AWESTRUCKDUMBPILGRIM
  • Home Page
  • Musings
  • Reflections on Quotes
  • Poems
  • Aphorisms
  • Non Judgmental Awareness
  • The Year of Living Slowly
  • Pastor of Listening (Description and Articles)
  • Refuse to be Driven so that you Might be Drawn
  • Contemplation (Definitions)
  • Left-handed Power
  • Thickening the Sacred Story: Narrative Therapy and Spiritual Direction
  • Spiritual Direction, Contact Information
  • The Nature of Evil

Pastor of Listening Job Description

2/6/2013

6 Comments

 
Vision/Job description/Resume

Pastor of Listening
by David Norling

After thirty-five years of participation in the life of the church, I've noticed that while there is a lot of instructing and convincing, programming and organizing going on, there is very little listening. I'm referring to a particular kind of listening, a very intentional giving over to the process of discovery without an agenda. I believe that any activity that begins in this way is far more likely to flow freely and wholeheartedly, resulting in joyful, integrated action. The way that we listen to each other, scripture, God's spirit, our bodies, not to mention the least, the last, and the lost will dictate the quality of our presence in this world.

It is my desire to give the rest of my life to the revolutionary and healing activity of listening. While there is much that can be said about listening, it is the act itself which brings life and creates listeners that will give away what they have received. This is why I have no plan or program to offer, just a desire to wait with people as they speak of and discover the presence and activity of God in the most surprising of places, their daily lives.

Because, to my knowledge, the role "Pastor of Listening" is unprecedented, I am not really comfortable with the title. But, as my wife said, "As a congregant I would be comforted to know that there was such a person available to me and others. Especially in times of confusion and suffering," conditions we know to be more common than not. Making the ministry explicit in this way will encourage people to notice their heart's desires and struggles and actively pursue integration through relationship.

I imagine being introduced to the congregation and letting everyone know that I am available to listen to anything they need to say, including, but not limited to:

• Experiences of God that are confusing or so intense that they are hesitant to speak of them.
• Unresolved conflicts that keep them up at night.
• Questions about their faith that have in the past been met with quick, unsatisfactory answers.
• The feeling of not fitting in to any group.
• A desire to deepen their connection to God, even while they find themselves doubting that God even exists.
• If anyone has complaints, even if they are about the church hiring me, I'm here to listen.

The list of issues that need to be heard is probably as long as the list of names in the directory. So I would encourage them to listen to their heart for these questions.

I want to be clear right from the beginning, there are a myriad of questions to which I will not have answers, but I can promise that I will listen without judgment or presumption and with an open heart that is attentive to God's spirit. I also believe, after hundreds of confirming experiences, that there is immense power in the simple act of listening. In the process of speaking and being heard people find an increased clarity and the possibility of new options that hadn't occurred to them before. When a person's pain and confusion and or their hearts desire is heard, the next thing in their life becomes possible in a way that wasn't possible before‒when it was merely spinning around in their heads. There is access to the heart, and pathways to freedom that are blocked by unspoken burdens and the feeling of being alone. "Without a listener, the healing process is aborted."

Other activities I picture for a Pastor of Listening:
• Being available for on-going individual and group spiritual direction. 
• Training small group leaders who are interested in facilitating a group where the main focus is on people coming to know and be known by the other group members. (This would be done by doing a group, not through an educational program. Discerning who was gifted to lead this sort of group would only become clear by this process.)
• I would love to help form and lead a Spiritual Re-Formation Community where there is both instruction on the contemplative path and opportunities to practice spiritual disciplines together.
• Finally, I see an attraction to authenticity and a desire to go deeper in many people. Both those in the second-half of life and in Generation Xers who have been influenced by the Postmodern critique, consciously or not. It has been my experience that these folks feel alone and unheard. And because of this disconnect they are not wholehearted, active members of Christ's body. Programs do not attracted them. Most find them silly and fruitless. And while they may be attending from an honest commitment to the body, they are not truly engaged. By simply being a listening presence within the community and thereby becoming a rallying point for those already attending who have a similar vision, I believe that the vitality of any community will grow exponentially.

A note on normalizing the practice of spiritual direction. 

When a church makes this sort of pastoral care available
to its parishioners it recognizes the value of the process of exploring the authentic questions with which every believer struggles. Most especially those who are introverted and not comfortable bringing up their inner lives in the usual group format. This includes up to fifty percent of the church body. There is another large population in every church of people who do not need or desire psychological counseling, but find themselves filled with question and doubts that could only be shared in the most intimate and confidential
environment. There are very few options for these people to face their struggles, not to mention hopes and desires.



6 Comments
David Boltz
2/10/2013 02:07:36 am

David, I really like your idea. It is very much needed in the Church today. I see that need in myself and in people all around me. From my long years through many churches, I've experienced a lot of great teaching which I highly value. But, the listening, an open door to work out what the Holy Spirit is doing within us, is so lacking. Thanks for putting this out there. God bless the devlopment and refiniement of the vision he's given you.

Reply
Norm Nelson link
4/7/2013 11:15:48 am

David . . . my father, Wilbur, played golf nearly every week for years with a guy named Wally Norling. Perhaps you know him Your comments re. the need for a Pastor of Listening are both wise and desperately needed. Question: Is this in some measure, the function of the Catholic priest listening to confessions? We have recently launched at Compassion Radio a "listening project" in which we go to refugee camps in Syria and Lebanon and listen to, and record for our listeners to hear, the stories of refugees who have had to flee violence in their homelands of Iraq and Syria that targeting Christians. In the media, everyone talks about, or talks for, these refkugees. We're commited to allowing the refugees to tell their own stories..They respond with gratefulness that somebody wants to liaten to them! I believe there's a deep hunger in them for someone who wants to listen to them, I now have about 30 stories from Iraqis and will be traveling to Lebanon in a few weeks to listen to Syrian refugees tell their own stories. In these instances, listening has a healing power. I'm sure the same is true here at home as well. A Pastor of Hearing would be a healing agent in our churhces. Thanks for your insightful contribution!


Reply
David
4/7/2013 02:00:46 pm

Norm, thanks for reading and letting me know of our shared vision. It's exciting and encouraging to hear what you are doing especially your emphasis on letting people tell their story.

As for the question of confession, that is probably part of the experience. Spiritual direction no doubt grew out of the priestly pastoral relationship. There's a strong movement in protestant circles towards embracing spiritual direction, which is more about listening to the spirit than 'directing' the directee. I'm just about to graduate from a three year spiritual direction certificate program through Loyola Marymount. I hope to practice this ministry for the rest of my life. Every where I go, I hear people's often unspoken cry to be heard.

Reply
Kyle Flores
4/18/2013 01:29:38 am

Well said. There is almost a humorous or satirical side to this. A real "pastor" truly has nothing to say unless he has listened, either to The Lord or those he ministers to. Funny how we have strayed from this thinking. Washing some one's feet requires no speaking just listening.

Reply
David
4/20/2013 08:44:54 am

I'm sorry if you've received a reply from me already, but it's not showing up on the site and I wanted a chance to thank you for commenting on my post.

Even though I didn't intend any satire, I see what you are saying, and I appreciate the awareness that your comment reveals.

I'm curious to hear what your experience of listening as a primary practice has been.

Reply
Daniel Jarvie link
10/6/2013 07:26:15 am

As a Golf Teaching Professional for 20 years I have discovered that the knowledge and wisdom I wish to communicate to my students with the goal of them moving forward in the game becomes a clanging gong unless it is prefaced with listening. For in "listening" I am given insight and direction from the student in how to proceed. Thanks for your insights David. Pastors and priesthood all believers, "Listen Up!"




Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    February 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.