At the time, she was six months pregnant. I was amazed that she could sit through the training in a language that isn’t the first one she speaks, understand us and take our words to heart.
While we were in India, we taught a very simple format to write stories: We call it ABCDE
A–Action–start in the middle of the action to grab your reader’s attention.
B–Background–supply enough background to make your reader want to care about the person you’re writing about.
C–Conflict: Include a problem to be solved or an obstacle to overcome that leads to a heart change in the life of the person you are writing about.
D–Develop the story by telling your reader how the person you are writing about overcame their obstacle.
E–End the story: Choose a way to wrap up the details. Tell what happened, or pick a quote that shows heart change.
Recently, Subha Shini had her baby, and now, she is starting to write again. Here’s what she sent me. Can you identify each of the elements?
Even when a pastor prayed and deliveried her mother from demon possession; Manjula a 1st PUC student was not serious about her relationship with Christ.
A few months later Manjula attended a camp conducted by Campus Crusade; unlike her initial response to Christ; she shared about Christ to Pavithra a Hindu girl . ‘since we both belong to the same religion and community I could relate well with her’ says Manjula.
This change took place when Manjula met our staff Mrs.Kumari in her neighborhood conducting Bible studies for youths; Manjula started attending the group regularly and the truth that she learnt from the Word of God helped her to grow in her relationship with Christ.
During the training in Evangelism and Discipleship camp Manjula says ‘I had a desire to share Gospel with others and I am glad I could do that during this camp; I realize it is my responsibility to let my friends know that Jesus is the true living God.
I think she did a nice job identifying a story worth telling and including the elements we discussed. She shows us three events: A pastor prays for her mother to be delivered from demons, she attends an evangelism and discipleship camp, and she attends classes in her neighborhood.
While she covers a lot of ground in one short story, each event is necessary to show life change. What changed about Manjula’s life? Manjula switched from not being serious about her faith to taking her faith seriously enough to tell others about it. So, how would Subha Shini best show that change taking place?
She has the right elements, but are they in the right order? In the next blog post, let’s take a look at what I suggested she do and at what she sent back to me.
