THE FOUNDATIONAL IMPORTANCE OF STORY
Whether via the medium of a book, movie, or television, everyone loves stories. We all love to watch a good movie or read a compelling book. It is innate to the human experience.
This affection for narrative is not only for its entertainment value; stories shape the very fabric of our lives. It is out of these stories our identities are forged. Stories, then, not only entertain, but they also inform. They inform the way we think, the things we love, and then the actions we do.
Humanity needs stories to make sense of their lives. In this way, there is some ultimate story, a metanarrative, that everyone orients their lives around. Our lives are nothing more than individual narratives played out within a greater narrative in which we find ourselves. Therefore, there is no more fundamental way people make sense of their lives than through a narrative. To make sense of reality necessitates a story.
Michael Goheen and Craig Bartholomew write,
"In order to make sense of our lives and to make our most important decisions about how we ought to be living, we depend upon some story."
Lesslie Newbigin states,
"The way we understand human life depends on what conception we have of the human story. What is the real story of which my life is a part?"
We all possess a story that forms, provides meaning, and directs our lives.
Ask yourself these questions:
Where did you learn how to live your life?
Where did you learn to value what you value and love what you love?
Where did you know that life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness is the goal of life?
Indeed, it was not in a Western academic setting with a professional teacher telling you to pursue the American Dream. There is no class, to my knowledge, on this subject. No, we learn to live through a narrative that is taught, reinforced, and lived out, consciously and subconsciously. It is embodied everywhere in our culture. Everywhere we go, every commercial we see, every billboard, every sitcom, every movie is part of an overarching story in which the predominant culture teaches its citizens how to live and think. Every culture reinforces a metanarrative that provides its members' certain expectations of how to understand and interpret their lives.
The primary worldview questions that address the reality of the universe can only be answered through a narrative.
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
What is wrong with the world?
How do we fix the problems with the world?
The dominant cultural story determines a lot about how we answer these questions. Take, for example, the second question—where did I come from? The answer to this question is shaped mainly by what story you believe about the world. If you believe the Western enlightenment philosophies that have permeated our culture, you think you came from a process of macro-evolution. If you believe the biblical story or some part of it, you believe you came from the Creator God of the Bible. Regardless, whatever ultimate narrative you believe about the world directs how you think about reality.
Let's dig a little deeper.
STORIES SHAPE IDENTITIES; IDENTITIES DETERMINE MISSION
Who are you? Really, at the deepest perception of yourself, who do think you are?
We all long to attach ourselves to something. A quick peek at any social media proves this. Because of indwelling sin, we need to find meaning and significance through forging an identity. Life possesses no inherent meaning without a narrative to locate our lives. We do not act capriciously and then try to make sense of our actions. No. Our actions are informed by a narrative into which our hearts have embraced. Who we think ourselves to be is derivative of the narratives we believe.
In each of the stories we watch or read, we connect our lives to one or more of the characters, hoping that our lives, in some ways, could be theirs. We identify with certain genres more than others because we want our lives to be filled with romance, adventure, or suspense. So, for example, I attach myself to Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings. Why? Because I identify with his lack of courage to become who he was. Furthermore, I love that there is a close, small-knit fellowship that pursues an epic adventure together. When I watch the movies, it makes me want to conquer the world with a small, close-knit friend group. I could watch the LOTR all day!
Similarly, we all construct our identities from the cultural narratives that encircle us. Although identity construction is complex, one's identity cannot be formed without a story to provide meaning. Once you have forged your identity, this identity determines your actions and behaviors.
Here is an all-important formula:
Story determines identity, and identity determines mission.
Whatever story one believes to be true determines who they think they are, and whoever one considers himself to be, dictates what they do.
Who was Scott growing up? I was a soccer player. I was born (nature) with athletic ability, and my parents were fortunate enough to put me in club ball (nurture). Because other people judged (judgments) my above-average ability, I began to forge my identity around soccer. Therefore, I spent hours a day with a ball, training several times a week, and playing year-round. My mission was to be better than everyone else. My identity of being a soccer player determined my actions playing all the time. Moreover, our society values sports. It told me that those who excel at sports are something! So the cultural value of sports, by nature, through nurture, and judgments made about my ability caused me to believe that I was a soccer player. This was my identity.
Identity construction is undoubtedly complex, but at a basic level, stories determine identities, and identities determine mission. Thus, if change is to occur, it must occur at the story level.
This maxim directly affects the church. Whatever story the church holds to be true will continue to permeate the way it thinks about themselves. Understanding the biblical story is the only way not to be swept into another narrative. Every culture builds itself upon some foundational narrative that gives meaning and purpose. These cultural narratives give rise to the idols of the culture, and the only way to dispossess the heart of a wrong story is with the expulsive power of a new one.
This is the task of the church. The church must know its own story so well that it can combat and subvert the false cultural narratives, even the pseudo-Christian versions.
N.T. Wright states, “A good deal of Christian theology consists of the attempt to tell this story as clearly as possible, and to allow it to subvert other ways of telling the story of the world, including those which offer themselves as would-be Christian tellings but which, upon close examination, fall short in some way or other.” (N.T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God)
If the church is going to experience genuine change and come out of its identity crisis, it cannot simply change at the action/mission level. It must take place at a deeper level. It is tomfoolery to attempt to produce change through changing the top-level activities. This is why simply choosing one methodological structure is not enough. But this is what we keep doing! We continue to swap model for model, all the while we have not changed the deeper story that informs the actions. If the church does not change at the story level, it will remain in its identity crisis.