Listening and Caring Skills in Ministry: A Guide for Groups and Leaders Paperback – April 1, 1996

Great book for anyone that wants to improve their listening skills. I highly recommend it.

While most of the concepts presented in the material are nothing new, this is the only work I've found that teaches the use of these combined concepts, explaining them in a professional, yet concise and easy to understand format. I read the book in one sitting and was able to immediately use the 'Negative Inquiry' tool with my partner and I was astounded at how quickly and flawlessy it defused a commication that might have resulted in conflict and misunderstanding had I not used this tool. We've all heard about, and possibly studied the art of reading body language, tone, paraphrasing, etc., however, the author combines the use of these and other techniques to use in all areas of one's life. While the teaching provides wonderful tools to use in professional and/or ministry capacities, these tools can also be successfully applied to our personal lives. It will favorably change my communication style not just as a listener, but also as the speaker. One of the most profoundly useful lessons for me was the 'fogging' technique when responding to criticism. I have always struggled to accept criticism without becoming defensive. Developing the skill of 'fogging' will undoubtedly become a life long solution for me in this area. I can't imagine any reader would not benefit from cultivating the skills taught in this book.

I was required to read this book as part of a pastoral training program and I'm glad I did. I walked away being able to use some of the skills outlined in the book immediately. Some of the other skills will take more practice but I would highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to communicate better with anyone else from an employer / employee, spouse, volunteers as well as people you may be responsible for counseling or at least, listening to. I will never look at communication the same way again as now, I am listening to the speaker more intently and not just to listen to the 'issue' they wish to discuss. I am listening to the style of their communication and how to bridge the styles if I am naturally another style. Also, it teaches how to use paraphrasing and the most significant aspect I learned directly from this book and had never heard before, was how to teach my critics to help me do better in my weak areas. I will never look at criticism the same way again either; the book teaches how to not only handle it, but respond to it appropriately and actually, diffuse a potential argument. In summary, if you've never learned these skills, pick up this book.

I learned these skills in a listening seminar several years ago, but the book gave more detailed information.The book tells you what to listen for in someone's conversation to understand them better. It is also somewhat of a book on psychology in that it tells you about how people develop what the author calls "Life Commandments." These are ideas that a person lives by and can change the course of their life. He tells how to find out what yours is and how to change it.The book's editing seemed to stop before the last two chapters. There were several missing periods, and a few obvious misspellings/typos in the Kindle edition.The book seemed to just stop abruptly. It didn't have a "wrap-up" chapter. Maybe I like to have things neatly tied up in a bow at the end.If the book is updated, hopefully, the typos/spelling errors can be corrected.

This book is not just for Pastors, Counselors and Small Groups. Skills learned from this book are for all of us who want to improve and getting better at communication in our daily lives. I highly recommend attending the Listening Lab based on this book if there is one available in your town, churches or support group, especially for extravert folks since we are apt to talk more than to listen. Mr. John Savage is a loving, compassionate teacher, and his teaching, on listening skills, is God's gift to all of us. Thank you Mr. Savage for imparting your wonderful skills and knowledge.I have the privilege of listening to Mr. John "Tim" Savage teaching and meeting him in person, and I am looking forward to more blessed opportunities to listen to Mr. Savage's teaching in the years to come. THANK YOU!

This gave me some helpful tips on how to better my listening skills as a chaplain. I would recommend to other chaplains.

For any one in a caretaker profession, from nursing aside to minister to physician, this is an important companion. Too many subsume the needful person s narrative to their own story, thereby negating much of the care they offer.The is a prefect companion to any of the excellent living human document books available. My favorite is "The Wounded Healer."

This book is short--a fast read--but there is so much information in it, I think it deserves multiple readings.It is a very practical guide to "listening and caring skills," which aren't quite as obvious as you might think. There is a lot to learn in this book, and it is a good choice for counselors, religious leaders, teachers, or even people who just want to learn more about compassionately communicating with and listening to others. I have applied many things I learned in this book in my everyday life.

Excellent

This is a lazily produced scan replete with typos. The index does not have page numbers and is not hyper-linked. I suggest do NOT order the Kindle version here. There was very poor quality control on this item.This said, the book has good content. Just not prepared for Kindle with sufficient attention to quality.