ANGLICAN TAONGA
SPRING SPRING2017 2017
MISSION
Those with
ears to hear
Pastoral theologian the Rev Dr Lynne Baab says we could share the Word better by opening our ears and shutting our mouths. If we spent less ministry time talking, she says, we’d get much more of God’s work done.
Before we can care, we first have to listen.
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magine your church has a community garden, one that’s open to anyone in the neighborhood. A new family from India is growing vegetables in one corner, and you enjoy helping them figure out what grows best here in their new setting. As you pull weeds beside them, you hear about their arrival in New Zealand and the challenges they face here. As the conversation evolves, they share their problems navigating the medical system, so together you figure out what to do. As you listen to these newcomers to New Zealand, you aim to help with their practical needs, reflecting Christ’s love in your listening and your actions. What is happening here? Is it pastoral care? Or is it local mission? The answer must be “both,” and this overlap of pastoral care and mission creates new and deeper needs for Christian listening skills. When I trained for ministry several decades ago, my lecturers taught us listening skills for use in two main ways: First, listening skills were necessary for
pastoral care within a congregation. We would need active listening skills to provide care for the deep psychological needs of parishioners, and present the ways the Christian faith might address those needs. For that, the carer would need to listen to what was going on in the person’s life. Second, lecturers mentioned the importance of listening in cross-cultural situations in foreign missions. For ministry students with no intention of serving overseas, cross-cultural listening skills seemed irrelevant. Back then, local mission was not really on the radar when considering what congregations were called to do. Today, listening skills are necessary in all areas of church life – and for all people in the church. People in formal ministry roles need good listening skills, but now, so does anyone who wants to participate in parish life. Here are some reasons for the change:
Shifting mission fields We know that mission happens both overseas and at home. We are invited into God’s mission every day of our lives. When Jesus