8/15/08 - The Power of Effecitve Commuication

Friends of Redemption Ministries,

The older I get and the longer I am in ministry (wow, I never thought I would say that!), the more convinced I am, that communication with one another is one of the greatest challenges facing those in the ministry today. Proverbs 16:23 says, "The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds persuasiveness to his lips." Dr Gary Smalley has said that ineffective communication is the number-one problem in relationships.


The recent edition of the Issachar File, which comes from the office of Bishop, James Leggett, reviewed a book that offered "10 Communication Strategies Every Leader Needs to Know." I have include the book brief below. It has some very interesting insights. If you find that the culture in your congregation is not healthy consider Booher's opinion that, "Leaders lead; they take responsibility for the communication culture. Managers maintain; they go with the status quo"

As leaders, we have a responsibility to create a culture of "relational integrity", a term I picked up from Pastor Craig Walker, the new pastor of Living Word Church.

So remember. what you say, and how you say it, can have a life-changing impact on others.

Again, Proverbs speaks so powerfully to that point. "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life" (15:4). The Hebrew word for "wholesome" literally translates to "healing" or "curative". So, a "healing tongue" is like a tree of life! And trees of course, are not only alive, but they provide life to others. Their leaves provide us with oxygen to breath, their fruit provides us with food to eat, and their roots provide stability to our soil. The same could be said of a person who communicates with healing words. His encouraging communication improves not only his life but the lives of those around him.

However, the opposite is also true. Proverbs 15:4 continues, "perverseness therein is a breach of spirit." Perverseness literally means distortion or viciousness. When we communicate in a away that is dishonest or verbally vicious, we run the risk of breaking a person's spirit. When a person's spirit is broken by another, not only does the relationship suffer, but the person can be emotionally scarred forever.

So pastor/ shepherd, servant of Christ, choose your words, and how you frame them, wisely!

Grace and peace.

Bishop Dayton Birt
Redemption Ministries