History of Listening Hearts Ministries
Founding of the organization
Listening Hearts Ministries began as a grassroots effort to develop a clear understanding of spiritual discernment - what it is and how to go about it. The objective was to develop a program that would enable people within a community of faith to help one another seek God's guidance as they wrestled with issues related to personal relationships, vocational choices, ordering of priorities, and moral or ethical dilemmas.
The plan was to take a model for a Quaker clearness committee (a member of a Friends' Meeting who is struggling with an issue can ask for a clearness committee and will be given a group of people who will gather, Quaker style, to help the person find clarity) and integrate into that model wisdom and experience from other major strands of Christian spirituality - Benedictine, Carmelite, Ignatian, Anglican, Protestant, Orthodox, and Jungian. This called for sifting through classic spiritual literature for insight into call, ministry, discernment, and community as well as interviewing people from various denominations who were actively engaged in work that could inform the endeavor.
More than forty people were involved with the initial research. From this number, a small group was recruited to sort through what turned out to be an avalanche of information, organize it and prepare a manual to use with the program.
The committee met weekly, practicing the principles it was studying. Each meeting began with ten minutes of centering silence. Those gathered tried to listen to one another prayerfully. Every idea was processed using consensus. Anyone could request a period of silence at any time and everyone would become quiet.
The seed that became Listening Hearts Ministries was planted in 1987. It quickly germinated as people nourished it with questions and ideas. By the year's end it had taken shape as a proposal that was endorsed by the vestry of Memorial Episcopal Church, Baltimore, and known as the Christian Vocation Research Project. Shortly thereafter it gained support from the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.
The writing of Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community
As the work progressed, the committee became aware that perhaps it had the makings of a book. When a representative of the group approached Morehouse Publishing, the President and Publisher responded enthusiastically, and the book started to take form as Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community.
In 1989 the group incorporated as a not for profit organization with charitable status. As work progressed on the book, a discernment training program was being developed. The CROSS+ROADS Program of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland provided funds to field test the training program, after which the Episcopal Church Foundation awarded a grant to produce program materials and launch the program nationwide. And thus Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community was born.
Once Listening Hearts was in print, three companion pieces were published: Listening Hearts Manual for Discussion Leaders, the Listening Hearts Songbook, and Listening Hearts Retreat Designs.
The book has now become recognized as a classic in the field. To date is has sold over 60,000 copies and is currently in its twelfth printing. It is used in a variety of settings and serves as a textbook at seminaries of multiple denominations across the country.
The writing of Grounded in God: Listening Hearts Discernment for Group Deliberations
The focus of activity during the ministry's initial phase was to help faith communities become channels of discernment for individuals as they worked through personal issues. The need to apply the Listening Hearts principles to communal discernment of group issues quickly became apparent. A training program for decision-making groups was designed and then Grounded in God: Listening Hearts Discernment for Group Deliberations was written and published in 1999.
Program History
Over the years, Listening Hearts has done work for a wide variety of parishes, dioceses, and other faith-based organizations. To date, our workshops and retreats have been held in over twenty-five states. We have worked directly with bishops, clergy groups, vestries, sessions, and congregations of all sizes. Our programs have varied in length from one day to over one week, depending on the learning needs of the attendees. A representative list of organizations can be found in the Reference Lists section.
For More Information
To learn more about the workshops and retreats we offer on the practice of discernment for groups and individuals, please visit our Programs section.
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