Listening is a critical component of gracious leadership. In Peter Block’s seminal work on building community, he says, “This kind of leadership, convening, naming the question, and listening, is restorative and produces energy rather than consumes it.”[1]  In Holy Currencies language, we must listen to the voices of those whose voices have been suppressed in order to circulate the currency of truth. This is a shift from seeing ministry as something we do to someone else, and instead, the allowing of others to find their voice. It is a ministry of empowerment. 

St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral has just begun a new ministry, one of listening and empowerment. During the Currency of Truth workshop as a part of our Holy Currencies model for ministry, the Cathedral team came to a crucial realization.  While there was transformative and holy work taking place on Wednesday mornings with worship, job preparation, art, and community breakfast for over a hundred of the housing-insecure people of the neighborhood, there was a much-needed vehicle for learning the story of these individuals and building a more holistic community. 

The Cathedral’s Holy Currencies team member, Denise Dinkins, suggested creating a leadership team from guests of Wednesday morning. The team created a process in which once a month volunteers set communication guidelines, study scripture, and dream about the possibilities for the neighborhood and community.  Together, the Cathedral and the residents of the neighborhood are discerning a collective vision. 

One resident suggested that programs in the summer for children would be helpful.  A clergy member of St. Mary’s reflected that programs were done the summer before but were not well attended.  The resident offered to go door to door and recruit as she would be trusted in the community.  Here, a person, who had been seen as a guest of St. Mary’s was being empowered to become a leader in the community on behalf of the church.  The Very Rev. Andy Andrews, Dean of the Cathedral shares, “In the listening session I attended, a participant shared that what they were really looking for in the Cathedral was a safe space to be present, to be heard, and to be prayed for, and not a place to be fixed or where programs would supposedly make them better.  I am learning that more programs are not always the answer.” 

St. Mary’s has now conducted two leadership rounds, one in April and one in May of 2016.  There is a healthy tension between wanting to respond to many of the concerns that are being raised by the residents of the neighborhood and those who are housing-insecure. St. Mary’s is learning more about the issues of the community, the challenges of bad credit, dishonest landlords, of issues of safety and the need for mental health advocates, drug addiction programs, and literacy help.  The Cathedral team is learning that as their community creates more porous boundaries, many of those who had been seen as clients or guests are empowered to be agents of change as they live into their ministry.  This is not the result of creating programs to fix others, but instead learning to listen which in turn turns a guest into a partner in the holy work taking place at St. Mary's.  

When I really think about connecting with people, those moments when time seems to dissipate enough to feel like something new has been generated, a truly organic moment with others, it always seems to come from the sharing of stories.  Maybe it is hearing the reflection of another that resonates with something I have experienced or felt before that rests fallow waiting to emerge and find new life.  The world is now home to over 7 billion people, yet loneliness seems to be one of the most pervasive human conditions.  Maybe that is why storytelling is so important, we need to hear of others’ experiences and know that we are not alone. 

The Bible is important in how I understand my faith.  For me, it is the story of people wrestling with what it means to be faithful. The more I study the story and the more I dig into the story of people wrestling with God, the more I am invited to become a part of that story.  I am reminded that I am not alone. For me, it doesn’t matter if events happened the way they have been recorded because truth exists in how that story shapes the way I view the world. 

As I reflect on the missional church, I am more and more convinced that one of the key tenants we should be focused on is collecting the stories of those whose stories are aching to be told, and yet maybe because of the power that exists in the historically dominant culture, or just a lack of seeking, those stories also lie fallow waiting to be told.  How can the church be the collective of our experiences that help a community make our story a part of the great story of our faith? Isn’t this the missional church?

My new friend, Bob Leopold, is a part of a community called Southside Abbey in Chattanooga.  He helped start a community which has been asking the question, “Can there be an Episcopal Church with, by, for, and in the poor?”  He has been on a beautiful and challenging journey for the last three years as the Southside Abbey community grows.  He shared a story recently about coming into possession of some cucumbers.  Someone thought his community could use fresh food and unloaded a ridiculous amount of cucumbers.  They handed them out until no one could handle any more.  Yet he was still left with a massive surplus. 

Bob is a storyteller. I believe he even has a degree in storytelling, so he gets the importance of creating the space for people to share their stories.  So he took the cucumbers, turned them into pickles, and began knocking on the doors of a hotel in their neighborhood where many people without permanent housing lived.  “We have pickles for you and we would like to hear your story.” A little ingenuity became a storyteller incubator as a way of continuing to generate the community in Southside Abbey.

For the Southside Abbey congregation, community is about creating the space to hear the stories of others.  This community used pickles as an instrument for storytelling. It makes me wonder what we have an abundance of in our own lives and communities that could be used as a vehicle to empower others to share their story.  Maybe this is what it means to be missional.  And maybe then we could expand the human story helping others become a part of the larger narrative of our own faith story.  All we need is a little creativity (and maybe some vinegar). 

Next Diocesan Holy Currencies Workshops:

Currency of Gracious Leadership: April 23 @ St. Mary's Cathedral

Currency of Time & Space: May 21 @ St. Mary's Cathedral

Currency of Money: June 25 @ St. Mary's Cathedral