How do we create a church where everyone feels welcome, heard, and safe? In our congregation, we explored that question through a short but powerful initiative: a “Quick Dive” into social safety. We formed a small team focused on recognizing complexity and launched a storytelling brigade. Over just a few weeks, we gathered personal stories from members—stories of comfort and unease, of feeling embraced and feeling overlooked. Not statistics, but lived experiences. Not judgment, but deep listening. Four key insights emerged: - 🧭 Connection thrives where people feel seen and known. - 🛟 Trust grows when concerns are taken seriously. - 🕯️ Space matters—both physical and relational. - 🌱 Healing begins with acknowledging what hurts. These insights led to tangible steps: a clear point of contact for concerns, more intentional moments of connection, and open conversations about difficult experiences. But more importantly, we’ve sparked a culture of listening and learning. “We are not just a church—we are a community that learns through each other’s stories.” This Quick Dive wasn’t the end—it was a beginning. A call to every congregation: dare to listen. Because within the stories of our people lies the key to a safer, more welcoming church.

Good morning, everyone. Today is December 26th, known in Britain and many Commonwealth countries as Boxing Day, while in several other countries, including the Netherlands and Germany, it’s called Second Christmas Day or Tweede Kerstdag. The name “Boxing Day” has interesting origins. Traditionally, it was the day when wealthy families would give boxes of gifts, food, and money to their servants and tradespeople as a thank you for their service throughout the year. It was also when churches opened their alms boxes to distribute donations to those in need. In many places, it became a day of rest and generosity, of giving back to the community. In countries that call it Second Christmas Day, it’s simply an extension of the Christmas celebration, a time to visit family and friends you might not have seen on Christmas Day itself, to continue the spirit of togetherness. Whether we call it Boxing Day or Second Christmas Day, there’s something beautiful about this day. It’s a pause, a breath between the excitement of Christmas and the anticipation of a new year. It’s a day that reminds us of generosity, community, and connection. And that brings me to what I want to talk about today: the power of stories. Yesterday, many of us shared stories around tables with family and friends. We told tales of Christmases past, remembered loved ones, laughed at familiar anecdotes we’ve heard a hundred times before. And yet, we listened again, because stories never lose their magic. Stories are how we make sense of the world. They’re how we pass down wisdom, preserve memories, and imagine possibilities. Every great movement in history, every scientific breakthrough, every act of courage began with someone telling a story about how things could be different. In school, we study stories every day. We read literature to understand the human experience. We learn history through the narratives of those who came before us. Even in science and mathematics, we’re learning the stories of discovery, of people who asked “what if?” and changed the world.

# Making Sense of Stories: Two Essential Phases in Participatory Narrative Work When we work with stories in organizational or community settings, we’re not just collecting interesting anecdotes. We’re engaging in a deliberate process of sensemaking that happens in two distinct but interconnected phases. Understanding these phases can transform how we facilitate story work and what we get from it. First Sensemaking: The Story Sharer’s Moment The first sensemaking happens when someone tells their story. This is deeply personal and often revelatory, not primarily for the listener, but for the teller themselves. Cynthia Kurtz, through her extensive work with participatory narrative methods, emphasizes that storytelling is itself an act of meaning-making. When we ask someone to share an experience about a time they felt proud at work, or when they saw collaboration succeed or fail, we’re inviting them into a reflective space. In that moment of telling, people often discover things they didn’t fully realize they knew. This first sensemaking is where the story sharer connects events to meaning. They’re not just recounting what happened; they’re actively interpreting their experience as they speak. The act of putting experience into narrative form—choosing what to include, what matters, how things connect—is itself a form of understanding. This is why people often say “I didn’t realize that until I said it out loud.” In StoryConnect’s story cycle framework, this happens during the collection phase, but it’s crucial to recognize it’s not passive collection at all. When story sharers then answer interpretive questions about their own stories—tagging them with dimensions like “this story shows high trust” or “collaboration happened informally here”—they’re extending that first sensemaking. They’re the first and often most important interpreters of their own experience. Second Sensemaking: Multiperspective Pattern-Finding The second phase of sensemaking happens when we bring stories together in a work session. This is where Kurtz’s approach to participatory narrative inquiry really shines—it’s designed specifically to create productive encounters between multiple perspectives.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve collected around 200 stories across different projects. Pretty remarkable, because I keep noticing: getting people to share their stories is harder than you’d think. You send an email, set up a session, ask “tell me about your experience” - and then… . Or you mostly get policy-type responses. Or everyone talks about the exact same incident. What I’ve learned from Cynthia Kurtz (Working with Stories) is that the question is everything. “Tell me about a time when…” works much better than “What do you think about…”. And people need to feel they can share less pleasant things too, otherwise you only get the success stories. But yeah, asking the question is only step one. What I find important in practice: - Timing. Too early in a process and people don’t know what you mean, too late and the energy is gone. - Clear communication about what you’ll do with the stories. Otherwise it stays abstract. - Not everyone likes typing a story into a form. Some people prefer telling you in person. - When the first stories come in and you share something from them, you see others getting enthusiastic too. Ultimately it’s about stories making visible things you can’t capture otherwise. What does something really feel like in practice? What are people running into? What works surprisingly well? You don’t get those insights from numbers or from an evaluation form. Those 200 stories now give us insight into patterns we would never have found otherwise. Are you working with story collection too, or thinking about starting? I’m curious about your experiences.

Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI): A Human-Centered Research Method Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI) is a qualitative and quantitative research method that centers on the collection and interpretation of personal stories. Developed by Cynthia F. Kurtz, PNI is designed to help communities, organizations, and teams make sense of complex situations by engaging the people directly involved. At its core, PNI is about sharing real experiences and making meaning together. Participants are invited to tell stories about their lived experiences, and then reflect on those stories by answering structured questions—called “signifiers”—that help capture emotional tone, relevance, and perceived impact. These reflections generate quantitative data that can be analyzed across many stories, while the stories themselves provide rich qualitative context. PNI is grounded in several scientific disciplines: - Complexity science, which recognizes that human systems are dynamic and unpredictable. - Sensemaking theory, which explores how people interpret and respond to events. - Social constructivism, which emphasizes that meaning is co-created through dialogue. - Participatory action research, which involves stakeholders as co-researchers in the inquiry process. The method is especially useful in environments where traditional surveys or top-down evaluations fall short—such as healthcare, education, social services, and organizational change. PNI allows for multi-perspective insight, revealing patterns, tensions, and opportunities that might otherwise remain hidden. StoryCycle: StoryConnect’s Applied Framework for PNI StoryConnect, a Netherlands-based organization, has developed the StoryCycle as a structured and scalable way to apply PNI in real-world settings. The StoryCycle transforms the principles of PNI into a repeatable process that supports learning, evaluation, and change. The StoryCycle consists of four key phases: 1. StoryTelling – Participants share personal stories through interviews, story circles, or digital platforms like StoryPoint. Each story is paired with signifier questions that generate data for analysis. 2. StorySharing & StoryInsight – Stories are collected and visualized using the StoryDashboard, which displays trends, themes, and emotional patterns. Stakeholders then engage in facilitated sensemaking sessions to interpret the data and uncover insights. 3. StoryChange – Insights are translated into concrete actions. Organizations co-create initiatives based on what the stories reveal, ensuring that change is grounded in lived experience. 4. Iteration & Learning – The cycle can be repeated to monitor progress, evaluate impact, and continue learning. This short-cycle approach supports adaptive strategy and continuous improvement.