Reaching secular readers: Speaking your audience's language: Translating ‘Christianese’

This new MTI blog series aims to help you and your readers sharpen your skills in communicating faith matters to secular readers – skeptics, seekers, and the spiritually disinterested.

When you seek to communicate the message of Jesus to those outside the faith, have you ever felt like you’re not getting through? I have. There can be many reasons for this, including their own resistance, spiritual blindness, spiritual warfare, ego, personal pain, anger with God, disappointment with God or Christians, etc. But a major reason might be that we just aren’t speaking their language.

Different languages

People speak different verbal languages. They also speak different psychological, emotional and intellectual languages. Suppose I make this statement:

Yo tengo un millón de dólares en mi bolsa y voy a darlo a la primera persona que venga acá y me lo pida.

Perhaps you know Spanish and understand this. Of course, many who don’t speak Spanish still understand the Spanish phrase un millón de dólares! As we say in English, “Money talks!” But if you did not understand my statement, you would not have realized that I was pretending to offer one million dollars to the first person to approach me and ask me for it. (And I was only pretending!) If you learned the translation late – and if I really had a million dollars to offer – you might feel cheated because I did not tell you of my offer in a language you could understand.

Watch this on-demand workshop on “Influence non-Christians for Christ through your writing”

The gift

We are offering the people of our world a gift that is infinitely more valuable than a million dollars, the gift of peace with God and eternal life. But too often, we don’t speak their emotional and intellectual languages. I don’t know about you, but at the end of my life I don’t want to look back with regret on the people who didn’t appreciate Christ because I didn’t make the message clear. I want to speak their language so clearly that they see how attractive my Jesus is, so they run to him to receive him.

In communicating with non-believers, seek to avoid Christian jargon. Consider this example:

“The Bible says all you sinners need to repent and trust in the finished work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who, through his propitiatory sacrifice on Calvary’s cross, made atonement for you so you could be justified, redeemed, sanctified and gloriously saved!”

That is all true, but will the unbeliever understand it? How about this instead?

“The biblical documents explain that humans have an emptiness, an inner void, a longing to love and be loved. Jesus of Nazareth said he came to fill that void, to offer hope and genuine purpose. He died a physical and spiritual death to pay the penalty we/humans owed for our/their flaws and imperfections. Then he returned to life to offer us/people the opportunity to plug into God both now and forever.”

“If I had a traffic fine I could not pay, you could offer to pay it for me, as a gift to me. Just as I would need to accept your gift to pay my fine, so we/humans need to accept Jesus’ free gift of forgiveness to enjoy a friendship with him.”

Depending on the situation, you may wish to use either the more direct second-person or first person-plural (“you” or “we”) or the more indirect third-person plural (“humans,” “people,” “they,” etc.). You can make the Gospel very clear. Just use language that relates to your readers or listeners and their situation.

Suggesting alternate phrases

Consider a few additional suggestions for connecting with your audience.

Aim to contextualize your words and examples for your readers, and to paint memorable ‘word pictures.’ Jesus took secular examples from the surrounding society and culture to fill out the content of abstract concepts. For instance, the Prodigal Son story illustrates repentance. The Lost Sheep story conveys God’s heart for someone whose life is a mess. Redemptive parallels from familiar stories that resonate with your audience can be vital. Popular culture is one very valuable source for such material.

For evangelism in a non-Western or non-Christian culture, careful use of language is equally important, because the words may carry entirely different connotations from those that Western Christians intend. Some non-Western societies are also shame cultures and view modes of behavior in dramatically different ways than Westerners do.

Another audience that your “secular-friendly” language may help is those who are familiar – even over-familiar – with Christian terminology. Some may let Christian jargon simply wash over them without attaching much meaning to the words, having been somewhat immunized to their truth. For others, ‘Christianese’ may trigger memories of negative or hurtful past church experiences. In both cases, jargon-free language can add freshness and clarity that helps minimize these potential communication barriers.

Here are some suggestions for translating ‘Christianese’ into language that can better connect with the non-believers you seek to reach. No item in the table below is inviolate, but ask God to give you wisdom to apply these suggestions as appropriate for your situation. Trust Him to give you words and thoughts that will help people understand God’s truth. Remember, you are not seeking to compromise God’s message, but simply aiming to communicate it using language and concepts your audience can understand, relate to, and digest.

Christianese jargon

the Bible says

Normal HumanSpeak: Examples of equivalents

the biblical documents indicate …
a biblical perspective would be that …
a first-century follower of Jesus maintained that …
Jesus’ close friends claimed he taught that …
Paul, an early Christian, wrote in a letter to some friends …
one first-century witness to the events claimed …
an ancient Israeli king said …
an ancient Jewish wise man/sage once wrote …
etc.

saved, salvation

made safe (rescued) from separation from God

hell, damnation

separation from God forever
a consequence of deciding to reject God – who loves you and wants to be your friend – is having to live apart from him for eternity. That would not be pleasant at all.

sin(s)

separation from God
alienation from the Creator
a condition of being unplugged from God
human flaw(s)
moral flaw(s)
missing the mark of divine perfection
Some psychologists would call this separation from God ‘alienation.’ The biblical documents refer to it as ‘sin.’

Note: Using the word ‘sin’ is not always a turnoff, though increasingly in different cultures it can be variously misunderstood as only applying to certain limited behaviors (e.g., sexual, fraudulent, murderous, etc.). But introducing it with some phrasing like the above, and sprinkling such phrases throughout your discussion, can enhance a correct understanding of the concept. You’re not watering down truth. Rather, you’re seeking to communicate it in terms your audience can understand.

sin nature, depravity

fallen nature
to use a philosophical term, humans are deeply fallen

man is sinful

humans are alienated from the God of the universe by their rebellion

witness, evangelism

communicating the basic message of Jesus

pray/prayer

talking with/communicating with God
expressing your thoughts/views/heart to God

gospel

Jesus’ message of good news
Jesus’ basic message
Jesus’ perspective on/explanation of how humans can be plugged back in to God

saving faith

place trust in Jesus as the means of one’s forgiveness
getting plugged into God

you need to receive Christ today

a biblical perspective of how anyone becomes fulfilled and complete is that it involves developing a relationship with one’s creator.

propitiation

Jesus, through his sacrificial death on the cross, paid the penalty we owed for our rebellion/disobedience/alienation

God’s view is …

the biblical view is …

a biblical perspective would indicate …

make Jesus your Lord

ask Jesus to become your best friend and give you the strength to follow his lead

Want to know more?

Gratis online resources:

How to Speak Christianese: Fun video from Bel Air Church in California. Caution: very slightly dated – some viewers may need to Google the term “cassette tape” to better understand (!). (2:48)

RosettaStone Christianese: Humorous YouTube video (2:54)

by Rusty Wright is an author, syndicated columnist and lecturer who has spoken on six continents to university students, professors, executives, diplomats, military leaders and professional athletes. Over 2,000 websites, newspapers and magazines have used his outreach resources in any of 14 languages. Holding Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively, he’s appeared on secular television and radio talk shows worldwide and trains professionals in effective communication.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash