Ep 102: Have We Lost the Plot? w/ Zach Leighton

What role does Christian storytelling play in deep discipleship? In Episode 102, Brian talks with Zach Leighton, founder of Reliant Creative and co-founder of Kingdom Stories, about the importance of story, testimony, and narrative in the life of the church. Zach has spent more than a decade helping churches, ministries, and nonprofits around the world communicate more faithfully and effectively through story. This conversation returns to the Discipleship Dilemma from Season 2: your story matters. Becoming more like Jesus is not only about knowing His heart more deeply; it also involves knowing our own hearts, histories, wounds, joys, conflicts, and transformations. This is the old theological idea of double knowledge — knowing God and knowing ourselves. Zach argues that the church has largely lost the practice of storytelling. Much of modern Christian communication centers on teaching, doctrine, apologetics, data, models, and strategies. Those things matter, but story reaches the heart in a different way. Jesus taught through story. Scripture is filled with story. Human beings are formed by story.

BY Brian Fisher

July 23, 2024

Christian storytelling

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Ep 102: Have We Lost the Plot? w/ Zach Leighton
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Christian Storytelling with Zach Leighton

Storytelling is essential to Jesus, comprises a large portion of the Bible, and is fundamental to our spiritual formation journey. However, according to our guest, less than 1% of all church communication worldwide involves story.  What does this say about modern Christianity and our quest to become deep disciples?

Brian welcomes innovator and entrepreneur Zach Leighton to the podcast.  Zach is a leading thinker in the realm of storytelling, its role in the Bible, and its impact on the church and culture worldwide.  He and Brian discuss what happens when the church fails to tell stories, why that habit is missing today, and how we recapture this essential piece of our journey to become more like Jesus.

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