“The ministry of listening has been entrusted to them by Him who is Himself the great listener”. This little quote from Dietrich Bonheoffer gives his readers a tantalizing glimpse of the profound and powerful action that is listening. By identifying listening as a ministry and representing its source as the divine itself, we are able to look beyond the naive confusion with hearing and see the much broader connotations of listening as a deeply spiritual and interpersonal act. Seen in this way, listening is then an act that must require commitment and profound presence, as well as openness and patience. The aim of this essay will therefore be to come to a better understanding of the act of listening, particularly listening in a crisis ministerial context, with the aim of bringing out the central themes behind what makes a good listener. and how these skills are seen as beneficial. To achieve this, this essay will draw on material from three interviews with friends and family in which questions about good listening and listening in times of crisis were asked, comparing them with current literature on the topic. What Makes a Good Listener “For this section of the interviews, I asked interviewees to outline some of their thoughts on what makes a good listener in general circumstances. In particular, I asked what indicators they have identified that tell them whether the listener is actually listening, or just listening. Sue, I believe a good listener is someone who is attentive to what I am saying, who can see and hear more than just the words. Someone who is… 'with me' enough to identify what is happening inside. I can tell if the person is truly present with me through their facial expression...... center of the card ......ication. Auckland: Longman, 1997. Bolton, Robert. "Listening is more than hearing." In Bridges Not Walls: A Book about Interpersonal Communication, edited by John Stewart, 175-192. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1990. DeVito, Joseph, Susan O'Rourke, and Linda Neil. Human Communication: New Zealand Edition. Auckland: Pearson Education, 2000.Dinkins, Burrel David. Narrative pastoral consultancy. Longwood, Florida: Xulon Press, 2005. Mohan, Terry, Helen McGregor, Shirley Saunders, and Ray Archee. Communicate! Theory and practice. 4th. Sydney: Harcourt Brace, 1992. Smith, Voncile. "I listen." In A Handbook of Communication Skills, edited by Owen Hargie, 256-265. London: Croom Helm, 1986. Verderber, Kathleen S. and Rudolph F. Verderber. Inter-Act: concepts, skills and contexts of interpersonal communication. 10th. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.