Over the years I have worked with several groups of young people, who were about to step out in evangelism in the Netherlands (and other countries), mainly to be in contact with other youth. One of the areas we worked on was: communication of the message and what it has to do with where you are coming from and who you are. This is not a ’complete’ paper, it is thoughts and subjects we discuss and work with and I some of you might like to have them.
Communication
Comes from the Latin: communis = common, finding common ground.
Communication is finding common ground, so we know we understand each other and are talking about the same subject. In evangelism, whether that be to the old or to the young, people need to sense that we have a sense of their ground, so they can trust us and let us in to listen to. A colleague of mine also calls this: a person’s holy ground – where he searches for (spiritual) meaning. His altar for the unknown god (Acts 17:23).
Example
We all are a search for meaning, we all want to get the best out of life on earth, whether we believe in an afterlife or not, whether or worldview gives us space to explore and discover or not.
In communication we encode and decode = we put into words and symbols, the things we want to communicate and as a receiver we do the same when we hear what another person says. Yet it might be, that the encoder and the decoder have different pictures and different meaning in their heads and hearts when saying a word.
Example
In discussing the Cape Town 2010 Ephesians assignment for june – where we had to find pictures and metaphors in the text – with a church leadershipteam, all of a sudden people became aware that when they say the word ’salvation’, they think about Christ, but there audience might think about being saved from a (literal) prison sentence. Or might think about being saved from falling of a bridge into the water. And that is it, no connection to the cross. Or maybe in the words, but not in their hearts.
What we mean with our words might need to be checked with the listener. Do we talk about the same subject? What picture do people see, when they hear a word? What is their history with a word?
Language, music, art, drama, etc. are all codes that communicate.
Nonverbal communication
Nonverbal communication is about being: who we are and who we are perceived to be. It is also about behavior: what we do with our bodies and materials.
Example
For many (young) Christians it is very normal to put the Bible on the floor or anywhere else. There is no meaning or thought behind that. But in communicating with people of other faiths, that is a disgrace. If you truly believe that the Bible is the Word of God, how then can you not treat it like a treasure?
Context also determines communication.
You need to be aware of what you say where. The other person might not know the context from which you are talking. You might also not be aware of there context, and say things, that take on a whole different meaning.
Example
Two men are talking: ’Two men died on base, we wuz robbed!’ You’d think it ro be a war story or about a very dangerous neighborhood. You would avoid a place like that, if you did not know it was about baseball.
Word = symbol
Word has meaning.
Example
The word ’sex’. 50 years ago, when using the word ’sex’ most people would immediately connect it to marriage. Today most people only think about ’the deed.’
In communication language and culture are intertwined and none show it so clearly as our sayings.
Example
A few Dutch sayings, often said:
don’t stick your head above the mowing-field
high trees catch a lot of wind
don’t walk beside your shoes
who do you think you are?
behave normal, that’s crazy enough
The meaning of all of them is: don’t be different. This is hard on people, for we are different. It also creates conflict, for one of the Dutch cultures great goods is ’tolerance’.
To have to be tolerant for differences, but not allowed to be different.
It does not match. Therefore it is hard to give another space to truly be his or her own person and be different. And it is difficult to be your own person.
Culture
Culture is a design for living. A way of thinking, feeling and believing. It is the group’s knowledge, brought to us through past generations, while being shaped by the next. It is stored up in people today and for future use, often without them being aware of it, because their life is the ’normal life.’
Missionaries, evangelists need to know the message for the world, but also the world in which the message must be communicated.
They need to set aside presuppositions and try to understand (feel) the influences which have nurtured the members of the respondent culture. Also the cultures in your own culture. The ones that we might not even think about as another culture, for they might be in your own family. What to think of todays youthculture?
World view is determined by culture
There is a lot to say about this, but one example says more than a thousand words.
Example
Take the map of the world. In the U.S.A., the U.S.A. is in the center. In Europe, Europe is in the center. In Russia, Russia is in the center……
And out of worldview comes how we look at relationships. The importance of a mother and a father, the place of youth and the time when they are supposed to become adults. The way we use the word and behavior around respect.
Behavior is determined by culture
Physical – what you wear, how attractive you are
Body language – movements you can or cannot make
Touching – One kiss on the cheek, a hug, no handshake, etc.
Space in interaction. How close you stand to one another
Time – punctuality or not
Paralanguage – how something is said
Artifacts and environments – buildings have meaning (a church, a mosque, a school, a statue remembering World War II, a tree of the ancestors, etc.)
Meaning with and without God
As we can read in other Cape Town papers: without God – God, nature and man, all have a different meaning and become less and less significant. Meaninglessness sets in, because man who thinks and wills on his own, without connection to a higher Being is isolated and unaided.
With God – God, nature, world, man, take on meaning, because man related to and aided by God can think God’s thoughts after Him.
God gives meaning to existence.
God gives meaning to meaning (symbols)
With God we already struggle to comprehend life and know what it is about and why we live. We find that meaning when we understand that in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28) and that it is Christ Jesus who opens the way to that understanding. Without God to comprehend the meaning of life is impossible and people become inconsistent. Trying to find meaning in religion, relationship, material, philosophy, science, alcohol, drugs, etc. Often not even realising that trying to find meaning is the underlying reason of their behavior.
Ambassador
A missionary, evangelist or anyone who communicates the Gospel to others, is an ambassador, never the primary source of the message (like the Bible writers). The missionary has also received the message in his own context.
There’s different cultures playing their roles in communicating the Gospel
The Bible culture, the missionary culture and the respondent culture.
Even as Christians we all think different about culture. Some think Christ is above culture, others He is against culture and others He is in paradox with or He is changing culture. What we think and believe determines how we approach people and the culture they live in. Determines if we want to make the effort to understandwhere they are coming from.
Know yourself – you communicate, not just with words.
Know your audience – they communicate, not just with words.
Know God – He communicates, not just through your way of thinking, your culture.
Knowing God
Missions communication begins with a knowledge of God, in Christ or it does not begin at all.
Q. Do you know Christ? Do you identify with Him?
Q. Do you know what the Bible says about Him?
Be honest if you don’t know, if you struggle. And talk about it with others who know Him. Talk with Him. He knows our human heart, with all its struggles and wants to love it back to His own heart.
The Bible is true, also if you don’t feel or think it.
Identify with the audience – 1 Corinthians 9:20-22 (Dutch with the Dutch :-))
Christians think in acceptance or rejection of the Gospel, but not everyone (most) you meet is ready to do that, for so many have never heard and never thought about the Gospel. Today not even in countries filled with church towers. So many youth today have never even been in a church building. And many buildings have been transformed into housing, offices, dancings, etc.
Acceptance can only happen is there is understanding.
People can think about the Gospel, accept what they understand and apply in part, see different aspects, need different aspects to understand, before they can come to a relationship with the Lord Jesus.
Example
Two years ago a little book was published for people from another religion, to start an understanding of Jesus. In this case the aspect of Jesus being the eldest brother.
Don’t force people, but pray for their understanding.
When in Rome (Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa, …) and in doubt
Weigh the factors, but in the end trust Christ and let the Christian conscience – not expediency – be the guide. (The missionary needs saving as well as all those who hear him)
The message is in you
The feet that bring good news, are your feet! (Nahum 1:150
Christ in you, the hope of glory, is in you! (Colossians 1:27)
Books
Communicating Christ Crossculturally – an introduction to missionary communication, David J. Hesselgrave, Zondervan, ISBN 0310366917
Christ and culture, H. Richard Niebuhr
The art of connecting – you, Jesus and your friends, Roy Crowne & Bill Muir, Authentic Media or Youth for Christ
Heilige grond – de plek van jongeren in de kerk, Corjan Matsinger, YfC, Telos, ISBN 9789058814777
Contemplative youth ministry – practising the presence of Jesus with young people, Mark Yaconelli, SPCK, ISBN 9780281057825