Yes, I am aware that the title is a double negative and that those are not encouraged in the proper English language world because they are poor grammar. Nevertheless, the idea that you are not communicating at different points in your day, week, job life etc., is a false idea. Whether you know it or not, you are always communicating and so is the local church.
The most common way that we, you and I, communicate is through Body Language. In fact some research studies show that body language makes up about 55% of all your communication, followed by 38% vocal tone and 7% words. Now there is some dispute about the accuracy of these percentages. However, there is no disputing the idea that when your verbal statements don’t line up with your nonverbal cues (tone and body language), people will follow and respond to your nonverbal over and above what you are saying. Just imagine a very angry person with a weapon aimed at you saying, “Come closer…I just want to give you a hug.” When you respond, are you going with the body language or the words?
Let’s take that principle and ask some questions about our church or our faith. Does what we say and what our body language communicate line up? Do our messages line up with our actions? Do our activities, attitudes, and passions line up with our stated ideologies and beliefs? These are questions that every church family and Christian must constantly ask and gain perspective on. If you find that your nonverbals are incongruent with your verbals then you have 3 options:
- Change what you are saying!
- Change your attitude and what you are doing!
- Continue to project hypocrisy or insanity!
Over the past few months our church has been trying to address these questions with our Wednesday Night Passion Meals, Prayer and Praise and Small groups. We are a church that believes passionately in the Holy Spirit and God’s providence and presence here. We believe in supporting each other and celebrating what God has done and provided for us. Yet for many, that passion has only been in our words and makes us look like we don’t believe what we say. On Wednesday nights we have started to line up our body language with our words. Our prayer is that we continue to change our attitude and what we do as we seek to line up with not only what we say but with what Jesus says about his church. I pray you do the same too.
