Listening Groups

What is a Lis­ten­ing Group?

Listening Groups are a unique small group time that uses an Order of Meeting (liturgy) and very specific guidelines for listening and sharing that help facil­i­tate and create a safe space for lis­ten­ing to God, to oth­ers, and to our own hearts.

How is a Lis­ten­ing Group dis­tinct from oth­er small groups?

The Order of Meeting makes these Listen­ing Groups different from other formats of Christian small groups. It 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

What are the Listening Group Core Values?

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. We live into this prac­tice by com­mit­ting to the Ren­o­varé Covenant, these Val­ues, and our month­ly Lis­ten­ing Group.
12. We val­ue var­i­ous local expres­sions of spir­i­tu­al for­ma­tion efforts—rela­tion­ships, fam­i­lies, small groups, and church­es. Spir­i­tu­al for­ma­tion always has a local address.

Are Listening Groups a good fit for me?

Listening Groups are unique­ly designed for fol­low­ers of Jesus who are long­ing for a con­ver­sa­tion­al rela­tion­ship with God and are will­ing to be vul­ner­a­ble with oth­ers. Below are some state­ments to help you discern.

Are you drawn to expe­ri­ence and com­mit to a group where you…

• …sit with oth­ers in extend­ed times of prayer­ful silence
• …lis­ten with­out inter­rupt­ing, ask­ing ques­tions, or giv­ing advice
• …have grace for dif­fer­ing viewpoints
• …resist the temp­ta­tion to con­trol or change others
• …choose and engage with spe­cif­ic spir­i­tu­al practices
• …share hon­est­ly about your jour­ney with God
• …receive prayer and pray aloud for others
• …lis­ten for God’s voice and, when appro­pri­ate, share what you sense God is saying
• …focus on first things — love of God and love of neighbor

If you respond to these with a heart­felt ​“Yes!” or ​“I’m will­ing” then a 1-Year Listening Group may be a good fit for you.

Is there a fee to join?

We want to make Listening Groups accessible to anyone who wants to participate. To eliminate financial barriers, any approved applicant can participate at no cost. 

That being said, you do have the opportunity - not an obligation - to make a tax-deductible contribution to Renovaré’s work. Your contributions will ensure that we can continue to offer Listening Groups to more people around the world for years to come.

When you register, you will receive a pdf of the Order of Meeting booklet that you can print, as well as a link to purchase a printed copy if you would prefer that.

What if there are no avail­able groups that work for me?

While you're waiting for an available group, we invite you to join an online Drop-In Listening Group.

What is the appli­ca­tion process?

After attending an online Drop-In Listening Group, we invite you to apply.

• Under our Join a Group tab, click on the Apply but­ton for any group that works for you. (Please apply only if the loca­tion and meet­ing time are appro­pri­ate.) 
• After we receive your appli­ca­tion, you’ll be con­tact­ed by the group Coor­di­na­tor who will schedule a time to meet with you to dis­cern together if this is a good fit for you in this sea­son. 
• Once all mem­bers for a group are approved, you will receive a link to register.
• The appli­ca­tion will take a lit­tle time to com­plete. It includes these questions:
  • What attract­ed you to Fel­low­ship of the Burn­ing Heart?
  • Where have you been sens­ing God’s invi­ta­tion in your spir­i­tu­al jour­ney recently
  • What does a healthy small group par­tic­i­pant look like?

What if I have anoth­er question?

Email us at fbh@​renovare.​org.