Biblical Communication in a Multi-media Generation
By Dr. Gary
R. Becker
We are
called by God to be communicators of the truth of His Word.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have
commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). Our task is not simply to
bring people to a profession of faith but to a place of
comprehension and application of God’s truth. A question we need
to ask ourselves, especially as pastors and teachers, is “Are we
communicating?”
Facing Some Realities
One of the
great resources for helping us to evaluate the effectiveness of
our communication is the Barna Research Group. This research is
extremely valuable to all who desire to be communicators in this
generation. Following are some random results from Barna’s
research, found on barna.org. (Emphasis of italics and
underlining is mine)
-
7% of
Americans classify themselves as evangelicals (2004)
[His
definition of evangelical is one who accepts the basic
fundamentals of Biblical Christianity.]
-
By a
3-to-1 margin (64% vs. 22%) adults said truth is always
relative to the person and situation. (2002)
-
Three
out of five adults (60%) say the devil, or Satan, is NOT
a living being but a symbol of evil. (2004)
-
Half of
all adults (54%) believe that if a person is generally good,
or does enough good things for others during their life,
they will earn a place in Heaven. (2004)
-
12% of
adults believe that the name of Noah’s wife was Joan of Arc.
(The Bible does not provide her name.) (1997)
-
Three-quarters of Americans (75%) believe that the Bible
teaches that God helps those who help themselves. (2000)
Add to this
the clear statistics from many sources showing the definite
decline in basic Biblical knowledge. The conclusion is simple:
we are not effectively communicating the gospel and Biblical
truth to our generation.
Remembering Our Primary Responsibility
My final
project for my Doctorate is titled “Preaching to a
Multi-media Generation.” A required part of the project was
an in-depth study of expository preaching. My first reaction
was, “Why is expository preaching such a major part of this
project?” The answer quickly became clear. The first need of
this generation is not a greater use of technology or dynamics.
We need to “keep the most important thing the most important
thing.” The most important need of this generation is to hear
the Word of God expounded so that people may comprehend and
apply God’s word to their lives.
We need to
be reminded today that “the word of God is living and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to
the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”
(Hebrews 4:12). It is not the means of communication that has
the power. Many pastors and teachers today are trusting in the
dynamics of their services or teaching techniques to change
lives. We must remember that the Word of God is our source of
power.
The Balance Point in a Multi-media Generation
Our
responsibility is to communicate the Word of God so that our
generation will receive it and respond in faith. The reality is
we are not communicating God’s truth effectively (proven by the
Barna research). Thus we need to reevaluate not the message but
the means of communicating the message.
It is
undeniable that we live in a multi-media generation. The tragedy
is that many have not realized the effect on how people learn.
Many evangelicals are still thinking the whole problem of people
not responding to Biblical truth is that people don’t want to
listen or they are resistant to Biblical absolutes. What we need
to realize is that a significant part of the problem is people
today do not know how to learn from our old style of lecture.
Young people and adults have been conditioned to learn through
visualization and multi-media resources.
Communicating God’s Word today needs a new form of balance. We
need to first learn to teach the Word of God through expository
messages. Preparation for such preaching and teaching requires
discipline, time, and good study methods. A danger today is
spending too much time in “how” we will communicate the message
instead of “what” we will communicate. Balance is essential. We
cannot sacrifice study of the Scripture for methodology.
However, we
cannot expect people in a multi-media generation to learn from
presentations that are in “old wineskins.” We need a balance. We
need to understand our culture and learn to communicate in forms
that will enable them to learn. Is this not what the Lord was
saying, “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that
he may run who reads it” (Habakkuk 2:2). People of this
generation are not going to stop to listen unless we grab their
attention. They will not maintain interest unless we help them
to visualize.
The Challenge: Multi-media Messages
If we are
going to reverse the trends of ineffective communication we need
to face the challenge of communicating God’s Word in a
multi-media generation. We will need to learn to prepare and
teach the expository messages. We will need to deliver the
message in a form and method that relates it to our culture. We
must never lose the balance.
