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Please speak clearly

 

 

“If you want me to listen,” I said, “You will have to explain it in a way that I understand.”

Whilst making my breakfast this morning, my younger son was telling me all about a game that he had been playing on the computer. I wasn’t listening all that closely as I was thinking about something else. Having had my train of thought interrupted I realised that I was not really listening because I didn’t understand a single thing about what he was telling me. There were all sorts of words specific to the game which didn’t mean anything to me and I had never played the game and didn’t understand the basics of it.

“If you want me to listen,” I said, “You will have to explain it in a way that I understand.”

How true of the Christian message in our ministry endeavours. More and more, those we speak to of our faith have no understanding of the basics of Christianity and do not have a clue what the words mean that we use about our faith. If we want people to listen we will have to explain it in a way that they can understand.

Not just children and young people, but adults too today, do not have any background in Christianity. This can be a positive thing. In the recent past many had been to Sunday School and had a little knowledge of the church and had rejected it. They were subsequently hostile towards approaches we made in sharing our faith. This is no longer true. People today have never rejected Christianity because they have never considered it in the first place. They are not hostile and will often show an interest when we share what they have never heard before. But we must share in a way that they can understand—explain the very basics and don’t use words they do not understand.

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This article © Linda Faber 2006-2009.