LIFEdevelopment.info - Audience

ONE - WHY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE?

Many people would prefer leaving the audience out of consideration in outreach. They would agree with sentiments like these, "Truth is truth and it shouldn't be watered down to please those who aren't following God. Our job is to present the message as we know and appreciate it and if they don't like it, it's their problem." But both the Bible and experience show us that different audiences require different approaches. Let's begin with a look at some of the biblical evidence for this principle.

The Biblical Evidence

According to Ellen G. White, "Lessons must be given to humanity in the language of humanity" (Desire of Ages, p. 34). This agrees with the biblical principle that God meets people where they are. The more familiar you become with the Bible the clearer it becomes that every part of God's Word was given in the time, place, language, and culture of specific human beings. Paul, with his "Ph.D.," expresses God's revelation in a different way than does Peter, the fisherman. John writes in simple, clear, almost childlike Greek. On the other hand, the author of Hebrews writes in complex and literary Greek. In Matthew, you have someone who understands the Jewish mind and seeks to meet it. Mark, on the other hand, reaches out to the Gentile mind. The language of the New Testament is quite different from the classical Greek of Plato and Aristotle. In the 19^th Century many scholars thought New Testament Greek was some sort of "heavenly language," unlike any other form of ancient Greek. But then in 1895 an expedition to Egypt was organized with the express purpose of finding documents from the ancient world. Reports suggested that the town of Oxyrhynchus would be a good place to start.

The scholars stumbled upon a massive ancient garbage dump there, with numerous piles as much as thirty feet in height, and including the rubbish of several centuries. In the dry climate of Egypt very little decomposition had taken place. As a result, the scholars found a treasure trove of ordinary documents from everyday life. Other everyday documents were found in the ruins of houses, still others had been buried with their owners. Some discarded documents were even used to make painted decorations on the wrappings of mummies, both human and animal. Among these everyday documents (among other things) were personal letters, wills, accounts, bills and receipts, and agreements regarding divorce, marriage, adoptions and the sale of land.

When these everyday documents of the ancient Mediterranean world were studied, a shocking discovery was made. The language of these everyday documents was not the scholarly Greek of Plato and Aristotle, it was not the public Greek of law and government, it was the language of the New Testament! It was the everyday language of people on the street. The common people of the ancient world and the writers of the New Testament were using the same language! The New Testament was not written in a heavenly language, nor in the cultured language of the traditional elite, but in the everyday language of everyday people. God meets people where they are!

Perhaps even more significant than the unique language and writing styles of the human authors of Scripture is the fact that God even adjusted the content of visions in order to more effectively communicate to inspired prophets. In Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 the same basic message was presented to two different "prophets." To the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 2:29-36) God portrayed in the future in terms of an idol, something Nebuchadnezzar could easily understand. But to the Hebrew prophet Daniel (Dan 7:2-14), God portrayed the future in terms of the Genesis story (Genesis 1 and 2), from a turbulent sea all the way to a "son of man" (Adam) who had dominion over the animals! God meets people where they are.

No doubt this is why we have four gospels in the New Testament instead of only one. The presence of four gospels in the Bible tells us no one, not even an inspired writer, can reach everyone with the message about Jesus. We all see with limited vision. And a variety of gospels enables a variety of audiences to grasp the implications of Jesus' life and death for their own lives and experiences.

The ultimate example of the principle that God meets people where they are is in the person of Jesus Himself. When God chose to reveal Himself in person, He did not come as "Jesus Christ Superstar," He became a first-century Jew, living in Palestine, who talked in terms appropriate to the local language and culture, who got dirty, hungry, and tired, who even at times became frustrated, angry, and sad (see Mark 1:40,41; 3:4,5; 6:6; 10:13,14). God didn't choose to send us a Superstar, but one just like ourselves. The incarnation of Jesus demonstrates the depth of God's commitment to meeting human beings where they are in their specific time, place, language, and circumstances.

This principle is clearly articulated in Selected Messages, vol 1, pp. 19-22.

"The writers of the Bible had to express their ideas in human language. It was written by human men. These men were inspired of the Holy Spirit. . . .

"The Scriptures were given to men, not in a continuous chain of unbroken utterances, but piece by piece through successive generations, as God in His providence saw a fitting opportunity to impress man at sundry times and divers places. . . .

"The Bible is written by inspired men, but it is not God's mode of thought and expression. It is that of humanity. God, as a writer, is not represented. . . .

"The Bible, perfect as it is in its simplicity, does not answer to the great ideas of God; for infinite ideas cannot be perfectly embodied in finite vehicles of thought."

Experiential Reasons

Some are tempted to think that one mode of outreach is enough. "If secular people don't find our gospel presentation attractive, that's their problem. We warned them. Their blood is off our hands!" But that doesn't seem to be God's attitude toward the lost. He meets people where they are. And He asks us to do the same. This is clearly outlined as a strategy by Paul in 1 Cor 9:19-23.

"Though I am free from everybody,
I make myself everybody's slave,
in order that I might win all the more.
To the Jews,
I become like a Jew
in order that I might win the Jews.
To those who are under the law,
I become like one under the law,
not being myself under the law,
in order that I might win those
who are under the law.
To those apart from law,
I become like one apart from law,
not being myself apart from the law of God
but rather under the law of Christ,
In order that I might gain those who are apart from law.
To the weak
I become weak
in order that I might win the weak.
I become all things to everybody
in order that by all possible means I might save some.
I do all these things for the sake of the Gospel
in order that I might become a partaker in these things."

While Paul does not offer us a detailed strategy for reaching others, the general principle is clear. The most effective way to reach people is the way God reaches them, by drawing near to them, entering their world, and learning their language; making sense within the context that makes sense to them. Like Jesus, we need to become a working partner in the search for truth before we can effectively say, "Think as I think, and do as I do." Presenting the gospel in context may seem compromise to some, but the method has the example of God Himself to follow.

A second reason we need to meet people where they are is because that is how people learn (DA 34). We are only now beginning to discover that what we once thought of in terms of smart and stupid is often only a difference in learning styles. Truth must come to people in a form that they can grasp. This includes more than just using the same language. It includes culture, teaching style, media and topic.

Let me illustrate. I love all three of my children, but I've learned I can't treat them the same, even though they are all descended from my wife and me. I remember when they were small. We used to sit down in the living room and read together. I might be reading a children's book about a bunny hopping around. My oldest had an annoying (I thought at the time) habit. Whatever I said, she would repeat it after me. I scolded her repeatedly, "I'm the one reading here, not you, be quiet!" But it was no use. Then I discovered that there is such a thing as an auditory learner. Auditory learners learn best through hearing themselves talk (know anyone like that?). She was cementing the ideas in her head by repeating them to everyone else! In my well-meaning attempts to discipline her, I was preventing her from the very thing I was trying to accomplish, learning!

My son, on the other hand, is a visual learner. When I read about the bunny hopping, he would run over to me, flop onto the arm of the chair and try to seize the book out of my hand. What a disobedient boy he seemed! But all he wanted was to see the picture of the bunny hopping. That was how he learned best. And he's never had a problem with spelling as long as he could see the words first. Once again, my instincts as a father ran contrary to the learning styles of my children.

Needless to say, my youngest daughter was different than either of the others. She is a kinetic learner. That means she learns best when her body is moving. Guess what she was doing when I read about the bunny hopping? Boing, boing, boing she went, bouncing all over the room! I hated it, but that's how she learned best. Imagine a teacher trying to teach all three of my children at the same time! But truth is grasped most easily when it comes to people in the way that God designed them to learn.

Third, we need to meet people where they are because God has placed within human beings a natural barrier against persuasion. The stronger the barrier, the more stable the person. When someone comes along with an idea that is radically different from what we think, a psychological brick wall goes up. This is healthy and natural. The more someone pounds against that wall, the more it is reinforced. So outreach by "frontal assault" is not only ineffective, it is usually counter-productive. In other words, when a healthy person experiences witnessing by frontal assault, they become more resistant to the idea being presented. This may be why confrontational forms of evangelism tend to attract the unhealthy elements of society. These include people who are unstable and easily led, people who will leave the church as fast as they came in. It is likely, therefore, that the rate of "backsliding" is directly related to the method of outreach.

The only healthy way around those "brick walls" in people's lives is to approach them in an area of their felt needs. A felt need is a point in that person's life where he or she is open to instruction. Students of world mission call this felt need the point of contact, that point in a person or a group's experience where an aspect of the gospel intersects with conscious needs and interests. More on this later.

Tract distribution, on the other hand, is largely a waste of time and money, unless the tracts are specifically aimed at a felt need of the person receiving the tract. Even then, a tract is most likely to be read when it was received from a trusted personal friend rather than from a stranger on the street or in a passing car. This is also true with public media. Christian television and radio must also be combined with face-to-face contact in order to be evangelistically effective.

The Bigger Picture

As is the case with New York City in particular, Seventh-day Adventists are having considerable difficulty reaching the largely secular cultures of Europe, North America and Australia. In some parts of these continents, the problem is masked by an influx of immigrants from parts of the world that are more receptive to the gospel. But the indigenous majority culture in these continents has not been responsive to the Adventist message for at least half a century. Some call this majority culture secular, post-modernism, a way of looking at the world that is increasingly influencing other parts of the world through the power of mass media and the increased social contact that occurs as Westerners travel to other parts of the world.

Our difficulties with the indigenous majority culture in the West have become painfully obvious in my own experience. It all began with a pair of outreach meetings in New York City, back in 1980. I targeted the secular white audience for a whole year at 3-4 nights a week. In the end I baptized about twelve precious people. During that summer, however, I helped a colleague with a three-week tent campaign aimed at a largely black community nearby that resulted in the baptism of eighty-three people. While the relative results were no surprise to me, what was a surprise was the kind of people the tent meetings reached. Not a single one of the 83 people baptized in the tent campaign was an indigenous American. Every one was a recent immigrant from the Caribbean Islands.

Up until that time, I had thought the problem of evangelism was a black/white issue. It turns out, however, that it doesn't matter if a person is black, Hispanic, or Asian; after a generation or two in New York City, a decent income, and a nice home in the suburbs, he or she is as impervious to the Gospel as any white person in North America. The problem of reaching the majority culture has nothing to do with race or ethnicity, it has to do with how solidly one is ensconced in the mainstream culture. Indigenous people who have deep roots in a given Western country, are not naturally open to the Adventist message.

This insight was underlined a few years later by the results of a study of Hispanic evangelism in Southern California. The Hispanic element of the church there doubled every three to four years through the seventies. The study sought to discover what methods might be of general application. Instead it was discovered that over a twenty-year period not a single third or fourth generation Hispanic was baptized, unless they were already married to an Adventist or had some other connection with the church. The church was baptizing only immigrants and the children of immigrants.

The impact of Adventist outreach is even more limited in other sectors. While Revelation Seminars have attracted many people in some parts of North America, the vast majority of the indigenous population has no interest in Revelation Seminars. Without careful demographic analysis it is possible to spend huge amounts of money and human effort to reach a community without result. One effort in a suburb of 60,000 involved $100,000 of advertising and the efforts of 40 pastors. The result? A combined total of eight people showed up the first night! This was because that particular community was made up of demographic groups that have historically shown little interest in the book of Revelation. But that information was only discovered after the effort had been made and the money had been spent.

It is not my intention to criticize traditional methods of evangelism. Most have functioned as long as they did because they were very effective. If what you are currently doing is effective, continue with it. But traditional methods of Adventist evangelism are not connecting with the indigenous, majority cultures of the Western world. Scripture and experience both teach us that we need to add other strategies to our repertoire if we wish to seriously engage the secular, post-modern culture of Europe.

 

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