I visited a woman in jail who had been on trial for a serious crime. She had just accepted a plea bargain. She’d been in jail since last summer and attending my biblical storytelling “Circle of the Word” since December, including seven weeks of stories from Jesus’ passion and death. She had missed class when we engaged the resurrection story because of being on trial.

I knew she needed that resurrection story and asked her if she wanted to hear it. She said, “Oh yes” as her eyes filled with tears. So I told it to her. She listened with head bowed, eyes closed, like the words were washing over her. Then I talked through the story, adding some information about it as I had done in Circle with the “About the Story” handout.

This is a woman who grew up in the church and knows the stories well. But she needed a reminder of what God has done for her so she would know she was loved no matter what. Hearing the words of the story “live” from another person helped her to experience that love. For me it was also an experience of the power of the Gospel (“good story”) of Jesus to convey divine presence and love.

Evangelism happens whenever we tell another person about grace—God’s unconditional love for them. Sometimes a person has never heard about God’s unconditional love. Sometimes a person never heard that message, even if they have attended church. And all of us need regular reminders.