I recently heard in a professional development seminar (Millie Myers, Teaching Professor of Business Management Communication) that communication is difficult because most people don’t envision how their message appears to those who hear it. They fail to understand that the meaning of any communication effectively lies with the receiver, not with the sender.
I wonder if this notion hasn’t largely been missed by Christians? [I must make it clear here that this is definitely wonder or speculation. I am not trying to imply something by asking this question, except that I am considering this as a possibility…] Surely, we can think of instances where our efforts to communicate the gospel might be better evaluated by taking effort to understand what new (and non-) believers heard.
This is just a thought; I’m not trying to do any analysis here. I’m just asking the question: how do we evaluate and improve upon our evangelism efforts? I must be careful to suggest a line of action that may make us place more faith in ourselves and our analytical efforts than God, but it may be worth it to take extra effort to understand what those with whom we are communicating are receiving…