Germinating Conversations and the art of listening well

Today, our world feels more polarized than ever. We find ourselves re-evaluating personal relationships over current issues that we fundamentally disagree on. And many of us have found conversations on divisive topics hurtful and exhausting.

Are there healthy ways to preserve relationships when we passionately oppose a friend, neighbour or family member’s viewpoint?

Marta Bunnett Wiebe believes there are.

Bunnett Wiebe is the peace and advocacy coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Manitoba and the editor of Germinating Conversations, a book featuring the diverse perspectives of more than 30 Manitobans on topics of food, faith, farming and the land.

The book emerged from an initiative of the same name started in 2012. As a collaborative project of A Rocha Canada, Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) and MCC Manitoba, this ongoing initiative seeks to bridge a divide between rural and urban Manitobans.

Germinating Conversations brings together growers and eaters with varying perspectives on food, faith, farming and the land — when they might not find other opportunities to dialogue with each other.

Bunnett Wiebe first joined the initiative to fulfil a CMU practicum requirement in 2019, not anticipating where it would lead.

“I have to credit Germinating Conversations as my way into broader engagement on peacebuilding,” she says.

Her practicum assignment: compile nearly a decade’s worth of the initiative’s materials to explore what a publication could look like.

As the daughter of small-scale organic farmers in Havelock, N.B., Bunnett Wiebe embraced the opportunity with a longstanding interest in the relationship between food and faith.

After her practicum ended, she chose to stay on with the initiative as her passion for its work grew. And the planning committee invited Bunnett Wiebe to become the publication’s editor.

She approached the project by listening to diverse voices at the Germinating Conversations table, considering how each one’s contribution could fit within the book. When a piece didn’t seem to jibe with the rest, she dug deeper to better understand the writer’s intent.

Bunnett Wiebe invited new contributions and began to consider how she might complement the various voices at the table and tell the initiative’s collective story.

Marta Bunnett Wiebe displays Germinating Conversations, a diverse collection of more than 30 Manitoban perspectives on an initiative that facilitates healthy dialogue amongst rural and urban dwellers.MCC photo/Josue Figueroa

The result is a collection of perspectives, exploring a complex relationship to food, faith, farming and the land. While some articles relate to the initiative’s events, others illustrate the art of listening well.

A peacebuilding process is woven in throughout the book, offering readers a model to follow when met with difficult conversations.

Bunnett Wiebe says that the project provided her with opportunities to spend time with farmers and food growers of different perspectives than she grew up with. It was a gift.

“I feel like I can have conversations with people I disagree with, regardless of the way they farm or the way that they make food choices,” she says.

The book was launched in June of last year with approximately 100 people attending the virtual gathering. Two long-standing participants, a farmer and a scientist, shared their thoughts on the initiative and the book.

An early participant in the initiative and farmer from Plum Coulee, Man., Doug Dyck senses a growing divide between rural and urban dwellers.

“I feel that in some small way, Germinating Conversations has been [a tool and] exercise in helping us to listen, respect and learn from each other, connecting us and hopefully making us more fully human,” he said.

Joanne Thiessen Martens joined Germinating Conversations as a panellist several years ago.

“Along the way and again now when reading the book, I’ve been so inspired by the dedication of the participants who had and probably still have some profound disagreements with each other and yet… continue to engage in the process,” said Thiessen Martens, an agroecologist from Winnipeg, Man. “It’s this commitment that has brought us to the place we are today.”

Dyck and Thiessen Martens agree that the book offers a helpful approach to dealing with divisive issues. Dyck says that the book could be foundational in how we address key issues in society today.

“I hope that this book can serve as an example and a reminder of what is possible when we commit to meaningful conversations,” says Thiessen Martens.

Bunnett Wiebe is hopeful too, acknowledging that Germinating Conversations’ model of listening, discerning and dialoguing has shaped her understanding and ignited her ongoing interest in peacebuilding work today.

“My hope is that as people read the book they will be encouraged and inspired to take up their own difficult conversations within their communities or churches and to explore those conversations together,” says Bunnett Wiebe.

To purchase or borrow Germinating Conversations, visit commonword.ca.

To explore Germinating Conversations with your church or community group, use the study guide, included with the book, or host Bunnett Wiebe as the facilitator to your book study.