Narrative Leadership

Narrative Leadership: Rediscovering the Life-Giving Nature of StoriesCongregations magazine, Winter 2008, Volume 34, Number 1.Contents include:INFOCUS: Reclaiming the Story: Narrative Leadership in Ministry - Alban research associate Larry Golemon explores how reclaiming the power of biblical, personal, and communal stories can help transform our lives, our congregations, and even the wider social fabricCare-Full Listening - Mary Clark Moschella, associate professor of pastoral theology and congregational care at Wesley Theological Seminary, discusses how religious leaders can achieve deeper and more honest levels of conversation and connection with their peopleBorrowing Inspiration - Pastoral theology and homiletics professor Lee Ramsey explores what pastoral memoirs have to offer to the pastor and active layperson in Christian ministryRecreating Your Congregations Story - Alban consultant and seminar leader Larry Peers shows how moving a congregation beyond their problem-saturated story can open the door to new possibilitiesSeeing Afresh - Mike Mather, pastor of Broadway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, tells how listening to the stories of the people in the community enabled his church to form new connections, shift its sense of mission, and expand its ministriesAlternative Stories - Scott Colglazier, pastor of The Riverside Church in New York City, illustrates how telling alternative storiesof gay pride and global rather than nationalistic allegiance, for instancehave the power to challenge the status quo and inspire hope for a better way, a God-inspired way, of being in the worldComing Together - Retired minister Doug Liston tells how barriers to unity in a consolidated congregation fell away when people began to listen to each others storiesand heard their own stories echoed Deeply Rooted in the Old, Old Story Pastor Anne Durboraw shares how connecting peoples personal stories to the biblical narrative can be life-giving and life-changingWrestling with the Next Chapter - Alban senior consultant Bob Leventhal shares how his recent study of the life of Jacob revealed powerful parallels between Jacobs story and congregational lifeGrace Unbound - Deaconess Kati Kluckman-Ault tells how Amazing Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Baltimore, Maryland found inspiration in the Lazarus story as it sought to resurrect and set itself free to fully serve God and communityLiturgy and Life - Pastor Keith Emerson illustrates how to link liturgy with the challenges of parishioners lives, helping them place their own stories within the larger story of Gods redemptive work and careDiscipleship in Preaching - Beth Braxton, pastor of Burke Presbyterian Church in northern Virginia, describes how personal, cultural, and biblical stories coverged in her life and the life of her congregation to inspire mission and social actionTell Me a Story - Pastor Kathryn Palen reviews four books that reveal what business leaders have learned about the power of narrative and examines how their insights can be applied in the congregational setting