Join the Story

Biblical Storytelling Festival

Abraham accepting a new name. Ruth declaring her loyalty and identity. Jesus seeing the heavens torn up after his baptism.

The participants who gathered for AMBS's first biblical storytelling festival experienced all of this and more. The Sunday afternoon event on February 18 brought 120 people together to hear and join in these key stories in our faith heritage.

In the first session of the event, stories were performed in a variety of ways. Brent Graber, as the son of Terah, helped us understand more of what Abraham was thinking when God gave him a new name. Members of the fall's biblical storytelling class, plus some additional students, performed the entire book of Ruth, using candles to help the audience identify the characters in the story. Several people from Kern Road Mennonite Church, including AMBS students Kendall and Charleen Jongejan Harder, performed the Gospel of Mark in a condensed form written by a member of the church. Mary E. Klassen helped the congregation learn the story of Jesus' baptism so they could take it with them.

Three workshops followed in the second hour:

• First person biblical storytelling, led by AMBS student Moriah Hurst
• Biblical storytelling with children in worship, led by Lois Kaufmann, AMBS student and pastor at Assembly Mennonite Church in Goshen
• Storytelling in other kinds of ministry, led by June Alliman Yoder, Jacob Elias, and Daniel Schipani, AMBS faculty.