# Parish stories
# Stories of faith & love
# Storytelling & religious education
# Resources

Faith stories

Storytelling has its roots in the earliest forms of human culture. The world's religions carry their spiritual and moral values through stories old and new. Often such stories
are more influential and expressive than official creeds and statements.

We are proud to be supported by The Church of Scotland and to occupy buildings in Edinburgh's Netherbow that have been associated with Scottish Christianity for
centuries. Jewish and Christian storytelling traditions, anchored in the Bible, have become part of Scotland's story over many centuries. Today Scottish churches of different denominations work together in partnership through ACTS: Action of Churches Together.

The Centre has also been enriched by its work with other faith communities in Scotland and by the different religious and cultural backgrounds of Scotland's storytellers. Storytelling is central to a fruitful dialogue between cultures in our diverse globalised societies, as is recognition of religion's place in these cultures.

Parish stories

Scotland has been divided since medieval times into parishes. The old parishes of Scotland are a rich source of local story and history, beginning with the host of Celtic Saints whose names are scattered over Scotland's map. These parish areas have continued into modern times of resettlement and migration and remain a vital resource for local storytellers.

We regularly advise and assist local church and community projects in using storytelling to better understand and express their heritage and identity, as well as respond to contemporary changes.

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Stories of faith and love

Storytelling can play an important part in worship, nurture and community outreach. Many Scottish storytellers are experienced in this work, recognising that good storytelling aids communication and builds relationships.

We are happy to advise on these aspects of storytelling and offers specific training resources to assist local groups.

Storytelling and religious education

Stories remain the best way to understand religious traditions with an insider's perspective. Scottish storytellers contribute regularly to religious education programmes at home and abroad.

Church and faith resources

We produce several resource materials specifically for local parishes. Read more about recent Art of the Parish developments.

  • Training and Resources for Creative Skills - being a Christian community in twenty first century Scotland is tough but also challenging and creative. Art of the Parish offers themes and resources for use by an individual or group. There are materials you can use directly, workshop ideas, and questions/exercises for study and reflection.


  • Scriptaid - an extensive range of plays, sketches and songs suitable for performance or reading within a church event or service


  • StorySource - faith communities are storytelling communities. StorySource are resources explicitly designed to help churches access and interpret story.


  • Drama - a range of traditional and contemporary plays suitable for worship or church group meetings


  • Christian Heritage - a collection of poems, songs and stories relating to Christian faith and heritage in Scotland

Download a full list of published church and faith resources
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