"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
– George Bernard Shaw
Some people might ask, "Why do we need evangelistic strategies at all? Surely we are just called on to
preach the Gospel, plain and straight, and leave God to do the rest?" Even the words "communication strategies"
may seem to imply worldly marketing methods rather than a dependance on the power of the Gospel through the Holy Spirit.
There are a number of answers to this very reasonable question:
- The word 'preach' does not just mean 'one-way verbal communication' - as in a sermon or evangelistic address.
It has a much broader sense - 'to effectively communicate'. If the receivers have not
understood
the message, real communication has probably not occurred.
- The word 'communicate' also has a root meaning that helps us: that of 'communing' or interacting over 'common' ground.
"You cannot teach people unless you have their attention.... by using illustrations, questions
and even humor. Most people don't like to be preached at, but most people like to be talked to."
(Firm Foundations, Trevor McIlwain, New Tribes Mission)
- We can see in both OT and NT, many different strategies used by Jesus and God's servants to
communicate effectively in various situations. We see OT prophets using visual aids,
the Lord Jesus using short stories
(often containing humor),
while Paul spent
two years
in a daily dialogue discussion ministry, which must have had parallels with interactive studies such as Alpha courses.
- Study of church history and missiology demonstrates many strategies which God has used
for effective communication. Some would not work today. Others only work in a
particular culture.
- Strategies and 'methods' are not substitutes for proclaiming the full biblical Gospel
using the wisdom and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, backed up by believing prayer. They do not
replace or diminish our biblical understanding of the fallen nature of the human race, or the spiritual
blindness imposed by the powers of darkness. They are, or should be, vehicles to carry the
full biblical message across into people's hearts. Regeneration is a work of sovereign grace
by the Holy Spirit.
- Cross-cultural missions have helped us to see the importance of research and classifying
people into different ethnic and social groups - in order to assess if we are reaching them
effectively or not. Too often, in any situation, we manage to reach the 'easy' groups - often those
with some degree of Christian background - the 'once-churched'. Yet we fail to reach (and fail to
notice that we are failing) the 'never-churched'.
- Missions have also helped us to see the importance of understanding the culture of a target
group, and presenting the Gospel in the context of that culture, (for which the technical term is
contextualization). Understanding
the culture and mindset of those even in our own country is essential if we are to reach them.
- There is only one Gospel. It is unique, powerful, and (in the popular sense of that term) 'incredible' - for
it can be understood by a young child with learning difficulties, yet be intellectually satisfying to the cleverest
professor. No other philosophy or belief system can do that. However, our presentation of the Gospel
should not be 'one size fits all'. Just as we would present the Gospel in different terms to children and students,
so we must tailor our presentation
to the needs and culture of every other group also. There are many creative ways
of sharing the good news.
- The Internet gives us a unique way of targeting specific ethnic, social, age, and special-interest groups
on a world-wide basis. The 'pull' nature of the Web as a medium is a God-given tool which has not
been available to us until now. It can only be used fully when we create pages that interest each
target group or touch felt needs, and then explain the Gospel to them in appropriate terms and jargon-free language that they
can understand. This Bridge Strategy is at the heart of the Web Evangelism guide, and has
biblical mandate.
- Pioneer communicator Wilbur Schramm showed us that people can only communicate effectively when there is an area of shared interest. It helps to see this using
overlapping circles - another way is to look at the life of the chameleon.
Since we are the ones trying to communicate, guess who has to make the first move and find the area of common ground?
This is utterly biblical and
1 Cor 9:19-23
is but one expression of the Father heart of God calling us to reach out and identify with people where they are and find an area of common ground. It is of course
expressed most vividly in the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus.
We can biblically present the Gospel by taking people's felt needs as a
starting point.
