Source: Encountering the World of Islam, July 30, 2020
An alumna and friend of EWI (we’ll call her Addie) has developed the website StoryHands.org to help women gather and share stories of faith through simple henna designs.
The idea for StoryHands came through her years of interaction with Muslim women while living in Central Asia. There, as in many other parts of the world, henna is an art form used by women as a way to beautify their hands and feet in preparation for holidays and other important times of individual or community celebration.
Why not share biblical stories through this beloved art form? Many Muslim women are not comfortable if someone were to pull out a Bible and read a story. It is much more natural to share a biblical story through a henna design.
Initially, Addie was intimidated by using henna designs because she didn’t consider herself a good artist. This led her to use existing stencil-based story sets as well as develop original StoryHands design templates. Storyhands.org also has a how-to page containing a downloadable sample discussion guide, as well as a description of how henna storying circles can be so effective for helping women connect in meaningful ways.
Addie’s henna storying circles became so popular among Muslim refugee women in the US that a local mosque took notice. They secretly sent women to the group to find out what the big deal was!
During a recent henna party that Addie hosted in a refugee community, every woman present started to cry as she shared the Christmas story and the flight of the holy family to Egypt as refugees (Matthew 1-2; Luke 1-2). It was a powerful moment for women who had fled from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other war-torn countries. For the first time they heard and understood that Jesus could deeply identify with their experience of being a refugee.
» Read full story. Visit StoryHands.org for templates, instructions, story sets, and more.
» Also read about a ministry equipping and encouraging Persian refugee pastors in the US (International Mission Board).