Seeking the Hidden God

How our theology impacts our listening

I grew up in the most post-Christian area of the United States. Very few of the people I interacted with throughout the week were practicing Christians. Sounds scary right? Wrong. I grew up surrounded by kind and generous people who cared deeply about me and their neighbors. All around me were the fingerprints of Christ.

A decade or so later I would learn a theological term that helped me understand this: prevenient grace. It dates back to Augustine of Hippo (354-430) and is a central concept in Wesleyan theology. Prevenient grace claims that God works in people’s lives long before they make a decision to follow Christ. Will Willimon describes it as “the proddings, enticements, and flirtations of God.” Prevenient grace leads people onward to justifying grace.

Learning this theological concept helped me understand the world around me. God was at work in the lives of my friends and neighbors. This concept also formed the way I listen to my community. Instead of looking for people who need me to bring them to God, I look for the places where God is already at work and where I might join in and help people see where Christ has already been active in their lives. Tomáš Halík calls this process seeking the hidden God—“the God whom we must seek and find in the lives of people beyond the visible boundaries of the Church.”

Your Theological Framework

In ethnographic research anthropologists are guided by a theoretical framework. These are pre-existing theories that impact the design and implementation of the research. For spiritual listening we have a theological framework. Our theology impacts the way we see the world around us, and it will direct our deep listening.

Prevenient grace is central to my theological framework when I do community listening. Everywhere I look I see the seeds of the kingdom sprouting.

What is your theological framework for community listening? Comment below.