Online short stories are very popular. Since the Lord Jesus used short stories as his
primary means of evangelism, this suggests a strategy waiting to be used!
Yet Christians frequently overlook this possibility!
We can build a site (or section of a site) around short fiction items. How can such a site be evangelistic? We suggest:
- Stories need not be all message-based or evangelistic! Some can merely be good ethical stories
which are entertaining. The Christian world-view from which they are written is valuable in itself,
and the presence of apparently secular stories on the site gives credibility and shows that
it is not a 'preachy' site. These stories will also draw people in to the rest of the site, via search engines.
- Other stories may present a specific message. It is important that the message is
embedded in the narrative of the story, rather than added to the end as a preachy 'moral of this
story', in the manner of those cringe-making 19th century 'improving' children's books.
This is how the Bible uses story.
- Note that some of Jesus' parables were told to make people go away and think. They left a
question mark hanging in the air, rather than providing an obvious answer. Getting people to
think things through is actually a powerful means
of evangelism. This strategy of 'intriguing the lost' is not sufficiently
used - we usually feel that we must blatantly hammer the point home. Hard.
- Says one short-story writer, "I think it is important to have characters in essentially secular stories who are Christians. Christianity may influence their approach, but the story is not about their Christianity.
These are what I call 'Christian influence stories' - not about Christianity, but about a Christian and how he or she face situations."
- Good fiction makes us care about the people in the narrative.
- Christian writing should aim to help people see new possibilities for their lives.
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide
the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and
endless sea." (Antoine de Saint Exupery)
- Memorable stories can smuggle ideas and challenges into people's hearts,
right past the defenses they have in place, as can humor.
Nathan Williams calls this Incarnational Apologetics.
- A short-story website can include other elements - for instance true stories
i.e. testimonies - though that is a word to avoid.
It can also bridge across, perhaps through one or more stages, to
an appropriate presentation of the Gospel, or link to other
gospel presentations.
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