Speak, I listen!

Good Communicator!

Martin Luther King paired his speech-giving prowess with grassroots leadership and relationship building to help usher in a historic amount of change throughout the 1960s. He had good Public Relations skills which he used for his benefit in his interactions with the people. The success in winning people over to join him showed that his Public Relations skills could be used to breach the gap between racial partiality and peaceful equality and hence shaping the history of the country.

Good leaders focus also on the behaviours that will get the results. Great leaders focus, in addition, on the emotions that will drive these behaviours. One emotion that shapes our behaviour is anger, and Martin Luther King Jr., knew of the power that came packed in this emotion. 

He was a great communicator because he was an even greater listener. It is said that he gained the respect of the Civil Rights leaders who disagreed with him because he listened so intently to everything they had to say. Because he listened to them, they extended him the same courtesy and listened to what he had to say. 

He knew how to attract his audience through his voice. In his speeches, he almost always started out at a slow and, over time, increased his pace and his volume as he drew the audience in and reached the climax of his objective.

He established the historical context for his message. He regularly started with stories from the Old Testament and modern history to make the point that the people in his movement were part of the broader history and gave them a sense of purpose and belonging. 

He repeated the phrase, "I have a dream," again and again as a means to emphasize the hope of freedom and equality that underpinned the essence of his communication.  

In his speech, he established an almost mutual connection with his audience. They drew their energy from each other and he was very tuned into the level of energy of the audience. That connection made the event more than a speech. It made it an experience that moved people to act as one body.

When the rich have fun?

The dress of poverty

Any reason why the rich need to look for the poor when it is said that “there will always be the poor among us”. Could it be that the rich are so consumed in their material possessions that the only time when they have fun is when they think about the poor and still do not know where to find them? How ironic and funny that they are right next to them, but still remain insignificant! The big question is: Why are they looking for the poor?

Is it not interesting or should I say controversial to see the poor man trying to get the rich man’s attention and yet he cannot hear? What happened to the rich man’s senses? He’s looking, but cannot see. The poor man is calling, but he cannot hear. He is so close to touching him, but cannot feel. Whatever happened to him before he accrued all these gadgets! Could they have desensitized him? Could this luxury have blinded him to the cries of the needy or could he be consumed by his own insecurities and worries of maintaining this lifestyle?

The poor on the other hand, sometimes suffers the dependency syndrome on the rich man, community and/or state? Or, could it be the bad vibes felt around the despondent poor who sees no sign of hope? Could it be that the rich man is looking for the poor’s whereabouts to hide so that he can have fun undisturbed?

I wonder what his real needs are in this lifestyle he is having. At least the poor man knows and acknowledges that he needs to have his basic needs like food to survive, but can the rich man tell?

Could they both be wearing the poverty apparel that is just dressed differently? The beautiful and expensive clothes covering a fear of losing the material possessions and that of the poor man looking like there’s no covering, but also having the fear of lack? Could they both be distressing by expressing their fear through having ‘fun’ for the rich man and the poor begging or even approaching the rich man for help to support his family? The question maybe could be: Could they both be struggling to have money? Some people claim that rich people still work in order to stay rich and poor people struggle to keep their possessions.

Out of the mouth of children!

Who’s the steward of love?

Severn Suzuki, at the age of twelve was able to connect emotionally with her audience. Her use of pictures as visuals that evoked emotions, drove the world leaders to recognise the huge challenge she presented to them. Also, her use of family relations as well as taking them back to the fact that they too are someone’s children, caused these leaders to want to care. Her use of love for the earth as a result of loving the children is a good sticky idea. She compelled the politicians and business people to connect to their hearts more than their minds.

This video was recorded in Brazil just over two decades ago and yet it is still making the rounds on YouTube and positively influencing and challenging the young people and adults all over the world. This is because the message made a huge impact and since not all solutions were found, it is still making an impact even today.

Her message about her concern for the environment was so clear, simple and effective. It was also thought provoking as it was so meaningful then, and still resonant now. It speaks to the need for, and the power of the voice of the world’s youth. Young people see things for what they are and call their elders on their actions. Youth don’t know what is not possible, especially when they are passionate about something.

They (Canadian Youth), through Severn’s voice, wanted to be the conscience of the decision makers, and reminded them who they really were: not just politicians but parents and grandparents. They moved adults to action and therefore have seen some change. In 1992 the environmentalists were worried about the ozone layer, for example, but because of the Montreal Protocol, it’s not as big a concern in the recent years. This is to show the impact that this video had in moving the world leaders to make policies that protected the earth. Thanks to the UN’s work bringing nations together to govern the commons, we now have systems and processes in place for environmental protection where there were none before.

Pastors. Do they care?

Pastoral care vision

We all need God's food to be healthy in every way. We also feel truly satiated because we eat the things that He so generously provides. Now when we do not eat, our body begins to feel weak, and we know immediately that we need to eat. If we do not get any food, we will hunger even more. If our hunger is not satisfied, our bodies will hurt. 

For many of us, the main thing that we feel is not hunger, but weakness where we just do not have the energy to do much. The mind begins to become a little slow. Things just do not work with the smoothness that they normally do when we have strength. This is the same experience in our spiritual lives where we need the food that God provides.

The Pastoral Care division is more like the kitchen in the house where food is prepared to feed the family. This is the position and motivation from where I chose this vision. The term Pastor and Shepherd are interchangeable in the Bible and looking at the various scriptures in the Bible, the Pastoral division needs to be doing the work of a Shepherd.

The above shows that the Pastor, in his or her basic relationships with the people, congregation and community, as well as ministry, needs to adopt the heart and attitude as lived by the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ. S/he needs to move closer to the people and stay with them through their difficulties. S/he needs to give their life for the people, thereby showing their concern and care for them in searching and finding them. He or she will in this way establish knowledge of his people’s “nutritional” requirements in order to feed them according to their needs. 

Practically speaking, Pastoral Care is ministering through personal touch. 

Click here for a visual display of my pastoral vision.