{"id":2691,"date":"2014-10-16T10:00:47","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T10:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=2691"},"modified":"2014-10-16T12:35:48","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T12:35:48","slug":"are-we-listening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/are-we-listening\/","title":{"rendered":"Are We Listening?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\">\u201cAs a rule, then, loyalty holds exit at bay and activates voice.\u201d (p.78)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0In his book, <em>Exit, Voice and Loyalty: <\/em><em>Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States, <\/em>the author, Albert O. Hirschman, contends that engendering loyalty prevents erratic movement away from organizations while at the same time promotes the capacity to increase input which, in a world of options, can maintain creative decision making. (I won\u2019t pretend to understand everything that Hirschman was trying to convey, but this is what I took away from it).<\/p>\n<p>To the best of my understanding the church in the West, and in particular the church in Canada is in decline. People are exiting the formality of mainline (Catholic, United, Presbyterian) religious assembly. It\u2019s been a consistent trend for several decades now that is also affecting many evangelical congregations.<\/p>\n<p>As a result of those exits there is a hollow sound left reverberating under the roof tops of once celebratory congregations. Gone are the days when people intentionally set aside a day to pause, reflect and get renewed through religious instruction in group settings. Much has changed, the exits have been well used, some in a nomadic function as people move from the exit door of one congregation to the entrance of another. Others have simply gravitated away slowly and are reluctant to re-enter.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Social-Listening-574x270.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2692\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Social-Listening-574x270-300x141.jpg\" alt=\"Social-Listening-574x270\" width=\"300\" height=\"141\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Social-Listening-574x270-300x141.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Social-Listening-574x270-150x70.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Social-Listening-574x270.jpg 574w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, exit doesn\u2019t mean the end of voice. The one does not eliminate the other. In these days there seems to be an openness toward discussions of spiritual matters. Our Canadian context is one of religious accommodation. Yes, it mostly favours everything but Christianity, however the opening is there for those who can gracefully engage it. The opportunity exists for those in leadership to nurture a culture where voice is welcomed, which results in people feeling valued. Not just within the confines of the gathering, but in the greater community. Not only the voice of those in leadership, rather purposefully ensuring that the voice the people in the community is heard. Historically, leadership has been about \u201ctelling\u201d (and listening to our own voice) but now there seems to be a welcome opportunity for \u201clistening\u201d, thereby granting voice to others, which can lead them to \u201centrances\u201d as opposed to \u201cexits\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In light of these ideas, some questions that I\u2019m posing to myself and others are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As I serve in leadership, am I accessible to those among whom I serve?<\/li>\n<li>Do I take time to listen to what is happening in the lives of those with whom I serve?<\/li>\n<li>If we\u2019re supposed to be extending the Kingdom of God into our communities, how much time do we actually spend listening to our communities?<\/li>\n<li>Do I look at people for what they can do or do I care about who they are?<\/li>\n<li>If every person is created in the image of God, what am I learning about God from our interaction?<\/li>\n<li>If every follower of Jesus is filled with the Spirit, what can I learn through God\u2019s work in their life?<\/li>\n<li>Am I taking intentional time to listen to God\u2019s voice?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Jesus made an interesting statement to seventy people that he served among. He had previously been setting for them an example to follow, giving them instructions, providing them with cautions, releasing and empowering them to go about their mission. He now, upon their return listens to their stories and the offers these words in Luke 10:20, \u201cHowever, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.\u201d Their experience should not define them rather the fact that they were known to Our God was where they were to find their identity; their loyalty, therefore, should remain firmly fixed in The Lord.<\/p>\n<p>Hirschman says, \u201cOrganizations where both exit and voice play important roles are relatively few: the most important ones are voluntary associations of various types\u2026\u201d (p.120) The Church, I would contend should be counted among those few; and those who serve in leadership would do well to remember their privilege within it.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus didn\u2019t downplay the exits, in fact he made sure that those who would consider following Him, placing their faith in Him; he made sure they knew where the exits were. \u201c\u201cWhoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.\u201d (Luke 9:23) I wonder sometimes if, like the emergency instructions from a flight attendant, we have tuned out those warnings because they\u2019ve become too familiar. What if we allowed those words to truly sink in? What questions would we ask of Him then? His desire is to grant us voice so that we can better understand the purpose of His words and the opportunity that exists for us, as loyal members of His fold, to participate in the growth of, not a production oriented organization, but an organism (living, growing) of united people \u2013 that is The Church.<\/p>\n<p>As you consider your leadership context what are the obstacles in granting voice to others?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cAs a rule, then, loyalty holds exit at bay and activates voice.\u201d (p.78) \u00a0In his book, Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States, the author, Albert O. Hirschman, contends that engendering loyalty prevents erratic movement away from organizations while at the same time promotes the capacity to increase input which, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[251],"class_list":["post-2691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hirschman","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2691"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2705,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2691\/revisions\/2705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}