Silent in the Background

Why a blog, and why the name?

In November 2020 I was given an award for being 'silent in the background'.

Strictly speaking, my wife and I were given an award at our local Social Services awards day.  Part of the citation referred to my working silently in the background in support of the joint project with Home for Good to recruit more foster carers from local churches.

Apart from sounding a little sinister, the phrase caused me to reflect that, on many occasions, working in the background in support of others is where I feel most at home, where I function best.

That might sound strange, given that I am currently leading a church, but I learned years ago that much of leadership is 'dogsbody' work in the background that no one will see, and humility is needed in church leadership, as much as, if not more than, anywhere else.

Silent?  Sometimes I wish I was more silent, when I speak up in meetings and other places and wish afterwards that I'd said less or expressed myself differently.  And sometimes I regret not being able to say more, as I can't order my thoughts quickly enough to formulate a suitable response to a comment or situation.

In a recent interview I was asked the standard question: what is your biggest strength and biggest weakness?  After some thought I said that one of my most noticeable (at least to me) qualities is my ability to see incidents and situations from multiple perspectives.  I see this as a strength in that I can understand, and (I hope) empathise with many different people.  But it's a weakness when it paralyses and prevents me knowing what I think myself.

So maybe this blog will help me to work through some of those things and get to know what I think, at least provisionally until further information comes along.

And I'm sure that my little whispers in the blogosphere will not significantly alter my silence in the background.

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