Recommended Resources on Story

As a leader, you need to reflect on your own story to create healthier relationships with yourself, God, and the people you serve. We’ve assembled over 30 of our favorite articles, podcasts, and books that can give you further insight into exploring your own story and how it informs the ways in which you interact with the world. Browse them below, or download this list as a PDF here.

Read: Articles

The 3 Central Questions of the Story Workshop by Dan Allender

A Theology of Stories by Kate Rae Davis

Room (2015), Transitions, Gratitude, and Forgiveness by Kate Rae Davis

Ambiguous Loss & The Liturgies of Lament by Brittany Deininger

Retelling Hagar’s Story: Reading Trauma in Genesis 16 by Marina Hofman

The Importance of Inner Work by Blaine Hogan

Lay Your Tired Stories to Rest by Charlie Howell

Accepting Your Darkest Emotions is the Key to Psychological Health by Lila MacLellan

Living the Questions: Knowing Your Story by Matt Morrissey

How Christian theology and practice are being shaped by trauma studies by Shelly Rambo

The Trauma of God by Frank Seeburger

Chronic Stress as Trauma: Resilience in the Time of COVID-19 by Andrea Sielaff

Disillusionment, Posttraumatic Growth, and Resilience in Pandemic by Andrea Sielaff

Why Trauma & Theology? by Chelle Stearns

God’s Child: A New Imagination in Trauma Healing by Margaret Trim

9 Theology and Trauma Books to Read from The Seattle School

Circles of Support – a free downloadable resource

 

Read: Books

To Be Told: Know Your Story, Shape Your Life by Dan Allender

Know Your Story and Lead with It: The Power of Narrative in Clergy Leadership by Richard L. Hester, Kelli Walker-Jones

Leading with a Limp: Turning Your Struggles into Strengths by Dan Allender

Finding Our Story: Narrative Leadership and Congregational Change by Larry A. Golemon

Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World by Serene Jones

Spirit and Trauma: A Theology of Remaining by Shelly Rambo

 

Listen: From the Allender Center Podcast

Why Should I Look at My Story? 

The Role of the Past in Current Relationships

What If I Don’t Have a Story?

How Do I Trust My Memory?

What If I Fear My Story?

More Story Questions

Resilience, Trauma, and the Hope of the Church: a conversation with Shauna Gartier, Kate Davis, Laura Wade Shirley

 

Watch

Pain & Art: Write What You Honestly Know by Ryan Gattis

What Trauma Taught Me About Resilience by Charles Hunt

Where is the Wounding? by Dr. Stephanie Neil

 

 

To learn more about how to reflect on your own stories to create healthier relationships with yourself, God, and the people you serve, download our free PDF: Effective Small Groups for Pastors and Christian Leaders.

We break down how we structured our narrative process cohorts, now called Circles, back in 2017 – and the eye-opening ways in which they supported clergy resilience.

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Upcoming Virtual Summit
Leading During Polarizing Times
This FREE online event is designed for ministry leaders seeking practical tools, spiritual wisdom, and renewed strength to lead faithfully when your church community faces deep differences.
Upcoming Virtual Summit
Leading During Polarizing Times
This FREE online event is designed for ministry leaders seeking practical tools, spiritual wisdom, and renewed strength to lead faithfully when your church community faces deep differences.
Full attendance and participation during all sessions are expected to complete the program.
Terms / Conditions. By registering for a Resilience or Leaders Circle, you agree to the following (scroll down and click agree)
Please consider the schedule closely to ensure you will be able to participate in the virtual meetings, and block off your calendar to ensure your attendance. Should you have an emergency (illness, situations out of your control) that will impact your participation please email transforming@theseattleschool.edu
Time commitment:
Two hours one day per month for 8 months, dates to be determined by majority of registrants' availability and adjusted as needed during the first group meeting.
Your feedback is immensely valuable!
As an essential component of your participation in this program, we ask that you provide us with your honest, candid, and timely feedback in program surveys and conversations, and consider providing reviews or testimonials of the program for promotional use.
Code of Conduct:
The Center for Transforming Engagement strives for intentionality in the ways we relate to one another - how we as a team relate to each other, how we relate to participants, and how we hope participants will relate to us and one another. To that end, we hold cultural norms about the ways we interact with one another. Your participation in this program is contingent on your agreement to abide by these cultural norms. i. For growth to happen, we all need to be able to share about the deeper challenges we face. To provide that atmosphere of openness and support, you commit to not sharing personal information that is shared in program meetings. ii. In our interactions with each other and our communities, we practice the humility of not-knowing that is required to listen and discover. iii. Be aware of different cultural and characterological ways of communicating, and invite others’ voices. Respect theological differences: the river of Christian orthodoxy is wide, and while the streams of that river are distinct, they are not inherently better or worse. Even if you can’t respect the belief, treat the person with respect. iiii. We value both thoughts and feelings as valuable pieces of information that inform one another, and inform our learning and discerning together. iv. Be in the here and now (not mentally somewhere or some time else), with the people who are sharing their time and stories with you. Eliminate any distractions possible.
Fair Use Policy
All program content, recordings, and materials are the intellectual property of The Seattle School and may not be presented, distributed, or replicated. The Seattle School retains the copyright for all recorded content. Some print materials (PDFs, worksheets, journal prompts, etc.) will be licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike. Those materials will be available for download on our website, and may be used as long as the following conditions are met: (1) attribute to the Center for Transforming Engagement even if remixed/modified; (2) do not use for commercial (paid) purposes; and (3) anything you make that remixes or builds upon this material, you must also distribute under Creative Commons. More information on this license is available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
(scroll down and click agree) Full attendance and participation during all sessions are expected to complete the program. Please consider the schedule closely to ensure you will be able to participate in the virtual meetings, and block off your calendar to ensure your attendance. Should you have an emergency (illness, situations out of your control) that will impact your participation please email transforming@theseattleschool.edu Time commitment: Two hours one day per month for 8 months, dates to be determined by majority of registrants' availability and adjusted as needed during the first group meeting. Your feedback is immensely valuable! As an essential component of your participation in this program, we ask that you provide us with your honest, candid, and timely feedback in program surveys and conversations, and consider providing reviews or testimonials of the program for promotional use. 2. Code of Conduct The Center for Transforming Engagement strives for intentionality in the ways we relate to one another - how we as a team relate to each other, how we relate to participants, and how we hope participants will relate to us and one another. To that end, we hold cultural norms about the ways we interact with one another. Your participation in this program is contingent on your agreement to abide by these cultural norms. Confidentiality. For growth to happen, we all need to be able to share about the deeper challenges we face. To provide that atmosphere of openness and support, you commit to not sharing personal information that is shared in program meetings. Curiosity. In our interactions with each other and our communities, we practice the humility of not-knowing that is required to listen and discover. Respect differences. Be aware of different cultural and characterological ways of communicating, and invite others’ voices. Respect theological differences: the river of Christian orthodoxy is wide, and while the streams of that river are distinct, they are not inherently better or worse. Even if you can’t respect the belief, treat the person with respect. You are invited to be a whole person, with both thoughts and feelings. We value both thoughts and feelings as valuable pieces of information that inform one another, and inform our learning and discerning together. Presence. Be in the here and now (not mentally somewhere or some time else), with the people who are sharing their time and stories with you. Eliminate any distractions possible. 3. Fair Use Policy All program content, recordings, and materials are the intellectual property of The Seattle School and may not be presented, distributed, or replicated. The Seattle School retains the copyright for all recorded content. Some print materials (PDFs, worksheets, journal prompts, etc.) will be licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike. Those materials will be available for download on our website, and may be used as long as the following conditions are met: (1) attribute to the Center for Transforming Engagement even if remixed/modified; (2) do not use for commercial (paid) purposes; and (3) anything you make that remixes or builds upon this material, you must also distribute under Creative Commons. More information on this license is available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/