Acts 8: Listen and hear

Major Andrew Vertigan explores the power of deep listening.

Key texts

Acts 8:26–40

It is so much easier to talk than to listen! So says the extrovert who loves to be in relationship and conversation with people and, yes, sometimes just likes to hear his own voice.

I’ve been struck by something I heard in recent weeks: ‘It’s no good listening if you don’t hear what I’m saying.’ The actions that followed this statement clearly showed me and the other person that we had not been heard.

Over these past weeks, as I have walked the streets of the city where I find myself helping The Salvation Army reimagine its future, I have reflected on this a lot. I’ve discovered people with a great deal of creativity who are energised and excited about the potential, and I have met a good number of people who want to work together in partnership. This, for me, is one of the key indicators of healthy mission.

Healthy mission is normally demonstrated through partnership, collaboration and a massive reliance on the Holy Spirit. Note verse 29 of our study passage: ‘The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”’

Pause and reflect

I wonder what the Spirit is saying to you.
Where is he guiding you you? How are you going to respond?

Let’s return to my opening statement for a moment: It’s so much easier to talk than to listen! During the first few months of our new appointment, I’ve been listening to anyone who wants to talk to me. I’ve been very intentionally listening. I’ve listened to children, older people, church leaders, community workers, people from other cultures, people from other agencies, councillors, the mayor, the local MP and many more.

When we moved into this role, my wife, Andrea, said to someone: ‘Watch Andrew now! He’ll simply connect and collaborate with people. Watch him network the city.’ She knows me so well! With no sense of ego, this is who God has made me to be. It’s how he has gifted me. It’s my character and my strength.

The key to contextual mission is to listen well. In this season, I’ve been seeking to listen at a much deeper level. John Stott, in his book The Contemporary Christian: An Urgent Plea for Double Listening, tells us that it’s important to listen to God and to listen to our community context. This is what he calls ‘double listening’. Many pioneers and mission teachers have spoken about this idea in their writings.

It’s been so good to listen and not talk. Although, of course, I have chatted lots too. What has shocked me – deeply shocked me – has been the number of people who said that they didn’t know how to grow church or how to share their faith.

Take time to consider verses 30 and 31 – ‘Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.’

These verses of Scripture stir up a number of questions.

Pause and reflect

How have you been enabled to explore your faith?
Do you know how to communicate it well?

Have we created a Movement of people who don’t know how to talk about, or even listen to, Jesus? Is it possible this is why the Church is in decline in the UK?

Our strategies, concepts and organisation will always fail us, but the Holy Spirit will not. He is energising, life giving, mind blowing.

The words from the latter part of verse 31 jumped out at me. The man invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

I determined to practise not only the art of listening to Jesus, but also sitting with as many people as possible. I have listened to their needs, their heartbeats and the cry of the city. I have listened to the lonely, the rejected and the broken. I have listened to the powers in authority, to the decision makers and the fund holders. I have intently listened to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

I’ve been drawn back time and time again to the reality that it’s not by my might but by the Spirit (see Zechariah 4:6) – so says the Lord! Our strategies, concepts and organisation will always fail us, but the Holy Spirit will not. He is energising, life giving, mind blowing. Verse 35 reminds us that we need to keep Jesus front and centre of everything we are and everything we do. We are, after all, an army of salvation.

I imagine that when the eunuch sat with Philip and heard him talk of Jesus, he had his heart and mind captivated by what he heard. As our people have been listening well, we have seen something similar starting to happen before our own eyes. They have arrived at a renewed sense of vision, of purpose and of our values, and they have begun dreaming of what can be.

As we have listened to Jesus and to the city, we have prayed, cried and rejoiced over it. After all these years of pioneering, innovative community and church leadership, I’m learning and unlearning so much. In this season, I’m listening in a deeper way and seeking to hear what is being said. Could this be the reason that prayers are being answered and plans are coming to fruition?