"How can we come to Jesus, hear His Words, and do them?" Luke 6:46–49
A return to the source
Most of us were never taught to come to God's Word the way Jesus came to it. We were taught to receive it — explained, pre-digested, ready to apply. STRATEGIES 1 is a return to the source. Over two days you will sit with Bible stories the way Jesus and His disciples did: out loud, together, in questions and dialogue.
You will tell your first story. You will discover the difference between hearing about the Word and hearing the Word itself. And you will leave carrying something no one can take from you — a way of engaging Scripture that needs no books, no buildings, and no expert in the room.
Not a lecture course
This is not a lecture course. Most of the training happens in the circle, not at the front.
- Six Bible storytelling & dialogue sessions — you don't study the method first and try it later; from the first hour, you are inside a story, hearing it, retelling it, and responding to it.
- Four group practice activities — you learn a story, tell it to others, and discover that you can do this. For most participants, this is the moment the training becomes theirs.
- Five teaching sessions — one for each strategy, woven between the stories, so that each strategy is named only after you have already experienced it.
- Practical method sessions — how to learn a story in ten minutes, how to ask questions that open rather than close, and how to begin in your own home this week.
Typical format: a 2–3 day intensive. Flexible scheduling is available for local contexts.
Drawn from Jesus' own way with God's Word
The training is built on five strategies drawn from Jesus' own way with God's Word. Each page below tells you what the strategy is — the training is where you learn to live it.
- PLANT — Plant seed in soil (Foundational Strategy)
- HEAR — Hear & obey God's Word (Good Soil Strategy)
- DISCOVER — Use stories, examples & questions (Good Sowing Strategy)
- SPACE — Build sacred space to hear & obey (Good Soil & Sowing Strategy)
- TRUST — Use God's Word as spirit & life (Good Seed Strategy)
If you can hear a story and tell it to a friend
No theological education is required — and none is assumed. STRATEGIES 1 has been received by pastors and new believers, literate and oral learners, in the same room at the same time. If you can hear a story and tell it to a friend, you have everything the training requires.
The complete 7 Steps for Bible Storytelling & Dialogue — reference sheet for facilitators and participants, plus story learning guidance.
Practical tools for planting God's Word — soil-type guides, question frameworks, and engagement helps.
A curated list of 52 Bible stories in chronological order — a year of Scripture engagement, one story at a time.
104 key Scripture stories — two per week for a year — for planting God's Word deeply in any heart or culture.
"I felt as if I became better soil to receive the Word, through listening, trying to remember, asking questions. But I also learned to be a better sower; how to share with others of all backgrounds." Training Participant — Middle East
Do you want to host a Word Engagement training?
Email us at info@seed4soil.org