Joanne Gallardo, IMMC Conference Co-Minister, reflects on how the stories we tell shape our communities.

Recently for a Doctor of Ministry course I was taking, I was asked to read “Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry, Missional Engagement, and Congregational Change.” The book starts with an explanation of and the theory behind Appreciative Inquiry (or AI) and ends with case studies of the AI process being used in congregations. 

This reminded me of our All-Teams Retreat held in September led by our Moderator, Steve Slagel. Our opening session on Friday evening included telling stories about church. The question was rather open ended. A few people were shoulder tapped to share, but then all of us were invited to reflect. 

As many of us know, it can take some prompting to get people to engage, but after a few moments of silence, the stories shared inspired us to all share our own stories. Some were funny, others sad, others informational, and all were a testament to God’s faithfulness. I was surprised at how many aspects of the human experience were touched upon. 

When I was an MYF sponsor 10 years ago, there was a hanging on the wall of our room in the church that said, “We choose our stories and our stories shape us.” I remember reacting rather negatively to that because not all of us get to choose the stories in our lives. Sometimes we end up in a narrative not of our own making. Which stories do we make for ourselves and our community? And which stories do we make from the scraps left to us from someone else’s narrative? 

Churches are often like this. Stories are like the church’s brick and mortar. It’s what makes the church stable, upright, and functioning. Most churches are a combination of stories of what a church made happen and stories of what happened to a church. All these small narratives lead to one big story about God’s faithfulness with a particular community in a particular location. My question is, what story is your church telling?