as a prostitute.
“During the conversation we spoke about spirituality, and the woman laughingly commented that in her line of work she was going straight to hell,” said Linda.
“In the past I’d have probably mounted a theological argument about what the Bible really says about grace, but I thought I’d try sharing the Bible story of the criminal who hung next to Jesus on the cross instead.”
“Although I was tempted to interpret the story, I left the woman to draw her own conclusion.”
“It was great; the story was listened to and well-received, whereas the theological argument probably wouldn’t have been!”