What is a Story Night? Once per quarter, we worship through listening. We call these moments 'Story Night'.  We will hear 5 or so curated stories from our community or adjacent about what God is doing and has done in their lives. This time the theme is: The story of life: Finding God in the dark, and other unexpected places. We will hear insightful stories from brilliant and sometimes underrepresented voices.

Why Story Nights in general? Story telling and listening are both ancient and healing. As Mark Yaconelli said: “The transformation occurs in the space between one heart and another. To be heard by someone who is present, open, and caring is to be led into freedom.”  Yaconelli's book Between the Listening and the Telling is the foundation of Dwell Story Nights.

What should I expect? This is a great chance to come and sit and listen.  People of all walks, faith commitments, and life-styles will leave encouraged. We will start at 5 pm sharp and be done around 6. We will have activities for kids 2 and up, including pizza.  

How does this relate to Dwell Church Core Values? Listening is loving, and Jesus teaches us to love our neighbor. This also is one important way to honor our core value of Diversity - we want all voices listened to. And finally, here is also reason to believe that story sharing is a crucial part of honoring and recovering from trauma-related pain and suffering. This speaks to another core value: Trauma-Informed. Yaconelli reports leading a high-school class that had faced real communal trauma through a storytelling exercise. The students reported "This was joyful because, even though everyone is depressed, I could feel myself in each person's story.' 

This sense of shared experience, even in our misery, expresses the sacredness of story: we are not alone.