Understanding Misunderstanding

huh

Miscommunication is nothing new. From the dawn of history, people have always struggled to understand exactly what the other person was saying to them. That’s because we all have our own “accents”—our own way of getting our message across.

This is hard enough when trying to discuss something like politics, relationship likes/dislikes, or even movie preferences. But what about when you’re trying to communicate something intangible? Like your personal faith.

Most Christ-followers communicate their faith with the same “style” that they communicate their menu preferences, political persuasions, or music choices. But there is an added element of misunderstanding built in to the spiritual dimension. Even Jesus’ own disciples said “Huh?” many times to Him.

This Sunday, we begin a brand new series in our 6:00 PM service simply entitled Huh? We will be learning some very practical ways to communicate our faith to others by learning their unique communication style. If you have ever felt that you’re just not getting through, feel free to join us.

Rethinking The Master’s Master Plan

master-planBetsy and my kids had a snow day today, so I took the opportunity to work from home too. I spent some time this afternoon reading some more of Robert Coleman’s excellent book The Master Plan Of Evangelism. Here’s a quote from this book which has stuck with me all day:

“If Sunday services and membership training classes are all that a church has to develop young converts into mature disciples, then they are defeating their own purpose by contributing to a false security, and if the new convert follows the same lazy example, it may ultimately do more harm than good. There is simply no substitute for getting with people, and it is ridiculous to imagine that anything less, short of a miracle, can develop strong Christian leadership.” [emphasis mine]

I need to prioritize my schedule so that my time is focused around people. I’m looking forward to Coffee With The Pastor tomorrow, where I’ll be able to spend some quality time with Barney, Dave, Elias, Jerry, and some of my other Starbucks friends who will be there. What about you? What are you doing to make sure you are “getting with people”?