How to Have Better Conversations

Is it possible that conversation is the primary deficiency of the modern church?

As we begin to reconsider what it means to live a with-God-with-others life in this world, we must spend time learning How to Have Better Conversations.

A good friend, mentor, and professor of mine has spent quite a bit of time “interviewing” emerging adults (people between the ages of 18 and 40 who are still ‘becoming’ adults). If you want the full scoop, you should read coming of age, but here are some of the highlights.

* The primary concerns of emerging adults, those questions which shape their lives and guide their formation, are significant:
** Am I?
** Do I matter?
** Do I belong?
** Where do I fit in?
** Can I make a difference?

These are not questions which can have imposed answers in three simple steps. They are living things in need of nurture and care. Can we nurture these questions through conversation. Through inviting their story? Through listening their story? Is a person changed by telling their life?

Isn’t the Trinity Itself a theology of conversation?