{"id":44277,"date":"2011-01-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/dietrich-bonhoeffer-on-ministry-of-listening\/"},"modified":"2011-01-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-31T00:00:00","slug":"dietrich-bonhoeffer-on-ministry-of-listening","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/dietrich-bonhoeffer-on-ministry-of-listening\/","title":{"rendered":"Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the Ministry of Listening"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Christians, especially ministers, so often think they must always contribute something when they are in the company of others, that this is the one service they have to render. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God too. This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life, and in the end there is nothing left but spiritual chatter.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3641,3666,3667,3811,3989,4380,4425,4616,4777,4889,5087,5127,5132,5171],"tax_ctp_topics":[386],"class_list":["post-44277","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-communication","tax_ctp_tags-conflict","tax_ctp_tags-conflict-in-church","tax_ctp_tags-disunity","tax_ctp_tags-fighting","tax_ctp_tags-listening","tax_ctp_tags-marriage","tax_ctp_tags-peacemakers","tax_ctp_tags-reconciliation","tax_ctp_tags-schism","tax_ctp_tags-strife","tax_ctp_tags-teamwork","tax_ctp_tags-temper","tax_ctp_tags-tongue"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the Ministry of Listening - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/dietrich-bonhoeffer-on-ministry-of-listening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the Ministry of Listening - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: Christians, especially ministers, so often think they must always contribute something when they are in the company of others, that this is the one service they have to render. 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