Public Listeners

I've been working with a few gentlemen toward the end of establishing a youth group. We have very few kids in our church, so we're collaborating with a number of other churches to provide a place where all our kids can come together and play, eat, learn, and get to know Christ.

I invited one of our youth leaders (we'll call him Bob) to host the chat for this coming youth group since our main guy will be out of the country that weekend. At first, Bob was politely reluctant. Eventually, he shared that he has a lot of academic responsibilities that would make it difficult to prepare for youth group.

"Events like that actually require a lot of preparation for me — I’m not a natural public speaker," said Bob. He really is busy, and just about everything worthwhile requires preparation, but something struck me when he told me that.

It struck me there and then that we don't need public speakers. We need public listeners. We need public askers and pay-attentioners. We need public carers and sacrificers. We need public empathizers. We need public listeners.

Reports come in endlessly about younger generations leaving the church. And why shouldn't they? Music will only go so far. Liturgy will only go so far. Three-point sermons will only go so far. Programs and Bible studies and small groups will only go so far. At some point, we have to listen to the broken hearts instead of giving them busy work to keep them distracted. Otherwise, we'll lose them.

If you want to keep people, you have to listen to them.

We need public listeners.