What's Your Story? Update

What’s your Story?

Now more than ever South Africans need to hear stories of hope, stories that will help us understand each other better and break down prejudice and racial tension. Our What’s your Story? campaign is well underway to do exactly that.

Salvation Army Pilot

On the 06 April the Heartlines team facilitated the WYS process for The Salvation Army Women’s ministry in La Verna, Vanderbijlpark. The group was comprised of women ministers within the ranks of The Salvation Army serving in different appointments such as social centres, ECD centres, and churches in both urban and rural parts of Gauteng, Free State, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga.

Facilitators took participants through a process of understanding the importance of telling and listening to each other’s stories by providing a framework through video clips and some ground rules. Participants were then given a task of mapping their stories through the “River of Life” exercise, which formed the basis storytelling. The process was then taken to smaller groups where each participant was given a chance to tell their stories to two other people who listened, asked questions and provided prayer at the end of the story.

What to get excited about

Here are some of the upcoming highlights.

For churches: We are developing a personal storytelling toolkit for use within churches, and for Christians to use beyond the church. It includes storytelling guidelines, sermon outlines, a Bible study series and once-off storytelling initiatives.

For workplaces: Ever wondered how personal storytelling can promote understanding and improve productivity in the workplace? The What’s your Story? workplace initiative gets colleagues to break down suspicion through getting to hear each other’s stories.

Online platform: The What’s your Story? website goes live later in May. It will feature stories in audio, video and written form.