The Ministry of Listening

Before speaking, listening is the foundation of prayer and formation. As a community, we practice listening deeply to God and to one another through the practice of spiritual direction.

The life of discipleship is inherently a communal activity. When God speaks to us, his words bring new creation, and bring us into a renewed humanity. God pours out his Spirit among all believers, and we are given to one another. It is through our mutuality and shared life with God, we are formed in the ways of God’s everlasting love, mercy, and justice. 

Our discipleship journey begins, and continues, with this first capacity to listen to God. God speaks to us; we listen and learn. We listen to God, and we learn how to speak words of blessing, life, and liberation with God. We listen to God, and we let go of what harms us in order to receive a deeper, unfailing joy which is life with God. 

The heart of discipleship and all spiritual practices is learning to listen well. But of course, listening can be hard. Our lives are full of noise and competing (often contradictory) voices. It can be hard to hear the voice of love that calls out to us. 

Thankfully, God has given us to one another to be listeners with and for each other. To practice listening, our church practices the ancient art of spiritual direction, or spiritual friendship. Spiritual direction is a way to describe what disciples are called to do: to listen deeply and be companions to one another in our life with God. 

But deepening our capacity to listen, and learning how to listen with others takes practice. To help us, we offer group spiritual direction so that every person in our body can learn how to companion others and receive companionship. We learn how to listen to God’s voice and presence in the everyday events of our lives. We practice silence together, learning how to listen to God with God’s own people.

If you’d like to learn more about group spiritual direction or how you can join a spiritual direction group, contact one of our pastors to learn more and join in.