ChristiansUnite Forums

I came across the following article on how to better communicate with "un-churched" people. I found the ideas in it to be very sensible. Most people have no idea (or worse; the wrong idea) about the meaning of many words, phrases, etc. that Christians use. I shortened the article a bit. Also, while you read, keep in mind what Paul said: "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."

http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/resources/jargon.php (http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/resources/jargon.php):

Using the right words

Insider language excludes people[/b]

"How difficult it is to be simple."
- Vincent Van Gogh

In most sermons for Christians, or any Christian magazine, there are usually very many jargon words and phrases. We feel comfortable with them! Using them makes us feel that we belong! In prayer too, we love to use these words.

Here are just a few:

"born again, salvation, saved, sinner, new birth, Savior, justification, Holy Spirit, testimony, evangelical, assurance, redeemed, redemption, saved, mission, outreach, repentance, witness, confess, found the Lord, have a burden"

This is the language we must unlearn and stop using, if we are to communicate effectively with non-Christians! They are 'insider terms' which exclude the typical unchurched person. We must learn to get inside their heads!

You mean, "I can't even say 'sin', 'repentance', 'faith'?"
That's right – there are alternative ways of expressing all these concepts which will be much more meaningful. We must assume that those we contact know nothing about Christianity. A Barna Research survey found that in US (a country with a church-going rate 10 times that in most other places), only one third of adults could define the term 'the gospel'. 7 our of 10 had no clue what 'John 3:16' meant. 52% of people in the UK do not know who Pontius Pilate was.

Christian readers may commend the use of such words because it makes them feel comfortable, but we are not writing for Christians! You may indeed get criticism from Christians for not using such words. Live with it! Website writer Iyohi says she felt guilty for a year because she had seen it stated that pages should make a Christian statement by placing a Bible or a cross at the top of a web page, whereas she was rightly trying to "make my main pages nonchalant and less Christian [in appearance] just to get people to click."

"This is for them, not for us"
In all our writing, we must keep in mind our target non-Christian reader. We are not writing to Christians, or even to people likely to have any significant Christian understanding. The test for every word, idea, concept should be: "Will they understand this? This is for them, not for us." Otherwise, non-Christians will quickly come to their own conclusion: "This is for them, not for us."
We must also realise that some non-Christians may be familiar with Christian jargon words due to a Christian upbringing, but can be repelled by words from the past that they regard as cringe-making and religious. They too need the message in non-threatening neutral language. Evangelicals, as a grouping, are viewed in a very negative way in most countries. Surprisingly this is true even in America, as a recent Barna Research study demonstrates. In many countries in continental Europe (e.g. Poland) evangelicals are perceived as a cult.

Charity, a Christian who visited such a lowkey-start evangelistic site recently, saw the significance of this approach, writing: "It is really cool to see how God is using this to reach the world! At first I was sure it was a New Age thing because it was so down-to-earth and easy to understand. It kept me interested!"

If this site was written in business-seminar-speak, we would no doubt talk of "leveraging new conceptual paradigms". But we don't!

Reaching the inoculated ones
Both C S Lewis and Stanley Jones spoke of people who have been exposed to just enough Christianity to inoculate them against the real thing. These people are another group for whom we should avoid jargon – not because they do not know it, but because they do! As past (or even present) church attenders, they are familiar with these religious words yet do not discern the spiritual meaning behind them, at least so far as their own lives are concerned. And if they also view Christianity negatively for whatever reason, these familiar words will carry negative and possibly hurtful baggage.
But if those same words are re-expressed in neutral, everyday language, the meaning may be suddenly illuminated. Even committed Christians often comment that a verse paraphrased in, for example, The Message, brings a powerful meaning to something which had for them lost its power through over-familiarity.

Capitalization
It is also wise to avoid capitalizing pronouns referring to God and Jesus, for two reasons:
It breaks up the flow of reading, especially for second-language readers.
It looks religious and 'churchy'. Although this Guide does capitalize pronouns for a Christian readership, we do not in an evangelistic context.
Modern Bible translations avoid capitals for these reasons. Indeed, the first editions of the King James Bible did not do it either – it was a much later idea. Also consider whether you need to give a Bible reference when you quote a piece of scripture. As you are writing for non-Christians, they may not understand the reference system anyway. Rather than writing for example, '1 Cor 2;13', we can say that the words were 'written by Paul, an early Christian leader'. This email from northern Europe illustrates the widespread unfamiliarity with the Bible: "I am a reader of your web site, which I read with interest. But there is some things, which I don't understand: John 10:10b, NIV. What it is NIV? Could you tell me please, what it is? The Book of Revelation and where it can be found? What is Acts?"

Organizational names can also contain jargon words – in an evangelistic setting, it may be appropriate to choose a different name to brand the site.

"How difficult it is to be simple."
- Vincent Van Gogh


van gogh sure was`nt anyone i`d relate to!  ;D

I agree with this post in part, it`s easy to forget that what may be so familiar to us may sound as strange as fiction to those who never picked up the Book, and our conversation  as far as citing biblical passages and character references would sound like we are talking  greek...
BUT as for the statement "This is the language we must unlearn and stop using, if we are to communicate effectively with non-Christians!" NO WAY...dont use the words sinner and Saviour when talking to the lost?    >:(  Simplifying the message in that context sounds like watering  down milk,  are we to water it down so much its not a message worth sharing?

Maybe some of the words mentioned should still be used with the un-churched. But then again, maybe not. I think it might be a matter of opinion as to which words to use in order to convey the message best. But the general idea is words that seem to have a great deal of meaning to us, may have very little or no meaning to them. For example, "Savior" has quite a bit of meaning to us, but I would bet there is a large part of society that doesn't even know what the word means. If we say Jesus saved us from going to hell, it would have the same meaning; which is the important thing.

(Also, it should be noted that this article is about communincating with the lost. So I don't think the writer is necessarily saying we should stop using certain words, and things like that around each other. The writer even mentioned that he capitalized pronouns because his intended audience are Christians. Something he suggests not doing when the audience are non-Christians.)

Amazingly enough, I agree with much of the article!  ;)

To me, it's kinda like lawyers. Their legaleese might make sense to them but the rest of us prefer it in laymen's terms!  ;D And I think that's the jist of it..... When Christians are speaking with the unsaved, we tend to pop off terms that have absolutely no meaning to them.  I call it 'Christianese' and try to avoid it with both the unsaved and new Christians.

However, I do draw the line at capitalization!  ;)

The message of God has significant calling power. The words used must relay that same message or the power is lost.

What word would be substituted for blood for instance?

What word would be substituted for agape love, for brotherly love?

What word would be substituted for Son of God?

Could any of these and more be simplified and still retain God's purpose? His power? That of redeeming man back to Him.

ollie

Simpler still..... how would you explain it to a small child?  :)
Wouldn't you give it to them in small bites and add to it as their understanding increases!

Just one point of note, that I have learned through experience.

"Unchurched" and "unsaved" are not necessarily the same thing.

There are an awful lot of "unsaved" in the church buildings of today, and there are many saved souls who are "unchurched".

 :)

I'm always getting compared to a small child. Dunno why

Hmmm...how tall are ya?  ;D

'bout 3'2"

LOL ;D Good answer ;D



(http://www.sirinet.net/~blkidps/blgif1.gif)

They always are

ROFL! Sorry, caught me off guard!  :-X

I like kids -- haven't killed one, yet..... ;)

Well, not 'always'. This one's not good:
;)

Sorry to ruin your fun

i like the idea of making the idea easier to convey (even if i am an atheist *ahem*), but i think you'd be right to draw a line at the jargon, When someone learns something new the jargon is explained to them and what it means, then you can use the jargon in full knowledge of them understanding you

The captails thing is silly - I would accept that as something that would be needed, if your not going to learn from the start, when? (thats a fair point, enquiry here would you people be offended if i left God as god? i'm not sure wether to be polite or stick to my ideals...)

oh and on the quotes?

"All genrealisations are dangerous, even this one"

And finally Churchill "it is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations"

i love the irony too

Polite is good!  ;D
Actually, it's just a sign of respect, Kalthzar. I'll even capitalize your name.  ;)

*sigh* I s'pose I'll adapt.  ;)

okay thanks just so i know

hate to be ahh hmmmm well offensive, anger doesn't usually get you anywhere in a discussion

I'm afraid ther's only enough room for one Atheist round here.
You sound cleverer than me so I'll pack my bags

.....Wha'?

Never mind. About 85% of my posts should just be disregarded

yes, tell me should that one be ignored? if so what the true statistic?

how many other atheists are there on this forum....?

Hey, I've caught a tricky one

if i'm tricky have you caught me or have i caught you?

It's just one enigma after another isn't it?

Ignore these four words.  :)

hey look its a smilie face.......


I hate things like that, impossible actions *shakes fist*

its like saying 1 + 1 = 3

almost