The Giving Care & Counsel Module of our degree was concerned with the practical application of Christian tools in a specific area of need. We explored and evaluated the process of caring and the effect of a caring/loving relationship as a practical form of ministry, support and direction. In our practical learning about listening, giving attention and keeping boundaries we tried out the Christian Listening technique, from the Acorn Christian Listening Trust. In doing all of this we looked at the culture in which we live, using a book by Paul Goodliff, Care In A Confused Climate. The following is a brief description of the culture we live within, according to Goodliff and then an outline of the technique of Christian Listening.
POSTMODERNITY
The term postmodernism applies to the current social and cultural condition in which we live, which is:
Pluralist – people hold more than one office;
Eclectic – made up of elements from a variety of sources;
Ephemeral – short lived.
This culture rejects the dogma and practices of metanarratives (big stories), celebrating instead the multitude of local stories. Everything becomes consumable and there is no distinction between the higher and mass culture. Models, which were classed as insignificant in the past such as myth, magic, cosmology and feelings, have been revalued and made equal to the previously mainstream things. The culture is hopeless, with no aims or goals.
A CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO LISTENING
The Christian
Listening approach to listening is one which involves a set process. This
process allows a speaker (someone with a problem) to talk about their problem
without receiving advice from the listener.
A time period is usually set (around half an hour) during which the listener is involved in an active process, reflecting back feelings, words and phrases which seem important to the person who is speaking about their problem. When the exploration of the problem is complete, the listener asks three focussing questions, reflecting back the answers to each question.
What do you think is of MOST IMPORTANCE in what you have been saying?
Is there any ACTION you want to take?
What are you FEELING at this moment about what you have just shared?
