Encyclopedia of Positive Questions, Volume One: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Bring out the Best in Your Organization (Book)
Diana Whitney, David Cooperrider, Amanda Trosten-Bloom, Brian S. Kaplin, Authors. Euclid, OH: Lakeshore Communications, 2002.

The authors state that "The practice of asking positive questions not only brings out the best in people and organizations, it also amplifies and magnifies the most positive life giving possibilities for the future." The first section of the book looks at ways one would use positive questions. Then the authors list forty subsections focused on the appreciative question one might want to pose in different areas of life and work. The remainder of the book examines the "how" of appreciative inquiry: how to craft and spread good stories, for example, or how to chose affirmative topics. Blank forms can be used to create positive questions that fit your setting.
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Living Stories: Pastoral Counseling in Congregational Context (Book)
Donald Capps, Author. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1998.

Asserting that pastoral counseling in the parish is critical to the personal and spiritual health of individuals and congregational life, Donald Capps advocates using a narrative model for counseling. The role of the pastor is to hear the story of a person's past and then help that person re-tell or re-story it for a different future. Included in this book are wonderful illustrations of client stories, ways the counselor used counseling arts to look beneath the surface of stories, and approaches for helping individuals re-story their lives for the future. This book is helpful for pastors who provide pastoral care but are not specialists in pastoral counseling.
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Maps of Narrative Practice (Book)
Michael White, Author. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2007.

Maps of Narrative Practice combines theory with case studies to illustrate five practices of narrative therapy: re-authoring conversations, re-membering conversations, scaffolding conversations, definitional ceremony, externalizing conversations, and rite of passage maps. Within each practice, author Michael White helps people expand their imaginative and cognitive capacities to consider and act upon new possibilities. People move from "problem-saturated" identities to "value-based" identities by learning to articulate what gives their lives meaning and by building upon small successes. With transcripts and diagrams of therapeutic conversations, as well as skill-training exercises, this book is accessible for congregational leaders—including those new to narrative practice.
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Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry and Congregational Change (Book)
Mark Lau Branson, Author. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2004.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a powerful tool for strengthening congregations. Mark Lau Branson offers an account of how one Presbyterian church used AI to understand its history, encourage its members to discover and pursue their dreams, and call a new pastor who could help make those dreams reality. He makes clear that AI—an attitude as well as a process—broadly applies in many settings. Branson outlines a five step sequence: (1) focus on the positive; (2) inquire into stories of life-giving forces; (3) locate themes and topics for further inquiry; (4) create shared images for a preferred future; and (5) find innovative ways to create that future.
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Narrative Mediation: A New Approach to Conflict Resolution (Book)
John Winslade, Gerald Monk, Authors. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2000.

Narrative mediation uses story to discover how persons in conflict experience the situation. As conflict-saturated stories are told, the mediator helps each person identify biases and uncover an alternative story that reflects the combined experiences of those involved. The authors begin the book by explaining the theoretical and philosophical foundations of the narrative mediation model. They then examine this model in detail, giving special attention to such topics as entitlement, building relationship, disarming conflict, gaining momentum, and getting unstuck. Case studies provide examples and illustrate the authors' points. Readers will find the narrative approach to mediation especially helpful in conflicts where the relationship will continue following the mediation.
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Narrative Therapy in Practice: The Archeology of Hope (Book)
Gerald Monk, John Winslade, Kathie Crocket, David Epston, Editors. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1996.

Narrative therapy—developed by Australia's Michael White and New Zealand's David Epston—is a therapeutic process arising from the observation that personal problems occur within social, political, and cultural contexts. What makes those problems especially troubling are the meanings ascribed to them from the stories told about them. By reframing these stories, and reevaluating our roles in them, we might transform our relationship to our problems and discover previously hidden resources and competencies. This volume explains how narrative therapy works and applies its insights to such issues as alcohol dependence and sexual abuse. A chapter on narrative approaches to mediation might be particularly helpful to those who work with congregations.
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Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future (Book)
Margaret J. Wheatley, Author. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2002.

"Real change begins with the simple act of people talking about what they care about." With this premise, Margaret Wheatley encourages and instructs readers in the practice of vital conversation. Such conversation aims not at promoting sociality, but at transforming our lives and our world. The book explores the conditions of good conversation—including equality, curiosity, courage, diversity, and the willingness to let go of certainty. It then presents some propositions for readers to ponder, such as "we can't be creative if we refuse to be confused." Wheatley concludes with resources for persons willing to host vital conversations.
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The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter (Book)
Juanita Brown, David Isaacs, Authors. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2005.

The World Cafe presents a unique process for fostering communication, collaboration, community, and commitment—even in large forums and especially when difficult issues are being discussed. Core principles of a World Cafe process include setting the context, creating hospitable space, exploring questions that matter, encouraging participation, connecting diverse perspectives, listening together for deeper patterns, and sharing collective insights in the larger group. Each chapter presents stories of places where the World Cafe process has been successfully used, as well as perspectives and observations on a principle of the process. Questions for further reflection are listed throughout. An annotated set of Web-based resources concludes the book.
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