Telling Your Church’s Big Campfire Story

In last week’s article, we talked about the importance of every church to discover and share their “campfire stories.” These positive stories speak to the best of what your congregation has been able to accomplish, along with the values, systems, and God-given vision that have brought you to this moment in your story.

• We can call our congregation’s campfire stories small church or small “c” campfire stories. These stories are essential, but they reflect only a tiny part of God’s kingdom work and God’s kingdom stories.

Because our small “c” stories are limited to a particular time and place, they can limit our vision of what God is about in redeeming and restoring all creation. So while small “c” stories are crucial to our life as God’s new creation people, they are not enough.

• We must also tell big Church or big “C” stories around the campfire. Big “C” stories reflect God’s story for our congregation and move us to imagine new ways to live out God’s story.

How to tell broader Campfire Stories

1. Start with scripture

• Start with Bible passages that match your call. Ask, “What biblical stories resonate with the calling God has given us?” If your church excels at hospitality, look for hospitality stories. If you love to share good news with your neighbors, look for verses about evangelism.

2. Look for lesser-known stories

• Do not only use the famous stories. The well-known texts are powerful, but the quieter ones can be even more effective. Sometimes a small detail reveals the upside-down Kingdom more clearly than a headline moment.

3. Read with imagination

• When you read the Bible, do not read for information only. When you read a story, ask, “What could this look like here?” Let the text give you permission to see new possibilities for your neighborhood and your people.

4. Look for narrative reversals

• Tell stories that turn the world’s status games upside down. One of the striking patterns in the New Testament is how Jesus and the early church honored the people society ignored. Those stories can reshape how your congregation treats the overlooked.

5. Share stories from church history

• Big “C” stories are not limited to stories from the Bible. As a faith community, we want to be rooted in church history and find campfire stories in history. We desire to hear stories of those who have lived out the faith well. Stories come not just from the Western world but from across the globe. Stories that cause us to marvel.

6. Build a rhythm

• Try sharing one big “C” story a month in worship. Or share a “story moment” in council when a biblical narrative connects with one of the current leadership decisions.

Small “c” stories tell you where you have been, but big “C” stories remind you where you are in the larger story of God and where you are going! You need to keep both fires burning. Where will you start this week?