HUH??? I don't even know what you said.

Seriously though, I have no clue! That deadpan look in my eyes right there... that's a real moment in time. Go ahead, laugh it up! I sure did. You may never get another opportunity to see me purposely post such an absurd picture of myself. 

I know there are plenty of gals out there that totally get football speak and can talk it with the best of them, but that is not me. It's all foreign to me except for the basic terms like, touch-down.... that's about it. I know what a touchdown is. This gets me to thinking about other groups that use terms specific to their community. Like the church community for example.  

Church speak, otherwise known as Christianese can be pretty specific all the way down to the kind of church one attends. Those of us raised in and around general Bible-belt church talk, totally get the terms. That's not the case though for many who hear us toss around terms like "slain in the Spirit", "filled with the Holy Ghost", or even simpler terms like "grace". 

I first started working in home missions without much exposure to life outside of the church, I was pretty uncultured actually. Imagine my suprise when I asked a room full of people to define the term "grace" and the majority in the room defined grace as a woman's name or something said before a meal. If this occurs with a simple word and concept like grace, it's not difficult to imagine the images that flash though a persons mind when they hear a term like "slain in the Spirit". 

As we branch out of the church's four walls lets bear in mind that we do a great service to the unchurched by leaving the church speak behind. It's hard to receive a message that uses unfamiliar words/terms/ideas; one might walk away even more confused about the person of Christ and character of God. We want to be very clear about the message of the Gospel.

One way to clearly communicate the gospel message is to start with simple ideas that people understand. Jesus provided an excellent example of this. We see in his now famous parables how He told stories that drew people in. He could have resorted to shock and awe techniques using his vast depths of wisdom but in his wisdom He knew that would alienate those listeners that needed him most. Let's follow Christ's example and draw in the hungry hearts to His unlimited resources of love and community.