The Voice to Amplify
CATHEDRAL NEWSLETTER - 2 November 2023
Friends in Christ, I always enjoy it when a friend shares a quote they find insightful from a book they are reading. This week, a pastor I respect shared this one:
Weak leaders silence voice and shoot the messenger. Strong leaders welcome voice and thank the messenger. Great leaders build systems to amplify voice and elevate the messenger. (Hidden Potential, Adam Grant, no relation!)
This is so true, not only in your personal life, but in regard to organisational culture. Last year, preaching on the Proverbs, I quoted this one:
Kings take pleasure in honest lips;
they value the one who speaks what is right - Proverbs 13:16.
And I said one of the ways I encourage this on staff teams is to always ask if there’s a kernel of truth in criticism, even if you find it harsh. Maybe you’ll blow a lot of chaff away. But is there a grain of truth in there? Does the feedback help you understand how it feels to others? Thanking people for feedback, and pausing observably to consider it, before moving on… That communicates that you value honest lips.
This is hard. I find it so easy to be defensive.
Likewise becoming a better listener. At some professional development training for company directors (as part of my role on tthe Cathedral School Council), we were told the key to being a better listener is to wait!
Actually to ask 'W.A.I.T.' - Why Am I Talking? This is a lifelong struggle for growth in my case. I need the Holy Spirit's help... and not just to be silent while I wait for my next chance to spout off. But to be truly interested in others and their thoughts.
As James 1: 19-20 says,
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
In context *see James 1:18 & 22), this willingness to listen applies especially in regard to listening to the gospel word of Christ - that teaches, challenges and corrects us.
And that's why I can't fully agree with the 'inspirational quote' above. Or rather, I want to note that we should not amplify all voices equally. We should listen respectfully and widely. There are many people to learn from, including critics.
But the voice we must amplify above all else is the voice of God. Psalm 29:4 says:
The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.
His word is authoritative above all others.
[God] chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created...
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. [James 1:18 and 22]
This is also why, with great care and caution, occasionally, a church needs to de-amplify false and misleading voices. Titus 1:9-11 says of church elders:
He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach – and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
Since an elder must also not be overbearing, quick-tempered, nor violent (see Titus 1:7), this 'silencing' of false teaching cannot involve abuse or aggression, let alone pride or self-righteousness. So even here, gentleness and prayerfulness are our normal modes of action (2 Tim 2:24-26). So in a free society, those who deny basic Christian doctrine or ethics are welcome to take their misguided beliefs and to speak elsewhere, unhindered by us... Just not in the church!
Thank you for bearing with me as I muse aloud on things I'm grappling with, and struggle to keep growing. More importantly, please pray for your pastors and for yourselves, that we would be humble and gentle, and above all, attentive to God's Word.
Yours in Christ,
Sandy Grant
Dean of Sydney