The language of a community can make or break how people understand and connect with a community. Often times people underestimate how powerful language can be for uniting people together as well as articulating mission, vision, and values.
[lcf] brought in JR Woodward (a good friend, and a board member of Ecclesia) back in April to do a formal assessment on our community. We learned a lot about our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to our community. In this assessment one of the most powerful things mentioned was during the interview process. JR met with almost twenty students/staff in this intense four day assessment and during this process he asked students to articulate what the mission of [lcf] is as well as what we believe “church” is. We define our mission by our three “e’s” as we call them: engage the culture, embrace everyone, and endure the cross. Almost all of the students he met with got this one right, however the next question produced quite a different result.
At [lcf] we say that we “express church in four different ways”. Each expression has a purpose behind it as well as obvious differences in both size and function. Our four expressions are: Sunday gathering (everyone coming together), [home groups] (20-50 students that form a mid-size communities that meet weekly to for food, fellowship, and discussion. These students also serve once a month together in our local community), [journey groups] (4-8 students that form gender specific groups that meet directly after [home groups] for prayer and accountability), and personal rhythms (scripture, prayer, and rest are the valued rhythms needed to maintain a healthy spiritual life). The average student that was asked about these expressions responded by knowing only half of the expressions. Ironically, we were planning on doing the final teaching series on our four expressions which began the week after JR left.
[lcf] is only two years old as a church community, and we are still learning to talk in many ways. There are a lot of words out there being used by authors, bloggers, and leaders of churches, such as missional, emerging, and relevant, as well as words that are old in many ways but are carrying a new meaning such as liturgy, community, and rhythm. My wife thought it would be funny one day to compile all these together so she began to write an [lcf] dictionary for all the words/phrases we use. All joking aside, we must learn to use the same language in order to be one. Every nationality, every culture, and even every family has its own language that has formed over time. In order to truly be intertwined with the culture around you, you must learn the language. Learning a language may be the first step in this process, but it is, in fact, a two-step process. The true test arises when we move from learning a language to adapting our lives around the language. I can speak about community and doing life with those around me. I can even be quite persuasive as to why we should have rhythms in our lives. However, it takes on an entirely new perspective once I began to actually live it out. When people begin to see the result of such a life ooze out of me it carries a whole different meaning to those around me.
Several of our students and student leaders joke about how we use phrases or words, and even though they tease myself and Jonah about our language, they understand. They not only understand…but they use it as well. If you ask a student in our community what a rhythm is most will give an answer that has nothing to do with music or sounds. Words are powerful and need to be used in uniformity. A community cannot move forward and truly be healthy unless they understand and live out the language around them.
After two years of working with students and heading into year three of our church plant I have to say that language is a vital component to the health and unity of our community. The language is never meant to be divisive and push people away, but rather communicate clearly in ways that we all understand.
The language should become contagious.
The language should become transforming.
The language should become unifying.
The language should be inspiring.
The language should be yours.
- Philip Watkins
