Being an effective communicator is hard work for most us. Its hard in the weekly grind to remember how important our 1v1 and large group communication opportunities are. God uses these moments to bring hope, healing and life transformation to others. Our words can be used to tear down, or they can be used to build up. I know you want to use your words to build because you are reading this to grow as a communicator. This will be a three part blog post on 3 Keys to Effective Communication.
To communicate effectively, it all starts with conviction. A leader must believe in what they are saying to lead others. We can’t simply go through the motions or say what we are expected to say by others.
Until you know why what you are suppose to communicate matters and really believe it can be used by God to encourage, challenge and build up the hearers, you aren’t ready to communicate. When we have conviction we passionately believe something and speak from the center of who we are. As ministry leaders, we must lead from the center of our soul so that we are communicating the reality of the resurrection by our presence.
Some may interpret conviction to mean yelling or animated and might accidentally come across as angry if they aren’t careful. Conviction shows up differently because of our different personalities, but it means that the hearers sense life being given to them in your words. They feel the importance and lean in, wanting to hear more because someone has wrestled enough with the text of God’s Word and the reality of our human condition to be able to speak into their life in a meaningful way.
Someone else has said you can have truth on ice or you can have truth on fire.
- Do your hearers sense that you really believe what you are saying?
- Do your hearers feel resurrection hope after being under your teaching?
Its not just the content that matters. The content is significant and our starting point. But we must work hard to have great (and faithful) content and conviction in the manner in which we communicate that content in a compelling way.
Both the content we communicate and the manner in which we communicate tell others listening something about who God is. Typically we think just the content communicates something about God. Make sure your content and presence in your delivery match up, so you aren’t sending mixed signals. Thankfully, we know our best is never good enough and God takes our weakness and uses it for his glory and others’ good. But that isn’t an excuse to not prepare or not value the hearers by giving your best. God uses us and never tells us to slouch, instead he calls and empowers us to our potential in Jesus. He has given you gifts and influence opportunities, grab onto them. Conviction starts by giving your best to understand and grasp the life-changing truths of God’s word. Then that conviction inspires those who are hearing when we embody the message as we teach.
We start with conviction, but we must get clarity or we will likely say many true things, but not with the laser focus needed. That is post #2. Look for it later this week.
MultiplyLEADERS.org 