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One of the reasons many ministry leaders simply talk too much is because we are excited about what God is doing. But whether formally or informally, we have to consider the hearer and what they can learn and capture versus what will be too easily forgotten, and why. By: Aaron Babyar April 2022  One of the reasons many ministry leaders simply talk too much is because we are excited about what God is doing. But whether formally or informally, we have to consider the hearer and what they can learn and capture versus what will be too easily forgotten, and why.
Perhaps you have sat through far too many sermons that would have been far more powerful if shortened and clarified…instead of 60+ minutes of truth mixed with a lot of “I, me, and my” statements. What many of us fail to consider, is what are the critical things that people actually need to know…right now? For example, though there are at least 25 bullet points about your ministry or a bible passage that might be relevant for someone to be aware of, is your personal testimony also relevant when discussing that topic? A lot of people are affected by their life circumstances and what they want to share with others, but that's not always relevant to the conversation. So if you are going to share your personal testimony (which no doubt is a testament to God’s goodness), are you sharing because you want to and you're excited about what God’s doing in your life, or are you sharing because you think that’s what you are supposed to do? Meanwhile, is sharing your testimony relevant to the few pieces of information that a person really needs to know and remember in that moment? We must remember that everything you can think of may not be critically relevant to what you are hoping to clearly communicate. Stories of life change really are powerful though, so there is a balance to consider. For instance, if you're sharing with others about your ministry for the sake of building partnership, people need to understand the problem that your ministry is serving for the sake of the Kingdom. They also need to understand the vision. What are you doing to help fix that problem? And what is an example of some lives (perhaps even yours?) that have been changed? To be clear, I am “pro-testimony,” but we don’t always have to talk about ourselves and every other idea that comes to mind, some of which might not always be truly relevant. This brings us to a key point: When considering how much focus a person has to learn about what you are communicating, you will want to decide what is critically important to share, what isn’t, and how much time you have. Let’s zoom in a bit on the concepts of time and concentration which can affect understanding!. Nutrition, Hunger, Hydration, Stress, and Lack of sleep are just a handful of the factors that can affect any of us in concentration. I've been blessed to help equip many kingdom workers globally, and have noticed a trend that might be labeled as “one size fits most.” A shallow research dive shows there is some scientific data that would often agree with this statement/principle: “most people will only benefit from about 15-20 min of learning via a static communication style.” After that, they will generally lose focus and they become more accustomed to noise instead of learning (and we probably need to stop or change it up if more needs to be said or done, but that’s a different conversation.).” So if you were to keep that principle in mind, and you only have about twenty minutes to communicate effectively, how possible is it for you to adequately discuss 10 or 15 different bullet points or ideas? Instead, perhaps it is a blessing to those you are communicating with if you only share about 5 or 6 of the most important things, and leave space for people to ask questions or talk more later? It’s quite possible that allowing people to process what is critical, opens their mind and heart to the also important but slightly less urgent concepts as their brain synthesizes what you are saying. As ministry leaders, it would be helpful for us to keep in mind during mass communication that most people are unable to remember everything we hope to say. You might have an hour and a half’s worth of exposition as to why your mission is critical to the Great Commission, but most people don’t have the capacity or time to fully understand it. We can help them, by prayerfully and strategically self-policing our words. As such, when you have the opportunity to preach or even share about your ministry while raising support, or perhaps during a conversation in the parking lot at church - ask yourself, “Do I talk too much?” If so, let’s begin to ponder time, people's ability to focus, and how we can wisely limit ourselves to largely focus our communication on the most critical information. You might find that some will thank you for improving in this area! Aaron Babyar is the founder and CEO of Exago Ministries. You can read more about Aaron on our founders page. Click HERE. Comments are closed.
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