4 – Let’s Look at How This Works – Examples of Strategic Storytelling
We’ve talked about the philosophy of strategic storytelling; let’s look at some examples. In the lecture video, you’ll see a clip we created with a ministry in the Middle East. I’ll also talk about some of the thought process that went into creating that video.
Example Stories
Below, you can see another example of a story that has been used in the Middle East. In this case, Egypt. The audience was similar – young, University-age students. However, the questions they are asking and our engagement goals were different. Also, this was created as a series of short episodes that follow the three characters at different stages of their journey of faith. We can run different ads for different episodes or tie them all together if we want to present them in a new form.
In each episode, the questions, place of their journey, and call-to-action change. As you watch these videos, jot some notes, and ask yourself if you understand:
- the characters,
- the questions on their minds
- where they are on a faith journey
- what we are asking them to do – the engagement or call-to-action
Rabia – Episode 1
Rabia – Episode 2
Rabia – Episode 3
Reflection:
Some final questions for you:
- Think about the idea of beginning with an audience, their questions/needs/problems, and how you can engage with them. How is this similar, or different from the way you have created or found stories to use in ministry?
- What things do you notice in these stories that you might want to try yourself? Are there things you didn’t like very much; what would you change?
Do you have some ideas stirring up in your mind now? In the next lesson, we’ll re-cap and do some more application for your ministry.