Finding Our Story: Narrative Leadership and Congregational Change (Book)
Larry A. Golemon, Editor.  Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2010.

In Finding Our Story, the first book in the Alban Institute's three-volume "Narrative Leadership Collection," editor Larry Golemon and five congregational consultants examine the ways story can be used to help congregations heal their troubled pasts, recognize their strengths, and reshape their identities and futures.

After the opening overview of narrative theory and practice, the book explores how narrative can tap intuitive wisdom in ways that facts, figures, and other rational appeals cannot. Particular attention is paid to the "too weak" or "too safe" stories congregations tend to tell about themselves, leading to stagnation or dysfunction.

One chapter challenges congregational leaders to examine the contributions they have made to the "problem-saturated" stories that disable many congregations, and to begin to attend to their own inner dialogue in a way that they begin to embody the narrative they desire for their congregational community.

Other chapters focus on the power of place-based narratives—"What have we been to this place?"—and how stories can help to provide a container for anxiety. For congregations who have faced major change or conflict in the past, there is also a chapter on how to retell this history in ways that emphasize the congregation's strengths and resilience, paving the way to new growth and positive change.

Congregational leaders who recognize the power of narrative to shape community, identity, and vision, and who want to learn to tap that power more effectively, will find these essays essential.

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See also these resources:

The Problem Trap: Escaping Our Limiting Stories (Article)
Larry Peers, Author. 
Larry Peers examines the energy-draining "problem-saturated stories" that keep congregations stuck in seemingly intractable situations. He applies the tools of narrative therapy for re-framing such stories and developing positive alternatives.

Teaching Our Story: Narrative Leadership and Pastoral Formation (Book)
Larry A. Golemon, Editor.  Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2010.
This essay collection from religious educators explores narrative practices that can help both seminary professors and pastors integrate theological learning with the day-to-day practices of ministry.

Living Our Story: Narrative Leadership and Congregational Culture (Book)
Larry A. Golemon, Editor.  Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2010.
Living Our Story explores, from various perspectives, how Christian and Jewish religious leaders can sustain narratives of religious meaning and community in an environment of rapid change, religious pluralism, and media saturation.