Christ-Like LeadersSýnishorn

Are we really Listening?

Years ago, I was sent to a parish where their pastor of over 20 years had been removed for certain scandals. It was a horrible situation and I went there as crisis management. I was supposed to be there for two months and ended up staying for 2 years. The interesting part about it was that it was a big church yet needed other clergies. Finally, I got the bishop to send me an assistant who had grown up at the church which I thought would work out great. The church knew him, he knew them, which meant he could be of great help to me. At the time, I was also running a radio station in Miami, going back and forth, and thought he could really help me with all the pastoral work. Sadly, the new priest only made it 3 weeks before having to let him go. You see, there was an elderly couple at the church who attended faithfully along with their daughter who had been sick most of her life and was in a wheel chair. I loved this family and had a great time with them. They were loving and caring people, but one day the elderly man calls to tell me that he could not return to the church. I didn’t understand and asked him what had happened. He explained that they had attended church and it was freezing cold. The new priest was a heavy gentleman who wore long cassocks like I do. He was often warm and had the habit of setting the temperature down to where it was comfortable for him. The elderly couple and their daughter were freezing and said, “Father, it’s too cold for us,” he then turned to them and said, “If you don’t like it you can leave!” When the man told me this story, I was heartbroken for two reasons. First, for the family, who felt unwelcome in their church, but I was even more heartbroken for the new priest. Because I thought, this is a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is unable to forget about his own comfort and think about the needs of others. 

Unless we are willing to listen, not just with our ears but with our hearts, we are unable to know what is really happening in people’s lives. It happens to us all the time; in church leadership at all levels and as Christian leaders in the world. Are we really listening? Are we listening to the needs of others? Are we paying attention to the things God wants to communicate with us? It takes just a little bit of humility in order to attentively listen and care for the needs of others.