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The Audience

On Friday I was at a medical education conference. The theme of the conference was preparing clinicians, residents, and faculty to be better teachers. This is right up my alley. During the keynote presentation, a Physician talked about systems care. During the talk, he used terminology that was way over my head. Many acronyms, compounds phrases, and concepts I hadn’t heard before. I was starting to get lost. I thought the talk was over my head and not appropriate to the audience in the room. Then I thought about it a little more. This was the right audience for the talk, I was just not part of that audience.

That is hard to hear. We want messages directed to us. We want to be part of the conversation. This was the first time, I really felt out of place. I wanted to change the speech to fit me, but in this case, I wasn’t the audience. I was there and could listen but this wasn’t for me, it was for others. This is no different than in the Bible. Paul wrote 13 different letters to leaders in the early church. These epistles (21 in total) were written with their audience in mind: The Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Hebrews, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.

“Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me! The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country; or about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness;and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance. All this took about 450 years.

“After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.” – Acts 13:16-20

This scripture may seem strange to you. It’s not really quotable. It’s doesn’t seem to have a clear message. How does it relate to your audiences background? Well, when Paul went into the city, he knew this was a mostly Jewish crowd. He spoke to them not of his works or of Jesus, but of their history. He summarized what they had been through and what they knew. This helped to build report and to open them up to his message about the Gospel. When he went to Lystra (Acts 14) he used examples of nature, sea, crops and the like. (Contextual Preaching, Ed Stetzer). He spoke in terms they could understand. Same thing in Athens. This was a pattern. He changed his message to the people he was talking too.

We need to do that as well. Not just with sharing the Gospel but in everything we do. If we don’t speak in a way people can understand, they can’t hear us. They won’t know the love of Christ. This can be applied to our political talk, our religious conversations, finance, and on and on. Knowing where you audience came from, what makes them tick, allows you to change how you are speaking to them, not what you are saying. The Gospel isn’t for us to change, but how we interact, is up to us as the Holy Spirit works through us.

Are you willing to change your conversation to help people understand the Gospel? Can you see how your approach can help someone be more open to Christ?

I can see and am willing with the help of God.