Monday Morning Insight by Todd Rhodes recently posted a great article at: http://mondaymorninginsight.com/index.php/site/comments/82_satisfaction_whats_your_rate/about
It was about McDonald's doing research on customer satisfaction and related it to the need for churches to do their own assessments. This brought numerous replies from readers. I am always interested and fascinated by the different ways two or ten people can read the same material and see very different things.
For example, some of the responders sent in notes about their own experiences of not doing an assessment and how they wish they had. They affirmed the need to find out what we are doing that works and what does not work. That was my own view.
Others saw it as another instance of "consumerism" and our total lack of following God. Some saw it as a violation the God's sovereignty. Many were offended that we would attempt to listen to feedback from the "customers" instead of God and pasted in Bible passages about listening to false prophets.
I suppose this is what makes doing church so difficult. As a former minister at a large congregation I saw why learning to listen with an open mind is so difficult and yet so necessary for peaceful relationships in the home and church. In fact, I found listening so important that I wrote a book about it called Listening for Heaven's Sake.
Teaching members to listen makes them better members and better leaders. Any minister who wants a good Deacon and Elder Board needs to teach them to listen. Listening with peaceful presence is the single most important skill in ministry and personal life.
Listening has a built in corrective function for when we perceive different things in the same data, like the examples listed above. Active Listening clarifies before it defends or argues. I suppose many will react and say, "I don't need no, education, I have the Holy Spirit" but most of us will get golf lessons and dance lessons and speech lessons so why not get listening lessons.
No comments:
Post a Comment