Join the project.

The Austin Story Project is a creative, collaborative, spiritually intentional project that uses the Christian practice of story to strengthen communities and make visible the transformative presence of God. We are seeking interested congregations, Christian organizations, independent practitioners and young adults drawn to explore storytelling as a formative, healing, and enlivening practice.

For those who apply and are accepted into this work, we will offer training, coaching, tools and resources as well as a collaborative community of learners. Participating churches and practitioners will:

Participate in two, four-day, in-person, all-expenses-paid trainings in transformative storytelling.
Receive coaching in implementing and facilitating various storytelling circles, events, and platforms.
Gather storytelling tools and resources for strengthening relationships within congregations and the larger community.
Understand how stories function within our personal, communal, spiritual, and public lives.
Learn how to create a variety of public, story-sharing events and platforms that foster connection and attune people to the presence of God.

Gain skills and methods for facilitating story circles that awaken people to the spiritual path of Jesus.
Discover how to craft personal stories for preaching, teaching, and facilitation.
Understand how stories affect the body and contribute to individual and social healing.
Learn to how use a transformative Story Circle process that invites personal storytelling inspired by the core experiences of Jesus’ life.
Host public film gatherings and discussion on biographies (“Luminous Christians” provided by The Austin Story Project) of various present-day Christians.

FAQs

Congregations of all sizes, budgets, and denominations or no denomination are eligible. They should be able to show that they have:
- experience with storytelling of some kind
- previous experience with successfully adopting new practices
- enthusiastic supporters
- connection with people or communities outside of their own membership
_________
Practitioners include denominational leaders, spiritual directors, consultants in the church sphere, social workers, therapists, and non-profit leaders. Criteria for selection include:
- Christians or Christ-curious
- Experience with storytelling of some kind
- Demonstrated and current relationship with a group or community with whom to launch a story circle
- Preference is given to pairs or trios of people in a shared practice.
_________
Young Adults include people between the ages of 25 and 35 … ish. Criteria for selection include:
- Christians or Christ-curious.
- Experience with storytelling of some kind
- Demonstrated leadership or facilitation experience
- Demonstrated capacity for vulnerability among people other than close friends
- Strong desire for belonging and connection
Congregations, Christian Organizations, and Independent Practitioners:
- Attend two four-day trainings.
- Bring a team of two.
- Lead three Story Circle cycles between the first and second training.
- Participate in monthly coaching calls with other storytellers.
- Complete evaluation materials.
Young Adults:
- Attend two four-day trainings on September 23 - 27, 2026, and May 12 - 16, 2027.
- Lead three Story Circle cycles between the first and second training.
- Participate in monthly coaching calls with other storytellers.
- Complete evaluation materials.
For Young Adults, the first session is September 23 - 27, 2026. It includes didactic sessions, self-reflection, telling personal stories in a group, learning to listen, and practicing facilitation. Participants will learn to lead Story Circles, a specific process and story prompts to tell stories of our lives that connect to stories of Jesus’ life experiences.
The second session is planned for May 12 - 16, 2027. During this session, participants will learn how to teach others to lead Story Circles and grow the practice in their own communities.
Both training sessions will be at Menucha Retreat Conference Center near Portland, Oregon.
Confirmation fee of $100 per congregation or group of practitioners; $50 for individual practitioners or young adults. Selected participants will be provided transportation, meals, lodging and materials for two training events and coaching.
If the application fee is a barrier, you may apply for a waiver.
Email: story@austinseminary.edu
During 2025-2027, as many as 40 congregations and organizations, 25 practitioners, and 40 young adults will be selected to participate in this project.
Congregations: Christian congregations who want to learn to tell their stories of life with God to each other in Small Groups, Sunday School classes, and worship. They must also want to go beyond their own membership to lead circles of belonging through shared stories among people served through their ministries or from across the community, neighbors, friends and acquaintances of people in the church.
Church Organizations: Organizations grounded in Christian principles and practices or working in a church-related space, such as justice-seeking organizations and coalitions, denominational bodies, campus ministries, and church-wide ministries.
Independent Practitioners: People whose vocations are healing, reconciling, and connecting, such as therapists, social workers, community organization leaders, activists, consultants, and facilitators. They need to be open to the process which includes stories from Jesus' life.