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Staying Hopeful When the World Feels Like a Dumpster Fire: Tips I’ve Learned From the “Pros”
September first was my one-year anniversary working with TMS Global. My job is to interview cross-cultural witnesses (CCWs, or missionaries) and write their stories. You’d think this job has the potential to be depressing. After all, the world kind of feels like a dumpster fire so much of the time. But I’ve found that the opposite has happened. These people I talk with who live and work in very hard places are often filled with optimism and hope, rather than the despair I expect. Here are a few things I’ve learned about how to stay hopeful when the world feels like a dumpster fire. 1. Recognize that the world is…
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Sharing Words and Pictures as Though Humans are Made in the Image of God
I think a lot about words, and how to use them well. This can be challenging, and I’m still learning a lot. But I think my starting point is this: I must remember that all humans are made in the image of God. Genesis 1: 26-27 tells us: 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Before anything else,…
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Digging Deeper: Narrative Identity Theory
In my previous post I shared a little about how stories can have impact in the real world. Today I want to go a little deeper into that idea. While working on a paper for one of my seminary classes, I was introduced to something called narrative identity theory. This theory says that stories are “among the most important means by which people articulate and clarify their sense of [the world].”i We connect events together to form stories to help our lives make sense, stringing memories together in the way that a novelist arranges chapters.ii On the individual level, narrative identity theory is the identity we construct through the stories…
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Do the Stories we Tell Actually Matter?
Last week I talked about a few of the differences between ethical and unethical storytelling. But does how we tell stories, and the kinds of stories we tell actually matter? Can the images and words we use actually cause harm or cultivate good? Yes, they can! The stories we tell have real impact in the real world. Maybe you’ve encountered the impact of stories, perhaps without even realizing it. For example, have you ever heard stories about someone before you met them? Maybe someone new is moving into your neighborhood, or joining your class at school, or starting at your workplace. Perhaps you’ve only heard negative things about this person:…
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What is Ethical Storytelling?
I believe my calling, or a big part of it anyway, is to tell ethical missions stories, or ethical stories about cross-cultural work. But what does that mean? The truth is I’m still learning. But here’s what I know right now. Ethical stories preserve the dignity of their subjects. These stories aim to help readers and viewers better understand complex issues, rather than oversimplifying problems. Ethical stories help people see the humanity in others. They allow subjects to speak for themselves. They don’t further stereotypes, but dismantle them instead. They are diverse. Ethical stories don’t show people as utterly helpless, needing rescue from those in a “wealthy” country. Rather, they…
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How I Became a Cross-Cultural Storyteller
Hi, I’m Jenifer, and I’m really passionate about telling good missions stories. That is, I feel called to tell the stories of the work that God is doing in the world, through cross-cultural workers and their friends. And I feel called to tell these stories in an engaging and ethical way. I want to share with you how I realized this calling. I’ve been a storyteller for nearly my whole life. I have stacks of notebooks and journals to prove it. For much of my life, I’ve also been interested in global missions. As a kid, I loved when missionaries visited my church. I would hang on to every word…
