‘Storying the leading’: curating narratives of leadership in conversation with Vaughan S. Roberts and David Sims, Leading by Story

This article has been developed from a conversation held and recorded at the Wesley House community in January 2018, as part of its regular Thursday evening Methodist Studies sessions. The session used Roberts’ and Sims’ recently published book Leading by Story to consider how leadership is embodied in ministry. Sharing stories of leadership in Wesley House's cross-cultural community led to significant insights, which arose as one particular leadership story was explored using Roberts’ and Sims’ central concept of ‘curating stories’. This article offers the conversation as a reflective review of the book. Staff, students and friends of Wesley House present at the conversation represented many different contexts, including Methodist churches in the USA, Britain, Fiji, Hong Kong, Kenya, South Korea and Zambia.

Leading by Story: Rethinking Church Leadership, Vaughan S. Roberts and David Sims (London: SCM Press, 2017), 256 pp, £25.00 pbk