What is 3Story®
The CDC reports that adults who experienced meaningful connections as youth are approximately 50% less likely to have mental health issues, experience violence, or engage in risky sexual behavior and substance abuse. Creating significant bonds with caring adults can make all the difference for youth who are struggling during the most pivotal time in their lives.
Whether it’s stress at school, being in a military family, going through a teenage pregnancy, or even facing the juvenile justice system, Youth For Christ (YFC) is ready and willing to bridge the gap and come alongside youth to point them towards a loving relationship with Jesus Christ. YFC leaders are guided by 3Story®. It’s a way of life that guides followers of Jesus to be good news as they share The Good News.
Teddi Pettee is the YFC Senior Leader Formation Specialist. Pettee said, “3Story® describes a way of being in relationship with God and other people at the same time. I developed a ‘3Story way of life’. Now, I practice being aware of God at work in me and the world. I became more attuned to the love of God. Now, I am more likely to be an unhurried presence in a stressed-out world. Rather than trying to fix or change people, I partner with Jesus who pursues people in love.”
Representing your Relationships
3Story® is used at YFC to describe how-to live-in relationship with God and others. The three circles represent these stories — God’s Story, the leaders’ own story and the stories of young people. When the circles overlap, it means friendship is growing, trust is building, and transformation is happening.
The idea for 3Story® is inherently biblical, according to Pettee. “John 15 describes a conversation between Jesus and his closest friends at the end of Jesus life. Jesus teaches his friends to remain in Him, in His love, just as He has remained in His Father’s love. ‘If you don’t do this, if you don’t abide in me, you can do nothing.’ But if we do abide in Jesus, He promises to abide with us and in us,” Pettee said.
“I don’t have the feeling of pressure to go out and change people or fix something that is broken. Rather, I am invited to abide intimately in Christ and to follow Him as He enters the lives of my friends. Even if they don’t know Him yet,” Pettee explained. “3Story® has caused me to fall more deeply in love with Jesus. With that said, I talk about him more naturally and gently. The pressure is off me to make a point. I trust more faithfully that God is at work in the lives of others and drawing them to Himself.
“3Story® concentrates on helping leaders abide in Jesus. This abiding relationship is the ability to love and listen and to discover the stories of other people. You get to see how God is inviting others toward Him. If I want my friends to know Jesus, my first and most important step is toward Jesus myself.”
