Recently, Andrew Hedges wrote for YouthWorker.com that we are Still Missing the Point, doing year ending evaluation by attempting to engage in the kids perspective… even though we are not kids.  And then comes this killer quote…

As has been the case for too long, many youth workers still are trying to make things work on their own. In their conversations, you hear things such as, "I tried this event," or "I had this great idea," or "I’m reaching out." If the focus is on what "I" (the youth worker) am doing with youth ministry, I’m still missing the point.

We are called to serve; therefore, we need to spend more of our time listening than we do talking.

Reminding us that we serve (not only) youth, (but) parents and parish (as well),  Hedges invokes Proverbs (18:13) “He who answers before he hears– his is the folly and the shame.”  and challenges us to “listen to more than that little voice in our own heads. If we don’t, we will continue to be people who are missing the point.” The whole article is a good read. <image source>