Communication

Mission

         Monthly

We have the greatest message the world has ever known – but are we communicating it properly? Have we realised that while the world has discovered the TV, the radio, the internet, the Ipad, the Ipod, the mobile, the computer, the 3D film, the DVD, the video – we have grimly held onto the methods of communication that our great-grandfathers were using?

The first thing we have to get over the issue of being 'worldly'. Communication methods used by the world should not be dismissed as worldly. People in the world talk to each other – are we going to revert to sign language? The Gospel message itself is unchanging but the packaging it comes in must keep on changing.  Jesus presented His message in quite different ways depending on his audience, and Paul used totally different techniques in different cultural settings. Most of our buildings, organisations and structures have their roots in another generation.  They may have been appropriate then but they can be positive barriers now.  They are not part of the biblical mandate – we may replace them if we want to!

God can use any method He wishes to talk to us, so yes He can use old methods, but why would we want to make life harder for those who have not heard about Jesus? Haven't they got enough to overcome in responding to the gospel without shrouding that gospel in language they do not understand, or hiding it behind rituals that are alien to them?

We must not dilute the Gospel's demands, but we must not allow it to become so hard to understand that people turn away without realising what they are turning away from. However, things must change because we desperately want to communicate with contemporary men and women, not merely because we like trying something new! 

As the church begins to work through these principles in leaders’ meetings, house groups and informal discussion, attitudes begin to change.  Business people who have had to implement massive changes in their places of work, will suddenly wake up to a similar need in the church.  People will start questioning the way they receive information themselves and hopefully begin to put themselves in the position of others who don’t share their faith.  ‘If I wasn’t a Christian what would I think of my church?  What “message” are we communicating to them?’  Questions like these pave the way for some practical changes.

We have to look at our church buildings, and to ask what message they are sending out. Are they welcoming? Or forbidding? Cold? Drab? No, we cannot just knock them down, but what can we do? Can they be thoroughly cleaned, given a new coat of paint, even lit in a more effective way?  Think creatively - anything to help make the building look user-friendly.

What about the church services? Television has heightened people’s expectations of quality in performance. The rapid-fire, high quality programmes they enjoy night by night are tough to compete with. Even the News uses a variety of techniques to hold the attention, and most :presentations of Sunday services seem dull by comparison.  How can we communicate to a generation of people who have grown used to this visual feast at the touch of a button?  Well, we could try drama – there is lots of good material out there. Mime and dance, if done well, add a special dimension to worship. What about visual aids? Power Point is great if you can get pertinent clips onto a large enough screen. Cartoons can stimulate interest, make a telling point and create laughter – all at the same time! And of course music must be done well – again, people are used to very high standards. We can encourage instrumentalists to play sensitively during some of the prayers and readings. If we have competent soloists we can use them. If not, a recording of an appropriate song (with the words on the screen) can be very stimulating.

What else? Why not develop the strengths that exist in our services in what they provide and which are lacking in television communication – silence, interaction and response, for example? These can become the church's unique selling point.  

Our society is used to pace, variety, humour, colour, movement and energy from its television screens, and even personal DVDs. Church buildings and church services are in danger of communicating a message which remains obscured by a slow-moving, repetitive, humourless, monochrome, passive and lifeless ‘package’! God help us to set his Son free from these communication chains so that at least in the twenty-first century people will be making their minds up about the message itself – because we have actually got through to them with what it is all about.

(first published in the Baptist Times June 2010)