Mildred shared a “God story” in Bible class, because, for five weeks, I simply asked, “Before we pray, anyone want to share what God has done in your life this past week?”

• Mildred didn’t know the terminology, “God story.”
• She didn’t realize she was an “early adopter” in a movement that would transform our congregation.
• She had no clue this would eventually grow our church to five times its size in a few short years.

Before moving on, think about changing culture: not by preaching at people, or shoving yet another program down the throats of a group of Christians who are already too busy with church stuff.

• It was just a question: a powerful way to change culture: “Anyone want to share what God has done in your life…?”
• The words for this approach are: “Interrogative influence.” It is influencing by asking questions.
• You may remember, Jesus used interrogative influence. Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do people say I am?” Then He asked, “Who do you say I am?” Jesus built Kingdom culture by, among other approaches, asking questions.

Remember, in the parable of the Good Samaritan story? There was a question: “So who do you think was neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?” Interrogative influence!

So, back to Mildred: Mildred was the first one to respond to my question in Bible class.

• I doubt anyone noticed a dramatic cultural change in our church that occurred with her, unrehearsed, not so smooth, powerful story, which she shared from her heart. It was profound!
• On God’s calendar, (not the church’s), that day marked the beginning of a movement.
• There was no flash of lightening, no big deal. Mildred was the only one to respond that week. Yet, she, and God, launched a movement that very Sunday.
• It was the beginning of a movement of witnessing.

So what happened next?

• The following week, no one had a story to share.
• The following week after that, however, two people shared stories.
• After seven months, I had to cut off the sharing at fifteen minutes so we would have time for prayer and the teaching lesson!

Soon, I began to ask for God stories elsewhere around church:

• Elders meetings
• Congregational meetings
• Church council meetings
• Everywhere our people gathered, except for worship.

What do you think happened next?

• That’s the most important chapter of the movement.
• We’ll look at that tomorrow.

If you would like to know more, you can also subscribe to my podcast on Apple Podcast and Google Play. We will expand on this theme further in our series beginning on March 6, 2018.