Sowing Stories Deep in the Soul: Biblical Storytelling with Adolescent Women

Some adolescent women struggle to maintain positive self-identity resilience and personalized faith development on their journey toward adulthood. It is a contemporary crisis recognized by many including ministry leaders of faith communities. In todays fast-paced digital culture concerns addressing challenges facing adolescent women are evident in research literature. To strengthen their spiritual well-being emphasis is placed on spiritual formation practices that enhance faith hope and personal relationships amid social peer and media pressures pulling them into negative detrimental and dysfunctional lifestyles. Empirical research reveals a need to transform negative images and self-destruction utilizing stories of holistic well-being. Sowing Stories Deep in the Soul: Biblical Storytelling with Adolescent Women highlights biblical women touched by the holistic healing ministry of Jesus with deep soul-stirring experiences of Gods compassionate love. It meets the need as a spiritual formation ministry model focused on creativity engaging study internalized story learning positive life connections and performing biblical stories by heart. These expressive aspects form the ancient oral character of Bible stories internalized and voiced in repeated performances for compelling impact and action. Included are replicable results of action research using this model with adolescent women to encourage maintaining Christ-centered lives. Sowing Stories Deep in the Soul offers an oasis desperately needed in todays tumultuous times for women for persons in faith communities facing challenges from within and without. Johnson leads her readers to a compassionate story-formed bridge between realities in womens lives often unrealized in eyes/ears of privilege and proactive communal story-rooted ways to live and love stories deep in the soul. A storytelling wisdom for us all. --Lisa M. Hess Professor at United Seminary This book will be an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to enable the spiritual formation of adolescents of all ages and engagement with the Bible in their lives. The author is a truly wise woman who works and writes from a deep spiritual foundation and a profound understanding of the potential role of biblical storytelling. -- Thomas E. Boomershine Professor at United Theological Seminary In Sowing Stories Deep in the Soul Joyce Johnson researched and writes an engaging work that empowers self-identity a positive outlook and physical mental and emotional healing for adolescent woman millennials and others through biblical storytelling as a model for spiritual formation. I recommend this work be included on Christian education book lists of African American district associations as well as state national and church conventions seeking life giving models to help make a difference. --Philip K. James Pastor of the Historic Mount Zion Baptist Church of Indianapolis Joyce Elaine Gill Johnson is a ministry leader in Christian education discipleship spiritual formation and biblical storytelling at Mount Zion Baptist Church Indianapolis Indiana. She holds an MA in Education from Butler University a MACE degree from Christian Theological Seminary and a DMin from United Theological Seminary.