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No experience is allowed us without reason. God always has something to teach us. And thus it was, as described in "Surprising Things I Learned in China, Part 2", I learned that a major part of effective witnessing is presenting ... not a sugar-coated version of the gospel, but the whole thing!
There were hundreds of surprising things I learned in China; but today's surprise was perhaps one of my major surprises…
I had been told that everyone in China learns English in school; therefore I wouldn't have any trouble communicating.
Well maybe that was true in some areas of China, but it certainly didn't hold true in any of the areas I visited! Maybe people were simply shy to try their high school English, or maybe whatever English they learned disappeared with lack of use; but I only met a couple of people other than my son and daughter-in-law (DIL) who would speak to me in English.
Knowing I enjoy being independent, my kids went out of their way to help me overcome the language barrier. My DIL recorded several messages in Mandarin that I could play off my phone. They put a taxi app on my phone and showed me how to call a cab and how to tell the driver the last 4 digits of my phone number. My son even gave me a special pair of translation headphones. With these ear buds and a corresponding app on my phone, everyone could speak their native language and understand what was said in return.
Unfortunately, I never could get the translation earphones to work. And the taxi app? Well, we'll just say we could fill an entirely different devotional series with stories about how that didn't work out! I did use the pre-recorded messages a few times; but truth be told, my best bet was to whip out Google Translate. I was able to navigate several situations with this alone, and only once did this method fail me: I went into the pharmacy for some antibiotic cream, and I came out with antifungal cream! Fortunately my translation app was able to translate the words on the box for me...
In the end, even though no one seemed to speak English, I was still able to function quite well, even on my own!
So what does this have to do with sharing the gospel message with our unsaved friends and family members?
Just this: When we attempt to spread the gospel with non-believers, we have a huge language barrier to overcome! And I'm not just talking about sharing the gospel with foreigners! I'm talking about the Christian propensity to use Christian "jargon" -- Also known as "Christian-ese"!
If you aren't aware of your fluency in "Christian-ese", check out these common phrases: "The Bible says," "saved," "witness," "propitiation," "salvation," "make Jesus your Lord and personal Savior," "God led me to ... " or "God really helped me with ... ". To unsaved ears, we might as well be speaking Mandarin to English-only ears! Sure they may understand the words themselves, but the meaning will elude them.
Take "The Bible says" for example. The Bible may be the gold-standard of Truth, but this is only a viable argument to someone who actually believes in the Bible's veracity. Our unsaved brothers and sisters don't believe in the Bible, so this "proof" holds no value to them.
And what about, "God led me to ...." Well, if you don't believe in a God Who interacts with mankind, you might as well be telling them you're listening to little voices in your head!
Basically, in order to be understood by our unbelieving friends, we need to speak the language they are familiar with. We need to assume that they know nothing about Christianity, and we need to forget we ever knew "Christian-ese."
This is exactly why we are told, "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..." (1 Peter 3:15 NIV). We need to come up with ways to explain our faith without use of "christian-ese", so that we are always prepared.
Isn't it too bad there isn't a translation app for that? What we do have instead is even better. We have the Holy Spirit. If we stay in tune with Him, He will help us to know what we should and shouldn't say: "...for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” (Luke 12:12 NIV).
The lesson on witnessing to be learned from my language surprises in China is this: We need to study and learn ways to present the gospel message without the use of "christian-ese"; and to do so, we can rely on the Holy Spirit to help us.
Oh ... I had one more surprise that has to do with the language... My DIL's best friend's 5-year-old daughter came up to me, called me "granny", and initiated a conversation with me, all in English. Maybe when I expected people in China to speak English, I was looking to the wrong age-group! And the lesson to be learned about witnessing is, sometimes understanding of the gospel will come from surprisingly young—or old!—places! We need to be vigilant to see where God is already at work so that we can capitalize on what He is already doing!
This is the last lesson on witnessing in this series. If you've missed any of the previous lessons, we invite you to click here to access the rest of the mini-series. God bless you as you work on approaching your witnessing in a more effective manner!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
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