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Listening Groups

A Renovaré Small Group Experience for Spiritual Renewal

Next Orientation Workshop: April 23 + 25

There are too few spaces in life where we are truly heard and can deeply listen. 

For several years, Nathan Foster and others in the Renovaré community have developed and refined a small-group experience to provide such a space. 

They’re called Listening Groups. 

Drawing inspiration from 12-Step meetings, Quaker discernment circles, and Renovaré Spiritual Formation groups, a Listening Group offers a guided liturgy to learn to listen to God, one another, and our own hearts. 

Listening Groups typically consist of 3 – 6 people and meet monthly to move through a 90-minute liturgy with generous space for sharing, silence, and prayer. Cross-talk, advice-giving, and even valuable spiritual-director-type questions are set aside for the possibility of hearing our Divine Counselor.

These groups aren’t for everyone. But for those ready and willing to enter in, Listening Groups can be quietly transformative.

Next Steps

  • Experience a Group
    Before committing to a longer-term group, we recommend experiencing a free Online Drop-In Listening Group.
  • Participate
    The pathway to participating in a longer-term Listening Group is to attend an Orientation Workshop.
Drop-In Groups

Experience a Listening Group

Drop-In Online Listening Groups allow you to experience a Listening Group for yourself without a long-term commitment. These are free and open to anyone. Times are Eastern.

  • 1st Saturday of the month from 9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
  • 2nd Tuesday from 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
  • 3rd Thursday from 7:30 – 9:00 p.m.
  • 4th Wednesday from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.

When you register, we’ll send you a video teaching to help you understand the process and come prepared for a special time. 

Register Free
Orientation Workshops

Pathway to Participation

Listening Groups use a guided liturgy that, like a dance, is easy once you know the steps.

Learning those steps takes some learning, so we’ve created a three-hour online Orientation Workshop for anyone interested in participating in a Listening Group. 

At the workshop, you’ll learn some core elements, practice the group liturgy, and receive all the resources you need to participate in a group. These aren’t rigid training sessions but interactive spaces for learning to listen to God together.

This training is the pathway to participating in a Listening Group. But by coming, you aren’t committing to join a group. 

At the end of the workshop, you’ll receive access to a private directory of other participants. From there, you can connect to form groups on a schedule that works best for you.

Questions + Answers

Fill out this simple form to request a free Listening Group Booklet PDF or a link to purchase physical booklets. 

Since Listening Groups require some training, we ask that you first attend an Orientation Workshop, or that you’ve participated in related programs — Listening Group pilots, Fellowship of the Burning Heart, or Renovaré Institute.

  1. We value a high Christology regarding the person and work of Jesus Christ.
  2. We value Scripture as a sure guide for growth into Christlikeness.
  3. We value worship and prayer as central in our lives.
  4. We value people as God’s image bearers. In our interactions we resist the temptation to manage impressions, leverage relationships, and fix one another.
  5. We value community as vital to our transformation into Christlikeness. We offer availability and vulnerability as we honor each person’s unique journey with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
  6. We value listening. As a community we seek to be attentive to the Holy Spirit and one another. This facilitates a welcoming and confidential culture where it is safe to know and be known.
  7. We value honesty and openness, seeking to love with wise boundaries and discern without judgement.
  8. We value humility and the freedom it brings, drawing us into a life of gratitude, joy, laughter, creativity, and lightheartedness.
  9. We value loving respect. We are for one another. 
    We give encouragement as often as possible.
    We share advice once in a great while.
    We bring correction only when absolutely necessary.
    We condemn never.
  10. We value hospitality of heart, seeking to learn from our differences.
  11. We value stability, anchoring ourselves in these Core Values and the practices, places, and people through which God is forming us, remembering that discipleship is a long obedience.
  12. We value various local expressions of spiritual formation efforts—relationships, families, small groups, and churches. Spiritual formation always has a local address.

The Order of Meeting and Core Values make these Listening Groups different from other formats of Christian small groups. The liturgy is read at every meeting and makes space to:

  • hold prayerful silence with one another
  • forgo fear of judgment, impression management, and advice giving
  • listen without fixing one another
  • grow in the capacity to discern the voice of God
  • be intentional about spiritual growth with others on a similar journey

Orientation Workshops are our pathway to participating in a long-term group. Once you attend a workshop, you’ll gain access to the contact info of other participants so that you can start a group.

The best way to learn about Listening Groups to experience one through an online Drop-in Listening Group. Please join us as your schedule allows. Meetings are free, and we have different days and times to accommodate various schedules and time zones. Join us as often as you would like. See the schedule above.