5 Values: 4 - We Are Active Listeners

This is part of a series of posts on 5 Values for a Whole-life Disciplemaking Church. Read the introduction to the series.

‘Our task is the opposite of distraction. It's to help people concentrate on the real, but often hidden, event of God's active presence in our lives.’ Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart

Clearly, Christians need to learn to listen to one another, to understand the pressures that they face and the opportunities that are available. But listening goes further than this. We need to be able to discern the forces that are work in our culture which may be a challenge to our discipleship, or may encourage us to think more deeply about our relationship with God. We need to hear the cries of the world to know how best to begin the dialogue that might enable us to offer the good news to people. We need to develop attentive hearing to the promptings of God, who we believe is at work in his world, bringing new creation out of the spaces where previously there were only signs of despair. And we need to encourage people to be able to understand what is happening in their own lives so that they can grow in self-awareness, moving away from the temptation of self-deception towards the liberation of authentic honesty.

However, we live in a world of multiple distractions, overwhelmings and competing demands on attention; the ability to listen is in short supply and discernment needed. So, we need to enable communities and individuals to develop active listening skills. In doing so, we are signalling the profound truth that we are taking people seriously and wanting to understand. And in encouraging people to grow in their spiritual discernment, we are helping them to move from an interior personalised faith, to one that is confident to believe that God might be involved in their situations, wanting them to be his co-labourers.

Expanding the Value
This means that:

1) We recognise that in every situation God speaks the first word and we respond to him
2) We seek to grow in the skills of active listening and discernment
3) We recognise that we live in a world where there are multiple distractions and so we seek to cultivate attentiveness
4) We practice listening to God, others, ourselves and our culture
5) We provide contexts for people to share the issues they are facing in life and spaces for discernment
6) The community practices attentiveness in suffering, surprises and small things
7) Distractions are recognised and named