Recently, RLC became part of a program called “Congregations Lead Initiative” or “CLI.” CLI is a program through the ELCA Churchwide offices, designed to guide congregations to innovate and experiment for ministry. Our synod’s Director for Evangelical Mission, whose job it is to help congregations listen for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, invited us to be part of a cohort of other congregations around Iowa and Illinois for the program. RLC’s team, including me and three members of the congregation, began our participation in February and will finish in October. Ultimately, the CLI will lead to some "experiment," perhaps an event or program, to be carried out later this year.

As part of the orientation to the program, our team was invited to pick an area of ministry to focus on, but before we even began to brainstorm what our experiment might be, we first had to consider who might be involved with the experiment. Then, we had to go and talk to them! Or, to be more precise, we had to listen to them.

Listening is frequently overlooked when it comes to church planning, I’m afraid. Pastors are often the most guilty of this! We assume we know what people need, or, worse yet, we decide what people should want– without ever taking the time to ask. It happens among all of us, though. We go straight to believing we know what others need without asking them. “People should want to come to Bible study.” “People should feel responsible to volunteer and serve their neighbors.” “People should like this music and find it meaningful.” “People should be eager to sign up for the program we created.” Sound familiar? I know I’ve said and heard these things, or something like them.

By starting with listening, holding off on planning or even brainstorming, our CLI team got to find out from real people what they think, want, and need. We listened to members of this congregation and neighbors at the Senior Center, PRMS, and other places about what makes them worry and what makes them hopeful and what they feel they need. Instead of assuming we have all the answers, we came with open curiosity, trusting that the Holy Spirit would guide us through our open ears.

The result of all this listening was that our planning is taking into account the real people we talked with, and their real needs and wants. Part of the process is even to get feedback from would-be participants on the planned event before carrying it out, allowing us to shape our planning around the people it’s intended for. Those people, after all, are God’s children, people for whom Jesus lived and died, people whose prayers God listens to. If God listens to all our needs, worries, and hopes in prayer, then surely we can take the example and listen to one another before we act.

What I have discovered is this: by listening first to our neighbors through conversation and to the Holy Spirit through prayer, we are enriched and our planning is just plain better. We end up getting closer to our goals because those goals are shaped by what really matters to other people and to God. Listening is the way to lead.