The Increasing Role of Listening in Faith Formation
Highlights from the 2025 Sacred Listening Study
A few months back I had a phone call with Josh Packard, sociologist of religion and founding executive director of Springtide Research. Someone had suggested I reach out to him about his newest project, Future of Faith, in which he and Megan Bissell were exploring the role of listening in the future of faith formation. We had a great conversation and he told me to keep an eye out for a new study that they were working on, The Sacred Listening Study.
The study is now out and the findings emphasize the importance of listening as a skill for spiritual leaders.
Two Takeaways:
The white paper is chocked full of helpful insights, but here are two highlights that stood out to me:
Although institutional trust is low for adults and teens, there is still trust for people they are in relationship with. Only 26% of adults and 16% of teens trust large corporations or organizations, while 70% of adults and 76% of teens trust people they have a relationship with. Institutional distrust is one of the greatest challenges facing the church in the United States. These findings support that and offer a way forward: relationships rooted in listening.
Listening is an effective tool for faith formation. According to the study authors, “Among teenagers, 67% report they grow spiritually when someone listens to them share their beliefs without judgment, as opposed to 33% who feel the same about hearing a sermon.” I often wonder if we are approaching a point in which weekly corporate worship is no longer the centerpiece of Christian faith formation. This statistic would seem to support that. What the church does with this realization has massive implications.
Two Additional Resources from Future of Faith:
As a result of their findings, Future of Faith has offered two helpful resources for spiritual listening.
Three Practices of Spiritual Listening: According to the study authors, “Our research uncovered three core practices that help people open up and deepen their faith: relatability, reliability, and curiosity. These behaviors consistently build trust and foster spiritual connection.” These are relational practices that require time and care. The study expands on each of these and offers advice for improving in these practices.
Sacred Listening Theory: Based on the findings, the authors identified three core principles of sacred listening: Imago Dei, Alignment, and Pattern Recognition. The study website expands on these. Future of Faith is also building tools for spiritual leaders based on these principles.
Conclusion
I highly recommend you take some time to explore the study website and download the white paper. As a subscriber to The Listening Church, I know you already value listening as a spiritual practice. After reading through the Sacred Listening Study you will see the research that backs our hunch that listening really is important to the future of the church.
The study authors put it perfectly, “Listening is both the pathway to greater trust, and a significant point of faith formation all on its own. Taken together, these two aspects suggest that the most successful ministries in the future will be those who take listening seriously as a skill set for individuals and a system for entire ministries.”
I am presently finishing up training as a Spiritual Director and this definitely rings true. My question would be as a pastor in more traditional contexts, what, if any, is the role of preaching and teaching?
One question I had was how people grow in faith just by listening to them? I understand the deep-seated need to be heard and if the question was about what we wanted from a church, that would be a viable answer. But how do you grow in faith without engaging in dialogue? As a former marketing analyst, poll developer, and focus group leader, it feels like the right question wasn't asked or understood.