Four rival groups experience healing in a divided region.
What happens when four rival groups come together to tell stories? In Ethiopia, the answer was: healing.
My husband and I are orality consultants with Seed Company, meaning we train men and women around the world to tell Bible stories to their communities. Storytelling is a powerful way to experience God’s Word, and it also can provide access to the Bible for those who don’t yet have one written in their language or for communities who rely solely on oral communication.
At a recent Bible storytelling workshop, four language groups—some with histories of conflict—gathered to learn and share. At first, each group sat separately, exchanging wary glances. Suspicion and hurt hung in the air.
Facilitators encouraged them to share stories about near-death experiences and communal pain. Initially, the sharing was cautious. Then, one woman described nearly dying during childbirth. Another man spoke of surviving a violent raid. Slowly, the rawness of their stories softened the room.
Instead of deepening division, these stories created connection. Tears flowed. Heads nodded. Participants leaned in with empathy. And the room shifted from four separate clusters to one unified circle.
After the workshop, these storytelling teams continued to unify, working together to spread the Bible stories across their communities historically at conflict. They traveled together to a part of their region that was considered “cursed;” people were afraid to travel there because of the threat of evil. But these bold men and women arranged their travel, planned the Bible stories they would share, and prayerfully embarked on their journey. They returned without encountering any evil or experiencing any mishap, and a rumor began spreading across the region that these men and women lifted the curse.
In a fractured world, storytelling makes reconciliation possible. It allows enemies to see each other as neighbors again—or often, for the first time. It offers a shared space to grieve the past and imagine a future marked not by fear but by hope.
