The Listen – Pray – Care Summer Challenge

Have you ever felt alone?  Even for those of us who seem to be surrounded by people, the answer is often yes.  Why is that?  I believe it’s because so many of our interactions and conversations are superficial in nature.  Rarely do we feel welcome to open up to the hurts, the challenges or even the joys of life.  Maybe it’s because we’re afraid of being judged or hurt further.  Maybe it’s because everyone’s staring at a screen rather than engaging with other people.  Maybe it’s because nobody is there to really listen, I mean, to listen in a way that says, “I love you.”

So, what do we do with a society filled with people who feel alone and would benefit from someone to listen?  If you’re only concerned for yourself, then you could try to make people listen to you.  That only really works if they want to listen.  If not, it could actually make things worse.  In a strange way, the best solution to feeling alone is by listening to someone else.  It’s a classic “golden rule” move.  Do to others as you would have them do to you.  Do you feel alone and unheard?  Listen.  Even if it’s just for a little while, listen to someone else the way you want to be listened to.  Ask good questions, be genuine, put yourself and the rest of the world aside for a moment and really listen.   

While everyone should listen and be a blessing to others, we bring a different perspective to conversations like this.  We follow Jesus.  We entrust our problems to a powerful and loving God.  This led Pastor Alan Klatt to develop a simple structure to guide us to listen like a Christian.  Listen – Pray – Care.  He wrote a book by that name which encourages us to follow this pattern to maximize the impact of our conversations.  When we listen, we listen toward prayer.  We bring the concerns of others to the Almighty God and we follow His guiding to provide care for the other person however we are able.  It’s simple… and it works. 

Let me try to anticipate what many of you may be thinking right now.  “Pray?  Like, right there… with the person?”  Ideally, yes.  Sure you can take a prayer request and pray later.  That’s fine, just don’t forget to do it.  Before you count me out, consider this.  How would you feel if someone took the time to listen to you, clearly heard what you were saying and then brought your concerns to God together with you?  It’s amazing.  At the very least you would feel loved.  Now, I’ll admit that being the one praying can be rather awkward, especially if you’re new to that kind of thing.  But let me tell you, all that awkwardness melts away when you see the look in that person’s face when you say “Amen.”  I get emotional just thinking about it. 

Care is the third step of the process, but if you’ve accomplished the listening and the praying, a lot of care has already happened.  Chances are, as you listened and prayed there were unmet needs that surfaced.  Maybe those are needs that you can meet.  If so, go for it!  Maybe those are needs that can be met by someone you know.  Make a connection.  Maybe those needs simply have to be commended to God.  Then commit to daily prayer.  Regardless of the form it takes, a commitment to care extends the conversation into a relationship centered in Jesus. 

So, what if you spent your summer battling the loneliness epidemic?  What if you kept your eyes open for opportunities to have Listen – Pray – Care conversations, and then did it?  What if you sought to have at least one such conversation once per week?  Well, then you would have accepted the Listen – Pray – Care Summer Challenge!  The challenge is on.