In writing the book, The StoryChanger, I read many books about how to tell better stories. Josh Chatrow’s book, Telling a Better Story, was one of them but it’s uniquely focused on how to tell God’s Story better.

It's there that we run into a major problem: few people are anxiously waiting for us to tell God's Story and others have rejected it. So how do I start a conversation about God? Let's visit the garage.

We have story-engines

The stories the world is telling people are so loud that we can’t cut through the noise. Some have been listening to these stories for so long that they don’t even notice their influence upon them.

As Chatrow says, lives are powered by story-engines but most drive without thinking about what‘s happening under the hood. 

To be convinced that we must repair our car, we need a mechanic to explain what's wrong, why we need to fix it, and what benefits the fix will bring.

We are story-mechanics

Chatrow trains us to become story-mechanics that explain what’s going on under the hood, and how the Gospel story can repair what’s broken.

Take the great question of life’s meaning. How do we get inside people's engines and show what’s going wrong with their significance cylinder?

It all begins with being a living apologetic, says Chatrow, by modeling the meaning of life, especially as we drive through suffering and sorrow. Then non-Christians will see how we find meaning and significance even on the hardest roads.

That's a living apologetic that will open the door to story apologetics when they run into their own life-storms and ask for “the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15).

How do I start a conversation about God? Live out God's story and you'll get a chance to speak God's Story.