Oral History

Participants can become archivists for the congregation by listening as long-time members tell about their experiences. Engage the children in recording interviews with volunteers using note-taking - an activity that can sharpen listening skills - or an audio or video recorder. After the interviews, have the children write a report for the congregational newsletter. Or, have an adult or older youth with the skills and equipment help the children prepare an audio or video presentation. Donate the resulting documents or recordings to the congregation's library or archives.

The Listening Project

Visit the Listening Project to see if there are connections that you might make in your area. The Listening Project Training and Resource Center is a service of Rural Southern Voice for Peace (RSVP) a non-profit organization. RSVP supports programs that use deliberate, compassionate listening to help groups discuss issues from immigration to industrial logging to international conflict.

An article in New Age Journal said:

Since 1986 RSVP has offered Listening Projects in dozens of tension-torn communities as an alternative to conventional activist approaches - debates, protests, vigils, litigation, civil disobedience. Coming into volatile situations and confronting issues that might send seasoned mediators running for cover, they use compassionate listening as a way to understand underlying problems, introduce new ideas, and to help communities develop their own positive solutions for change.