RealityBites - Storytelling at its best!

Cannibals, crocodiles and chocolate factories; just three of the eclectic range of themes found within the RealityBites course. RealityBites uses delightfully eccentric storytelling as a way of exploring worldviews with young people. On hearing this, many an inquisitive mind has been known to ask, ‘but what, really, do these things have to do with the Kingdom of God?!’ This is a very good question, and one which was asked of me by the RealityBites creators themselves, five years ago, as I embarked upon the West Yorkshire School of Christian Studies (WYSOCS) Gap Year programme, ‘Thinking Space.’*

So what do these things have to do with the Kingdom of God? This is one of the most transformative questions that I have been asked in my twenty-three years of life, and for that I am very grateful. Transformative, because it sparked the growth of a new dimension to my faith rooted in an illuminating and refreshing understanding of the world around me. I started to glimpse that as you unpack stories, it emerges that beneath every one, be it from a person, a book, a film or even an advert, there exists an over-arching narrative about the universe – also known as a ‘worldview’. Every worldview is packed full of beliefs about the nature of reality, human life, and that which is considered to be sacred or divine – topics that young people often associate with dusty text-books, old men with extraordinarily long beards, or, simply, ‘the religious world’. It became apparent that claims about God and the universe are constantly being made all around us, not least through stories.

RealityBites helps unpack this in a fun and creative way, and will cause you to start asking yourself, ‘what worldviews am I encountering everyday?’, and ‘how do I respond to these as a Christian?’ It will also lead you to ponder the question ‘how does the Christian worldview affect the way I do life?’ If nothing else, it will certainly ask of you that all-important, yet admittedly surreal!, question ‘what, really, do cannibals, crocodiles and chocolate factories have to do with the Kingdom of God…?!’

*Mark Roques and Arthur Jones are co-Directors of RealityBites, and tutors at WYSOCS. They continue to challenge and inspire WYSOCS-goers with their cutting edge expertise and relevant teaching style. For more information about WYSOCS, RealityBites and the ‘Thinking Space’ Gap Year, check out the WYSOCS website at www.wysocs.org.uk and http://www.markroques.com/workshops.htm

• Mark Roques Worldview Course

Tags: storytelling, worldview, realitybites

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