Listening is one of the greatest skills – to God and each other!

WHEN I look back into my past I can recognise many pivotal moments in my career. I am very fortunate to have been privy to some of the best training that the UK had to offer – the industry I worked in treated it with huge importance with a constant focus on career, mentoring and personal development but always with safety as the number one priority.

Having said that, one of the most significant pieces of training that impacted every area of my life was outside of work and actually provided by the Kirk. This dated back to the 1990s and was related to supporting people through bereavement with a particular focus on the importance of listening. The trainer said to me at the time “never say I know how you feel because you don’t” and try not to trade a new story of your own for every one you’re given as many folk do this unknowingly and it can undermine the person you are talking to – almost like you are unknowingly trumping them.

To listen, we need to make a conscious effort not to just hear what people are saying but to take it in, digest it and understand it. Not only does listening enhance our ability to understand better and make us better communicators, but it also makes the experience of speaking to us more enjoyable to other people. Listening to each other has never been more important than it is now due to the fast pace of the change we are progressing which continues to be a difficult, challenging and painful experience for many.

At this coming General Assembly listening and understanding will be critical because we have reached a critical point in the life of our Church. There will be stark messages that will be hard for us all to take as we love our Church “as it was” and it can sometimes be hard to see the new thing emerging – but we must all have the faith that this will happen and God will indeed guide us and make all things new if we listen to Him and act on what we hear. Our current situation will be clearly articulated at GA 2023 but that is not what we are all about – whatever happened in the last 50-70 years has gone now, the world has moved on and the learning from where we are at present must move from the last few years of steadying the ship and organising ourselves post GA 2019 to the future success of our journey of reform and renewal. The forward plan will require us to be courageous, faithful, innovative and truly missional – not held back by outdated Church structures but vibrant and open to new ideas within our communities where we need to connect in a new way to spread God’s word.

When you only have around 500 words to describe something it is too easy to look like we are dealing with platitudes. So, it is important to understand that the forward plan has lots of very tangible and real requirements as you will hear at GA 2023. The finances have to be sustainable, our new Presbyteries and congregations have to be at the forefront, recruitment to inspirational ministries will be key, the buildings have to be right, our priorities have to be laser-focused shedding the baggage of the past that no longer helps us, life has to be simpler and we really need to invest in both the existing that we decide to retain and the new that we will gain in God’s name. Now is the time for all of this to happen, there is no room for further procrastination, and while we know it will be tough going at times our aim must be to move forward in a manner that mirrors the disciples when they emerged from the upper room - inspired by the Holy Spirit, transformed, dynamic, burning, courageous, confident, joyful, peace-filled, hopeful and united as one for the sake of Christ and his kingdom.

Dave Kendall Chief Officer, Church of Scotland