What is The Felt Need? Sharing our Stories in Order to Serve Others

If we are to be Jesus-followers who share our stories in order to serve others, we can learn a lot from the storytellers in our lives. As a full-time writer and editor, I have come to understand that there are two types of writing in the world: 

1. Writing that serves the writer. 
2. Writing that serves the reader. 

Examples of writing that serve the writer are notes jotted in the margins of books, journal entries that explore deeply personal concerns, or hand-written prayers that are the product of communing with God. These forms of writing are powerful, important, and incredibly meaningful—but their primary purpose is to serve the author of those words. They are written with an inward focus. 

Writing that serves the reader is a different beast altogether; while the writer might experience great enjoyment or even healing in the process of  penning the words, they are mainly creating with someone else in mind. The focus is outward—and the question is, “What does my audience need most?” 

In the literary world, this question is often referred to as the readers’ “felt need” or “pain point.” Whenever an author sits down at their desk, if they are writing to serve their reader they will instinctively begin by considering what types of things are making their readers feel desperate, fearful, exhausted, or defeated—and then they’ll write in a way that offers hope and healing to those particular challenges.

When it comes to talking to other people about Jesus, it’s really not all that different from being a writer looking to serve their reader. Our purpose for sharing our testimony should always be about serving the person we’re talking to, and the way we go about it should always be to first recognize their felt need—that is, their pain point. When we acknowledge and speak into someone’s pain point, we build trust, connection, and vulnerability. We let the other person know that we are curious, we are listening, and that we truly care about them. Then, we serve them by leading them toward the one who can hold and heal them where it hurts: Jesus. 

We are all born storytellers. It is our human nature to learn, remember, and connect in this way. The question is not so much about what story we tell—we needn’t overthink our testimony; it’s simply how God has shown up in our lived experience—but rather about how we tell it. If we wish to serve others with our stories, it is key to always first consider the other person’s needs, and then to silently ask ourselves, “What is this person’s pain point today? Where do they need hope and healing most?” Everything we share from there should be customized to meet their needs, rather than our own. This is the art of effective storytelling. It is also the art of effective Jesus-sharing.