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Lectio Vicinitas is an activity based on Lectio Divina and designed for church leaders who wish to listen deeply to their neighborhood. It can be used to discern God’s call for your church to relate to your community in a new way.
Lectio Vicinitas (Driving Version) is an adapted version of the Lectio Vicinitas for rural contexts and other situations where walking a neighborhood is not possible.
Recommended Reading:
Becoming Church: A Trail Guide for Starting Fresh Expressions by Luke Edwards is a guide book for starting new forms of church that connect with post-Christian people. It includes theological reflection, practical steps, and real-life stories. It all begins with listening.
The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction by Adam McHugh offers a comprehensive theological overview of listening. He argues that despite our current ineptitudes, we were created to listen.
You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy brings together her experience as a New York Times reporter and the expertise of people she has connected with over the years to take a captivating deep dive into listening.
The Art of Listening: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday by Rob Walker is a workout routine for anyone who wants to be more attentive to their surroundings. Its pages are full of insights and activities that will help you open your awareness.
Essential Links:
Silence and the Presence of Everything, an interview from On Being . In this podcast, Krista Tippett talks with Gordon Hempton who is an acoustic ecologist and silence advocate. It's a fascinating episode that will encourage you to listen to your surroundings with an increased depth.
Exegeting a Neighborhood within the City by JR Woodward. In this blog post, Woodward offers a comprehensive set of questions to ask of your community to discern the nature of your neighborhood.
Reading a Landscape by William Cronon. In this free guide, Cronon and his environmental studies students have developed helpful tips for studying a geographic area like an environmental historian. Give it a try today!