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Appreciative inquiry is a process that begins by identifying the strengths of an organization. From there, this process crafts questions to help an organization envision positive futures and inspire positive actions. How might appreciative inquiry benefit your congregation? These resources can help.
CONGREGATIONAL VITALITY : Appreciative Inquiry
  Appreciative Inquiry Commons (Web Resource)
Hosted by Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management, this Web site is a worldwide portal to academic resources and tools on appreciative inquiry and the discipline of positive change.
 Appreciative Team Building: Positive Questions to Bring Out the Best of Your Team (Book)
Diana Whitney, Amanda Trosten-Bloom, Jay Cherney, Ron Fry, Authors.
Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc., 2004.
Appreciative Team Building provides clear guidance on using AI to develop and achieve team goals. It helps readers to engage in conversations that will result in more cohesiveness, cooperation, shared meaning, creativity, and productivity.
Claiming the Light: Appreciative Inquiry (Web Resource)
This Web resource explains the theory, principles, and practices of appreciative inquiry (AI). It also explores ways that appreciative inquiry can apply to congregational life—from education to evaluation.
The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change (Book)
Diana Whitney, Amanda Trosten-Bloom, Authors.
San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2003.
Drawing on years of experience in applying appreciative inquiry (AI) to organizational change, Diana Whitney and Amanda Trosten-Bloom present both the principles of AI and case studies that demonstrate how AI works.
The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry (Book)
Sue Annis Hammond, Author.
Plano, TX: Thin Book Publishing, 1998.
This slender volume explains appreciative inquiry as a tool for organizational change and makes it understandable for people new to the topic. It explains how to generate an appreciative inquiry process that inspires people to build on their strengths.
 Appreciative Inquiry in the Catholic Church (Book)
Susan Star Paddock, Author.
Plano, TX: Thin Book Publishing, 2003.
Susan Paddock summarizes the appreciative inquiry process and explains how it is compatible with Catholic theology. She also explores stories of how various Catholic organizations and parishes have applied appreciative inquiry.
The Appreciative Inquiry Summit: A Practitioner’s Guide for Leading Large-Group Change (Book)
Diana Whitney, James D. Ludema, Bernard J. Mohr, Thomas J. Griffin, Authors.
San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2003.
This is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to conducting a whole organization planning process based on collective strengths and full participation. Written for corporate settings, this rigorous approach can be creatively adapted for congregations.
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.
This encyclopedia offers sample positive questions—as well as guidance on creating your own positive questions—to use during an appreciative inquiry process.
Experience AI: A Practitioner's Guide to Integrating Appreciative Inquiry with Experiential Learning (Book)
Miriam W. Ricketts, James E. Willis, Authors.
Chagrin Falls, OH: The Taos Institute, 2001.
This book outlines appreciative inquiry (AI) and explains how its results can be accelerated with experiential learning (EL), which involves immersing participants in experiences that encourage risk taking followed by meaningful reflection.
Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry and Congregational Change (Book)
Mark Lau Branson, Author.
Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2004.
Mark Lau Branson offers an account of how one Presbyterian church used appreciative inquiry 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.
The Power of Asset Mapping: How Your Congregation Can Act on Its Gifts (Book)
Luther K. Snow, Author.
Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2004.
Using a strategy developed in working with rural communities, Luther Snow shows congregations a way to identify their assets and how to see the power of those assets.
 Strategic Planning for Churches: An Appreciative Approach (Multimedia)
Distributed by Christianity Today, Inc.
Strategic Planning for Churches applies appreciative inquiry to the strategic planning process. Charles Elliott explains what appreciative inquiry is, how it works, and why it can help congregations envision and act upon a vital future.
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