Storytellers Set Loose on Preah Vihear Province

Having fallen sick right before heading to Preah Vihear province to run the Story-Smith Workshop, we had to postpone the workshop a week, but it all went off well last week.  Eleven Cambodians and 3 missionaries participated in the 3-day workshop and had a great time.  Many of them commented that they’d never experienced such a training; so participatory and fun, rather than listening to someone speaking for hours on end.

Even though I’ve run this type of workshop many times now, it is always fun to hear the different stories people come up with from the same activities.  As usual we had many occassions of rolling on the floor laughing (always easier to do when you are sitting on the floor to start with 🙂  )

It was great to see them develop their skills and understanding of story construction and storytelling as the days progressed.  They ended with sharing how they were going to begin using storytelling and in what contexts.  The participants included most of the key leaders of one of the churches in Preah Vihear city, and they are now poised to begin using storytelling in every level of their church’s ministry.  A few participants also represented 2 other churches in the city.

Preah Vihear province has Cambodia’s highest iliteracy rate, so it was fairly easy to convince them of the need to use more inclusive communication methods.

Getting creative in small groups

I’m looking forward to hearing great reports of how they are reaching the hearts of people and seeing new doors open to the gospel through storytelling.