EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
I want to write today about effective communication. The most important communication as a Believer of course is prayer, but for it to be effective we must make sure there is no unconfessed sin in our life (Psalm 66:18) otherwise God is not listening. Also for it to be effective it must be 2 WAY CONVERSATION. Prayer is not always verbal but the language of our heart, and not only must God be listening, but so must we, and be willing to obey what He says to us.
To have a happy marriage COMMUNICATION IS ESSENTIAL, the thought processes of a man and a woman are so different, how words are said communicate (and the level of the voice and the inflections) often even more than the meaning of the words. The human carnal reaction is to go silent and withdraw but that will never solve the problem that has arisen.
As a Missiologist I taught for many years cross cultural communications, and learnt often the hard way when in a missions country that what I meant and what my hearers understood was totally different. How can you teach on the truth “we are the sheep of His pasture” for example, if your hearers have never seen s sheep and don’t know what pasture means. One of the big challenges for Bible translators is to use words that the readers will understand. I understand the is a Bible translation that speaks of the “pig of God which takes away the sins of the world”. If the only animal a tribal group knows is a pig they need to slaughter, even though it is an unclean animal to the Jews, at least the truth of Christ the sacrifice for our sins is communicated.
Once in Papua New Guinea I was teaching on those things that disqualified the Levitical Priesthood from ministry from Leviticus 21, which included such reasons as broken hands and broken feet and crushed testicles. I was shocked when the Interpreter used the word “buggered up” for broken and crushed. For that word and its derivations were a swear word when I was growing up (it sure seems to have changed its meaning and is commonly used in this generation).
Thirty years ago in my first year of Bible College ministry a male student pointed out a female student to me and said she was “hot” again in my young adult generation some one who was hot, tendered to me immoral in their lifestyle. He was saying she was a Godly lady and a great preacher. WORDS SURE CHANGE THEIR MEANING!!!!!!!
As the bulk of my public Teaching and Preaching Ministry has now concluded, I recognise that God has given me in its place a writing ministry especially through these blogs. I want my writings to have the biggest impact to the greatest amount of people I possibly can have. I have always known that words change their meaning, but had not fully taken it into account in my writings,
We had a very dear friend (of over 50 years) and colleague stay overnight with us last week, he has also recently retired from full time Teaching ministry, and he really challenged me to give deeper consideration to my writings and that I am speaking a language that the many young professionals who read my blogs fully understand.
This will be the last blog I write without assistance. I am seeking a group of editors” who I will be writing too in the next few days and if they agree I will submit my blogs too them in draft form, and ask them to let me know if I have made the message clear. It is the language I want checked, not the Theology as I am not seeking everyone to believe the same as I believe, I JUST WANT TO EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE.
Would you be interested in being an “editor” ? if you are you can contact me on:
[email protected]
Facebook
Would you also pray with me, not only that I get a group of “editors” but that my writing ministry will be a blessing to many hundreds and thousands of people. The blogs are currently being translated into Bahasa Indonesia, I would still love to see them translated into Mandarin and Vietnamese.
I hope to hear from you real soon ok?
