Communication - On Their Terms

Yesterday I shared this diagram with you.


I believe the gospel should be shared with people on their terms using their terminology so their condition isn't terminal. The first portion is the focus today, and it relates to the channel in the communication model above.

Their Terms
One of the problems we face when we're presenting the gospel is that we often fail to use the appropriate channels of communication. In some models the channel will have a jagged line in the middle of it to represent noise or interference. At the most basic level this means is that the channel of communication is insufficient in some way. (Hint: Every channel has some noise.) The communicator has the responsibility of choosing the channel with the least amount of noise in it.

Some insufficient channels we Christians tend to use to share the gospel are

Bible Studies
"Bible Studies" are the silver bullet of the Christian community. Need counseling? Bible Study. Need time away from the kids? Bible Study. Need friends? Bible Study. Need Jesus? Bible Study. If you're not sure about this, then think about it from the other direction. If you were going through life, oblivious to the eternal consquences of sin, would you ever dream of going to something called a "Bible Study?" What if you were a Christian who just didn't feel comfortable in their church anymore. Are you going to head for a Koran Study?
They do have their place, but if they're going to be evangelistic in nature, I think they really need to be purposeful in their approach.

Tracts
I was walking down the street with my wife one evening in a somewhat trendy part of town. A man dressed like Ward Cleaver handed me a piece of paper. (I always take tracts because I like to see what type of presentation they use. If it's from a cult of some sort, I try to take as many as I can!) This one was from a Christian church in the area and it had a picture of a teen with a boombox on his shoulder who was rocking a sweet mullet. I'm not exagerating, I swear. The title said, "Hey Teenager!" and when you opened it up, this little booklet walked you through the dangers of rock and roll music, then explained how all those hot women, cool music, and great clothes could be avoided by trusting in Jesus Christ. I don't think it had the desired effect.
While many tracts are pretty good as far as offering a clear gospel presentation is concerned (see EvanTell's May I Ask You A Question), many are not so good. I'm not entirely convinced that in this post-modern (some say post-christian) culture we're living in that these little booklets are as effective as they once were. It seems like as the world shifts toward postmodernism, people need to see the Christian life lived out in front of them in order to see that it is genuine.

Christian Concerts
Many Christians think that Christian music will save their friends from eternity in hell with its uplifting lyrics (read "not cussing") and its great beat (read "stolen from secular bands"). Christian concerts attract one audience primarily: Christians. It's great to have them, but please don't consider them as a viable means to share the gospel because any messages are quite literally preached to the choir.

Conclusion
Please understand that I'm speaking in generalities here. I know someone will say, "Hey my brother was saved at a Bible study!" or something like that. Occasionally someone will end up at one of these events and realize they've just been playing the Christian game all this time, and now they truly get it. I've even heard of this happening in a seminary or two, though I did not witness it myself. I do believe these cases are the exception and not the rule.

Some solutions that I think would be more effective in sharing the gospel in our postmodern culture are through hands on ministry services or talks on current events topics as seen from a Christian perspective. The methods you use are going to be dependent on the specific culture of your area, but to do it well, you will need to think like a non-christian for a few minutes and ask yourself, "Would I want to go to this?"

Communication Explained (Part 5 of 5)

Receiver: This portion of the model has an important role to play in communication because if the receiver is not present, then the communication model falls apart.

Communication Explained (Part 4 of 5)

Decode: The greatest threat to effective communication is the decoding process. Far too often perfectly good messages are destroyed at this point. The receiver, trying to make sense of the message, attempts to decode the message and ends up coming to a faulty conclusion about the intended meaning of the message. This is easy to see in the case of different languages, but it also occurs with other forms of encoding as well. That's how most of us got to listen to the music we liked when we were young; our parents couldn't decode it properly!

Communication Explained (Part 3 of 5)

Channel: The channel is the chosen medium through which the encoded message is sent. It can be a room, airwaves, paper, stone, etc. Sometimes a combination of channels are used to transmit a message. Sometimes communication models will include "noise" or "interference" within the channel to represent degredation of the message. For example: A message is encoded for television broadcast. That broadcast then travels through the air into your television. The message then travels from your television into your ears. Each of these poses certain threats to the quality of the message when it is received.

I believe noise occurs at every stage of the model. Noise exists within the sender and the receiver as well as the encoding and decoding processes.

What channels do you use to share the gospel? What are some noise threats to the gospel in your context?

Communication Explained (Part 2 of 5)

Yesterday we looked at the Sender. Today we're examining "Encoding."

Encode: Many people have never considered the idea that all forms of communication have been encoded in some way. Languages are the typical form of encoding, but there are others such as music, painting, sculpture, etc. Encoding poses a great threat to the communication process because it relies on the receiver being able to decode the message properly. Oh and all communication is encoded, so there's no way of getting around it.

What are some ways that you encode the gospel?

Communication Explained (Part 1 of 5)

I need to define some terms for you, so we will all be on the same page as we look at this model for the rest of the week.

Sender: The sender is the source of the communication. A sender does not have to be a person; it could be an organization, a device, an animal, or almost anything. For this reason the sender is represented by a circle on the diagram. For our discussion, the sender will almost always be either an organization (a church or a parachurch organization) or a person.

Communication and the Gospel

I sit at my computer today working through the far too lengthy to-do list. With Digsby running in the background feeding me information from my various IM clients, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Yahoo mail, I received this twitter from Bobby Gruenwald from LifeChurch.tv (twitter): "Live from Saddleback http://qik.com/video/82585" which shows a live video feed from Bobby's trip to Saddleback Church out in Southern California. A few minutes later, I receive an email from Bill Koogler, a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, about setting up an online forum to discuss theology and ministry.

Billions of bits of information fly to me every day. In our connected world 1.3 billion people are utilizing the tools of communication, but it makes one wonder if communication is actually taking place when we think it is.

The following diagram is an example of a simple communication model.



This week, I will break down the pieces of this model in order to show how communication works (in theory) and how this communication model can help you build relationships, improve your marriage, and share your faith.

I'll toss the question to you. Consider the diagram above and answer this question: Through these various tools of communication, do you believe effective communication is taking place? Why or why not?

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