Getting to Know You
From Leaderpedia
by Robert Walter
Purpose
- To learn about listening.
- To begin building relationships with a new group.
- To look back at some of the key relationships in your life.
Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. (James 1:19 The Message)
Exercise
Relationships grow as we share our lives and listen as others do the same. Choose one question to share in your sub-group (group of 3-4) when you meet for the first time. That means if there are three people in your sub-group you will each share the answer to three questions – yours and the questions the other two people pick. Listen attentively to each person as they share and respond appropriately as they do. When you finish sharing, pray for one another.
Ways to respond include:
- Rephrase a portion of what you heard to demonstrate that you understood.
- Observe the emotional content and empathize with the person through a word.
- Ask a clarifying question
- Affirm the person or thank them for something they revealed about themselves
As they share, refrain from:
- Giving advice
- Interrupting
- Preparing what you are going to say next
- Allowing distractions (mute your cell phone, focus your mind)
Sentence Completions
- One of my favorite childhood memories was…
- When I was a child I was good at…
- Looking back, I felt closest to Jesus when
- If I had to say one good thing about myself I’d say that I …
- One thing that I’ve overcome is …
- A compliment that has been paid to me recently…
- One thing others like about me is…
- A turning point came in my life when…
- The person who has had the most influence on my spiritual life…
- One of the hardest things I’ve ever faced was…
- My favorite comic strip or cartoon is…
- If I knew God would answer one prayer, I’d pray….
I would never belong to a group that would accept someone like me as a member.—Groucho Marx
