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Narrative Leadership: Rediscovering the Life-Giving Nature of Stories
Contents
IN FOCUS: Reclaiming the Story (Members Only Article)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 fabric
Care-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 people (Member Only Article)
Borrowing Inspiration
Pastoral theology and homiletics professor Lee Ramsey explores what pastoral memoirs have to offer to the pastor and active layperson in Christian ministry (Member Only Article)
Recreating Your Congregation’s Story Alban consultant and seminar leader Larry Peers shows how moving a congregation beyond their “problem-saturated” story can open the door to new possibilities (READ NOW)
Seeing 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 ministries (Member Only Article)
Alternative Stories
Scott Colglazier, pastor of The Riverside Church in New York City, illustrates how telling alternative stories—of gay pride and global rather than nationalistic allegiance, for instance—have the power to challenge the status quo and inspire hope for a better way, a God-inspired way, of being in the world. (Member Only Article)
Coming Together Retired minister Doug Liston tells how barriers to unity in a consolidated congregation fell away when people began to listen to each other’s stories—and heard their own stories echoed there (Member Only Article)
Deeply Rooted in the Old, Old Story
Pastor Anne Durboraw shares how connecting people’s personal stories to the biblical narrative can be life-giving and life-changing. (Member Only Article)
Wrestling with the Next Chapter Alban senior consultant Bob Leventhal shares how his recent study of the life of Jacob revealed powerful parallels between Jacob’s story and congregational life (READ NOW)
Grace 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 community (Member Only Article)
Liturgy 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 God’s redemptive work and care (Member Only Article)
Discipleship 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 action (Member Only Article)
Tell 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 (Member Only Article)
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