Did you ever try the old string and can form of communication? As a kid…probably my Cub Scout days…I punched small holes in two cans (green beans, I think…though it doesn’t matter). Then I threaded a string from the outside bottom of the can through the small hole and tied a knot large enough to not slip back through the hole. I repeated it with the other can. Then with a buddy, we stretched the cans a distance away. One would speak into their can and the other would listen. Then we would reverse the roles. OK…it wasn’t hi-fi or anything…but I could hear him, and he could hear me.
Communication.
Crude, but it worked. You know what the key element was in that process? That person on the other end of the can-string gizmo. Without my buddy…no communication.
That truth, illustrated crudely in my Cub Scout days, stretches from the days of Greek philosopher Aristotle to today. While his teacher and colleague Plato dealt more with content, Aristotle developed a theory of communication that takes into account more than the speaker and the content. Aristotle included the listener…the audience…in his equation, as well as the outcome of the communication. Aristotle’s five points in his theory of communication are these.
• Speaker
• Speech
• Occasion
• Audience
• Effect
This theory can still guide us in the communication process. Out of it flows the principles that we need to know our audience and know what we are wanting them to act upon…the effect of the communication.
I love the Apostle Paul’s speech to the Areopagites in Athens when he was invited to talk about this new “religion.” Paul seized the occasion, understood his audience, and had firmly in mind the goal of his speech to these men. It is found in Acts 17. Paul started…
“Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about….” Acts 17:22-23 NLT
Paul had done his homework. Having traveled the great city of Athens he had been distressed by all the statues and the allegiance of the Athenians to all sorts of gods. He used that as an introduction to his speech. He even later quoted a Greek poet to help build a relationship with his audience. But his focus and purpose was to always preach Christ. He cleverly told them the “unknown god” they had built a statue to was the very One Paul wanted to share with them.
Jesus.
That homework on Paul’s part was to keep his audience listening. No audience…no communication. Many of us have stood on Mars Hill looking down into the Agora and across to the Acropolis. I could have stood on the very spot where Paul spoke and could have given my finest speech. But unless there was an audience…another person on the other end of the string…there was no real or effective communication.
When you broadcast, podcast, or speak today, do you know who your audience is? Do you know if they are really tuned into you as you speak? Have you done your homework? Do you say things that relate to their world to help keep them tuned in and catch your message? If not…you may find there is no one on the other end of the string and tin can…and real communication is not happening.
Jesus was a master communicator.
Ken Gosnell leads Christian CEO’s and in an article on Jesus and His example of communication. Gosnell said:
“Jesus always knew His audience. He spoke the right words to the right people with the right tone to deliver the right message.”
So…is anyone on the other end of the string? Do you know who they are? Do you know how to draw them in? Do you have a plan and a purpose for your time speaking to them? Is communication really happening or are you just speaking into a disconnected tin can? How critical is this communication process? Paul summed it up this way:
But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? Romans 10:14 NLT
You have the tools. You have the plan. You have the message. Do you have the heart for others?
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