Stop and Listen

Lord: As we move into the next stage of my work I want you, my people, to learn to listen. I have already spoken to you about listening to me, and that has first priority. Listen to me and learn from me all that you need to know.

The listening I am speaking of today, is the listening to those who come to you. One of the great failures of the Church down the ages has been that it has failed to listen to the people to whom it was sent. Missionaries down the ages, though not all of them, have mixed up 'Going out with boldness to preach the Gospel,' with 'Going out with an arrogant self confidence,' the sort that says, "I am right, and everyone else, especially  the 'heathen,' must be wrong." Many opportunities have been missed by this failure to listen to the culture and to stories of 'the people'. It is rather like learning a language. It is no use thinking that everyone needs to learn your native language before they can hear your message! That sort of attitude gets you nowhere. so learn the stories and the culture. Remember Don Richardson's 'Peace Child!'    

The following is lifted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, under Don Richardson.

Missionary historian Ruth A. Tucker writes:

As he learned the language and lived with the people, he became more aware of the gulf that separated his Christian worldview from the worldview of the Sawi: "In their eyes, Judas, not Jesus, was the hero of the Gospels, Jesus was just the dupe to be laughed at." Eventually Richardson discovered what he referred to as a Redemptive Analogy that pointed to the Incarnate Christ far more clearly than any biblical passage alone could have done. What he discovered was the Sawi concept of the Peace Child.

Three tribal villages were in constant battle at this time. The Richardsons were considering leaving the area, so to keep them there, the Sawi people in the embattled villages came together and decided that they would make peace with their hated enemies. Ceremonies commenced that saw young children being exchanged between opposing villages. One man in particular ran toward his enemy's camp and literally gave his son to his hated foe. Observing this, Richardson wrote: "if a man would actually give his own son to his enemies, that man could be trusted!" From this rare picture came the analogy of God's sacrifice of his own Son. The Sawi began to understand the teaching of the incarnation of Christ in the Gospel after Richardson explained God to them in this way.

Listening to where people are and where they have come from, and listening to me and acting as I direct you, will enable you to break down cultural barriers and make your story relevant. People everywhere love a story, and most stories, whatever their cultural origins will, with a little care, translate across the cultures. This is why I never worry about which translation of the Bible you use; no one is right for every situation. The unchurched young people on the streets of your cities, are more likely to respond to The Word on the Street than to the King James Version! Precision in translating word for word is fine for the scholars, but is hopeless as an evangelism tool for ordinary people. Listen to the way people communicate and learn their language. Understand their values, both their good and their bad, and love them for who they are.

The same applies to religions. The days of wiping out other faiths is past. Jesus has come and there is another way to bring people into the Kingdom. Listen to their stories and understand them. Listen to me and I will show you how to help them make sense of Jesus within their understanding of me. I am not saying every religion is good or that they all lead to me; they don't! But I don't want any soul to be lost, and so, in order that they might all be saved I am already putting tracers into people's lives, which enable then to respond to the right story, sensitively and lovingly shared.

If Jesus had condemned the woman caught in the act of adultery, (John 8) she would never have changed and would have died in her sin. She needed a non-condemning approach. Using this approach is not to condone. When you pull someone out of a quicksand, your first concern is to get them out and on to dry ground. You don't waste time asking how they got there in the first place. The full story can follow later.

So start by listening to me, then listen to others and learn where they are coming from, and what language they understand. Then listen to me again and learn how to address their situation in love. Remember I love all my children, just as I love you, and I desire that none should be lost.