You. Me. God. Scripture. Conversation. Timely. Thoughtful. Relevant. Process. Transformation.

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You. Me. God. Scripture. Conversation. Timely. Thoughtful. Relevant. Process. Transformation. 〰️

We are Storyweavers: The Backstory

In 2007, a multilingual medical and educational services worker teamed up with an internationally respected Vietnamese pastor. They wanted to figure out a better way to equip Christ-followers for gospel disciplemaking in their ethnically diverse urban setting. People were pouring into their metropolitan area from all over the world — refugees, students, workers, immigrants — coming from every religious, educational, economic, and social background imaginable, and all hoping for a better life. An approach was needed that would be infinitely adaptable for any culture, language, or personal situation, to help people connect deeply with God through the Bible — His message of eternal truth for all peoples everywhere. But would a single approach even be possible? Conventional thinking was “No way!”

This collaboration however, gave birth to “Weavers”: a new approach to live training and implementation that would be adaptable by design. The focus was on adapting to the nature of in-culture relationships and communication — wherever that may be — to help people dynamically connect with God’s authoritative, unchanging, and all-powerful Word in timely and immediately relevant ways. Local reproduction and sustainability — anywhere in the world, without critical dependencies on resources — were a requirement.

The theory and practice of Weavers percolated for a decade under the auspices of two international, multicultural host organizations. Development took place in contexts that ranged from the Andes of South America to Asian megacities. Training reached into 18 countries and 40 languages.

In mid-2017, while training a new generation of Bible translators in Lima, Peru, the vision for Storyweavers Global came about while prayerfully meditating on the story of King David being called by God to prepare for the next generation to build the temple. (1 Chronicles 17, 28, 29.) Storyweavers Global was to be a faith mission 100% dedicated to stewarding the vision for Scripture engagement through biblical storyweaving into future generations. It would nurture the growth of an organic global network of trainers, and would continue to develop principles and strategies for storyweaving. Storyweavers Global was formerly established on October 24, 2017 and by God’s grace continues to grow.

Continuing our history of somewhat unconventional thinking, Storyweavers Global is very intentionally about building people and relationships, not physical facilities. This means:

  • conversations to bring Scripture to the center of attention in ways that people can see as relevant and that make sense to them;

  • live, open-ended interaction, rather than passive products or prescribed presentations;

  • building capacity in others to be successful disciplemakers in their gospel ministry, rather than making a name for ourselves;

  • always being on mission with God in ways that conform to Scripture.

Our fulfillment is found in being useful in God’s work of transforming people by engaging with him through Scripture, and multiplying that across the world.

From mega cities to remote villages, we are storyweavers.

Everyone on our team — Board members, Administrators, Field Staff, and Training Partners — are all volunteers. Field Staff (full-time, Storyweavers training facilitators) and Training Partners (part-time Storyweavers training facilitators) are recognized and certified by the Board of Directors.

None of our team members receive a salary from Storyweavers Global. However, Storyweavers Global seeks to reimburse their ministry expenses which are directly related to the specific work of this organization’s approved projects.

The ability of Storyweavers Global to do this depends on donations that have been received by the organization. All Staff who participate in this reimbursement system are responsible to assist in raising these funds so that the ministry is sustainable.

In general, when our team members provide training in a physical location that requires travel away from home, especially across international borders, Storyweavers Global seeks to cover the costs of our travel expenses. Since the training we provide is a collaboration with others, we look to our hosts to provide for lodging, meals, local transportation, meeting venues, and logistics.