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Grounded In God:
Listening Hearts Discernment
for Group Deliberations
Revised Edition
Suzanne G. Farnham
Stephanie A. Hull
R. Taylor McLean
Copyright © 1996
The Christian Vocation Project/Listening Hearts Ministries
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations in this book are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Morehouse Publishing, 4775 Linglestown Road, Harrisburg, PA 17105
Morehouse Publishing, 445 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Morehouse Publishing is an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Farnham, Suzanne G.
Grounded in God: listening hearts discernment for group deliberations / Suzanne G. Farnham, Stephanie A. Hull, R. Taylor McLean.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 13: 978-0-8192-1835-3
1. Church group work. 2. Discernment of spirits. I. Hull, Stephanie A. II. McLean, R. Taylor. III. Title
BV652.2.F37 1996
253.7—dc20 96-18840 CIP
Printed in the United States of America
10 10 9
Contents
One Spiritual Discernment: Its Meaning and Value for Group Meetings
Three Searching for Questions Before Answers
Six Spiritual Consensus: A Way of Coming Together in Christ
Nine Building Discerning Communities
APPENDICES OF PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
Appendix One Discernment Listening Guidelines
Appendix Two Sharing Responsibility for Practicing Discernment at Meetings
Appendix Three Checklist for Preparing an Agenda
Appendix Four Inviting Scripture and Creative Images at Meetings
Appendix Five Suggestions for Working Toward Consensus
Appendix Six Practical Considerations for Meetings
Appendix Seven Preparing a Group for a Discernment Approach
Appendix Eight Elements Important to Discernment Around an Issue
Appendix Nine Orientation of New Members and Renewal for Continuing Groups
Acknowledgments
Three of us wrote this book together in prayerful community, but not without substantial help from a constellation of people.
First and foremost, we thank Marilynn E. Cornejo and John E. McIntyre. Efficiently and in good humor, Marilynn typed countless drafts of our work as it progressed and developed over many months. John then combined his mastery of the English language and his solid background in theology to edit the copy for us.
We appreciate the contribution of +A. Theodore Eastman, Sarah T. Eastman, and W. Bruce McPherson+, who joined us in the research. Four other people were particularly helpful as we gathered information and processed it. Arthur Larrabee and Nancy Middleton, Clerk and General Secretary, respectively, of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, met with a group of us for several hours; Arthur also gave us a highly informative set of notes he has assembled for a
