The Speech or the Discussion
With the November election in the rearview mirror, I have been thinking so much about the effectiveness of communication. Watching politicians relentlessly stump their positions is always so interesting to me. Does it really work? Are they getting their message out to the public?
Is the speech or the dialogue more effective? And which one should the church be using to share its message?
The North American church model is not designed for discussion, actually, it is quite the opposite. The sermon is a monologue, and more often than not it is one person from the platform talking to lots of people sitting in rows.
What’s become clear to me is that this model is great for presenting information to a consumer, but it lacks when it comes to getting people into participation.
Said another way: How do we move the church body from consumers to participants in building the Kingdom of God?
While it is probably more complex than what I can answer in a simple substack, I will suggest this;
We must change the model from monologue to dialogue.
We have to engage with people in circles, not rows, and find out how God is moving in their own lives.
Maybe one of the secret weapons Jesus used was the fact He spent most of His time with the disciples talking, walking, and doing life.
Maybe its time for church leaders to do fewer speeches and have more discussions.