In December 2006 The Foundation for Church Leadership awarded a £5000 grant to fund a project ‘Listening Hearts’ by Canon Dr Arun John and his team in the Bradford Inner Ring Group.The aim of ‘Listening Hearts’ was to gather and reflect upon stories of work being done by local church people who live and work alongside those of other faiths in the central urban parts of Bradford. Background to the Project, Arun John

The project worker was Ms Sheelah Hidden. Sheelah conducted 40 interviews with clergy and local Christian workers which were then summarised into the FCL Publication, The Listening Leader (order your copy priced £7.99 by emailing helen@churchleadershipfoundation.org )

The Foundation for Church Leadership held their third in their series of regional consultations on November18th at Bradford Business School.

In the morning Canon Dr Arun John gave a summary of the background to the project followed by Sheelah Treflé Hidden who talked in warm and witty detail about some the of the interviews. Major Michelle Wheeler gave her reflection of the project and the morning was then closed with the reflections by the Ven David Lee.

The afternoon was opportunity for the delegates to discuss in more detail how the project and its findings enlightened their own work and hopes and ideas for the future.

This was explored in groups, charting up the response to two key questions-

Q1) What do you recognize in your work from today’s presentations?

In terms of ministerial leadership, too many competing demands

Dialogue at the level of life: stems from co-existence, with latent element of spirituality

Element of fear often present at local level

Discouragement of decline

Is mindset - survival or living?

Question of leadership - how to release energy

Relationships before projects/structures or vice versa

Listening-Listened to. Praying together

Constraints of institutions

Poor communication/perceptions not getting it together is a coherent way- need to continue gazing at the stars

Willingness to change and its challenges

Reflection leading to renewed vision

Opportunities to listen (Assumptions vs Actual)

Awareness of what is happening around us

Q2) What have we been missing in our research work so far?

How ecumenical are we at the grass roots?

How many leaders are working ecumenically?

Recognition of changing demography

Missed out on growth of other ethnic Christians

Something similar for other faiths

Trends over time

Impact of schools systems

Common meeting points for celebration or listening

The day was concluded with the reflections of Graham Brownlee who suggested that there were five emerging issues

• 1) Identity - listening leaders need to be confident in their identity. We are who we are through our interaction with others but need to be confident about our values and the places from where they are drawn. Conversion involves change and this affects our willingness to develop as people and thus adapt our identity.
• 2) Diversity - for communities as for leaders the challenge of living with - and within - diversity is a daily challenge and reality. Beware of the collusion to have leader-led communities rather than community being formed through the diversity of their makeup with leadership being exercised in different places. There is a real question about whether leaders are primarily preserving institutions of enabling and creating new futures. There needs to be space for creativity in leadership. If not leaders work within ‘themed’ ministries. Issues need to be one focus of leadership
• 3) Dialogue is not for its own sake but for its outworking in practical action and projects.
• 4) Approach - leadership involves giving space and allowing flexibility. Leaders need to be responsive to change taking place in communities and in the approaches of local churches.
• 5) Loose identity to find mission and to change. More work needs to be done to enable leaders to have the flexibility and the confidence to speak different professional cultural languages in different places. We can hold together diversity and difference.

A final quotation from Zigmund Bowman, ‘Identities are for meaning and for sharing not for storing and keeping.’

Graham’s final advice - Break rules, take risks, go with themes.