Hospitable Listening
“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 19:33-34
As I write, it’s approaching the end of June. And I’m thinking to myself – it’s true what all the older folks in my life have always told me – things seem to go faster the older you get! Where did the first half of 2023 go? I think that one reason that time seems to fly is that change seems to be constant.
We’ve been experiencing a lot of changes just in the street where I live. Three new sets of neighbours have moved in recently. So far, I’ve been able to introduce myself to two of these households – and they are all from overseas. That’s not a surprise to me given that Australia received nearly 400,000 migrants in 2022 – an all-time record intake.[1]
What marvellous opportunities we have to share the gospel these days! New folks are arriving not just to capital cities, but to regional centres also. We have wonderful opportunities all around to ‘practice hospitality’ (Romans 12:13).
And it’s not hard. A welcoming smile, a gentle listening attitude, and a curious mind-set are all that’s needed. But most important of all is a preparatory prayer. I was reminded of this recently when I joined with a number of folks from our Eastern Metro region for a ‘Gospel Fluency’ workshop run by the LCANZ’s Pastor for New and Renewing Churches Pr. Nathan Hedt.
Pr. Nathan provided us with tools to become more gospel ‘fluent’. The very first tool is simply to practice generous listening. ‘Wow, tell me more!’ is a great question to serve folks with. It lets them know that you are genuinely interested in them as a fellow human being. I believe that there is a great thirst in our culture at the moment for ‘listening loving ears’.
We were also reminded of Paul’s encouragement to the Colossians to: ‘devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful… Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.’ Colossians 4:2-6
What a great encouragement to pray specifically for opportunities to share the gospel – and watch joyfully as God provides them. When they arise, another tool that you may find useful to have on hand, is a little handbook called “Heart Talk” (pictured). It contains simple greetings in over 30 different languages. You can order it via the LCA NZ’s Cross-Cultural Ministry Webpage – or reach out to me on brett.kennett@lca.org.au and I’ll send you a free copy. Get in touch also if you’d like me to run a ‘Gospel Fluency’ workshop where you are.
Hospitable listening is just the first step in building a relationship with the stranger and newcomer that we may encounter. May we remember that each of them is a precious child of God and loved by Jesus.
God bless you as you go, with Christ in your heart and on your lips, be prepared to be amazed at the good work – of listening – that Jesus has prepared for you! (Ephesians 2:10)
[1] https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/overseas-migration/latest-release
