My oldest son loves to befriend and connect with foreign exchange students at his school. He loves different cultures, he tries to learn some of their words in order to communicate in their language. But, sometimes there are some funny conversations that he has, especially with the student trying to speak English.
When it comes to the church, I have often wrote on the need for the church to speak a language that is understandable to those who did not grow up with "Christian-speak". But there's another side to that coin, and this last week we experienced it first hand, once again.
One lady said that she heard we were going to have a new "chapter" on the north side (our next site for The Journey).
One woman asked if that "whole Christ thing mattered"?
One guy was at a worship experience where everyone was raising their hands and he said "I don't really get it, because that guy singing wasn't even that good and everyone was going crazy for him"
One woman said that she started reading the Bible (for the first time) and her boyfriend (who has some church and has read some of the Bible) told her to read it aloud and he'd listen, and her response was "why? you've already read it."
Those who have not been in church, or those disconnected from Jesus will speak things differently than you might be used to, and HOW you respond to them is absolutely HUGE!! If there is even a hint of "I can't believe you don't know this!" or pride, arrogance, or self-righteousness it can do untold damage to that person's interest in Jesus.
Being known by our love, means listening, understanding and loving people enough to meet them right where they are.
I had a guy a while back thank us for explaining the difference between the Old and New Testament's of the Bible. He said this "I always thought the New Testament was the revised edition of the Old Testament, so I never read the Old Testament". And, if you've been in church for a while that might surprise you that someone could think that, until . . . you step out of your Christian subculture for even just a moment and realize that reasoning makes absolutely perfect sense!
If you are truly reaching people disconnected from Jesus there WILL BE a language barrier, and it's up to you to learn their language, not just expect them to learn your language.