How are We Communicating?

How do we communicate the message of a generous, selfless God in an acquisitive, consumer-driven culture? How do we communicate good news in a society where information is accessed through the distorting lens of a negative media? How do we communicate the living Christ in a culture addicted to death (causing it, watching it, trying desperately to avoid it)? How do we communicate a glorious gospel for the whole world when people see any claim to universal truth as a power-play?

Communication is a complex business. Of course, we’re communicating the gospel’s good news week by week and wonderfully in all our churches, but most people aren’t there. God is worshipped and the faithful are built up, but all those other people we’d love to meet are ‘hanging out’ somewhere else – the pub, gym, school gate, sports stadium, cinema, night club, computer screen. How can the Church hang out where they are? (See the Fresh Expressions website and DVDs for ideas: www.freshexpressions.org.uk)

We’re communicating also through our magazines and newsletters, and I’m grateful that our faithful band of editors and contributors - hundreds of them – are willing to do all that. A thousand thanks. But if we put our magazines alongside all the other material that comes through the door we might be a little alarmed at the difference in what they call ‘production values’.

We also communicate through the very paper you’re reading, the Door, and I’m delighted we’ll be developing this excellent newspaper to be even more effective – and sponsoring a number of other specialist productions too (details elsewhere). Well done to the team for all the new ideas.
But behind all this tremendously important work stands another Figure, asking us another question. Hasn’t God shown us that when the Word needed to be communicated it was best done in a Life? In the beginning was communication, and the form that communication took was the life of Jesus. There must be something crucial about that.

It means (does it not?) that our lives are the best (and worst) communication we have to offer. We are the only bible most people ever read. They see our lives and judge the faith accordingly. What an exciting challenge - to realise that what we say and do could ‘swing it’ for someone watching how we live. It puts the details of our lives at the heart of communicating our faith.
The question is – ‘What is my life communicating?’