Mind Your Language: Four easy changes to take the good news to the ends of the earth

There's never been such an opportunity to share the good news of Jesus! It might not feel like it, as a terrible pandemic spreads death and disease, keeping us stuck inside, unable to meet people.  However, despite COVID-19 closing church buildings, it has also opened up new possibilities online.  Church services on YouTube and Facebook now allow people who don’t normally go to church, to watch from the comfort of their own home.  People in different countries can also access these services, enabling the UK church to reach the nations like never before.  As the church exists for the benefit of those who are not its members1, surely this is an opportunity that has to be fully grasped. But is it being taken?  Despite an increase in broadcasting, there are at least some seekers watching these services who are saying "what do these words mean?", just like the Athenians did with the Apostle Paul (Acts 17:18).  Could Christians respond to this challenge, like Paul did, and make a few changes to their communication, to help take the good news to the ends of the earth? 

Who would benefit? 

There are at least three groups of people who would benefit from clearer language.  

Firstly, starting at home,  British people who don’t normally go to church would be helped.  The UK has very high levels of Biblical illiteracy2, with many not understanding basic Christian words.  Despite this lack of knowledge there has been an increase in spiritual interest since the pandemic began, with COVID forcing secular Brits to consider the meaning of life3.  Last spring, as the virus spread, many churches were excited by the increase in spiritual interest and the subsequent growth in church attendance.  Sadly, however, this trend seems to have waned somewhat.4a/4b  

Secondly, there is a global audience, as the online services can be accessed by literally billions of people around the world.  Those watching in second or third languages find it challenging to understand - unless the English is clear.  Whilst internationals do appear to be ‘randomly’ joining UK church services5, it is more likely that people will watch if they have a connection to the church or city.

Which leads us to the third group who would benefit from clearer language.  They are more likely to watch than the other groups as, unlike many British people, they continue to have a strong spiritual interest, and unlike other foreigners, they have a connection to a specific city in the UK. Who are they?  This group are international students and they merit a closer look. 

Spiritual interest   

The hunger of many international student seekers can be surprising to British people- we're just not used to it!  Here are some of the things that international student seekers have said to me: 

        “I’m excited to be here in the UK, as I can find out about Christianity and the Bible.”

        “I want to know what it is about Christianity that my government doesn’t want me to hear.”     

        “We’ve been looking for someone to tell us about Jesus”.  

An established church service is seen by international students as a trustworthy way to find out about the Christian faith, more reliable than just coming across an evangelistic YouTube video.  This makes me wonder: is the UK church as excited about this group’s spiritual interest as it was about the British surge in spiritual enquiry last year?  

Connection 

International students still desire to be connected with a church near where they live in the UK, even though most churches are currently online.  For example, a Taiwanese student, who moved from Sheffield to Leeds during this current lockdown, contacted me as she wanted to be put in touch with a church here in Leeds.  She could easily have continued attending the Sheffield church online, however she wanted to make a connection with people in the city where she is now living.  She said, “I still want to feel that I am belonging to a place, a community…[where] we could meet face to face in the city.”

Understanding  

So if international student seekers, past and present, are likely to watch church online, what's the problem with their understanding?   Well, despite having a level of English which is good enough to study at university, international student seekers said in our recent survey that they could understand only 40% of the online services they were watching.   Interestingly, this online understanding is significantly lower than previous years “normal” services which could be understood 65% of the time.  One international student, who has above average English and recently became a Christian, said that in church services there are “new words which are not usually used in our daily life, this is confusing and hard to understand. It affects the engagement of the international students with the church.”  Words and phrases which she couldn't understand from a recent service included: sermon, adoration, diocesan and ‘elephant in the room’. 

Four suggestions 

Although communicating clearly sounds straightforward, it does actually take a little bit of thought.  I've been working with international students for many years and just last week the international student I was talking to didn’t understand what I said!!  So how can Christians adjust their communication to make the most of this opportunity to share the good news? 

Firstly, there are many Christian words which neither internationals nor unchurched British people understand, for example ‘sin’, ‘grace’ and ‘redemption’.  If these words are used in a talk, song or prayer, why not explain them so that everyone is clear on their meaning? 

Secondly, when a camera is put on many of us, we start speaking quicker because of nerves.  This makes it even harder for the groups mentioned to understand what is being said!  Why not remind those participating in the church services to speak slowly, so that everyone has the best chance to understand. 

Thirdly, when idioms are not understood, international students tell me that they feel excluded.  They would love to learn the meaning of new phrases, so if you want to say something like ‘elephant in the room’ why not explain it as well, so that everyone understands you?  

Finally, even after having made all these changes you may still want to give internationals further space to explore faith.  That is why Transformations Leeds has produced ‘Explore International’ an online evangelistic course which international students said they could understand 86% of.  Contact us or click here for more details.   

So, if you are preaching, praying or leading worship in an online church service consider the opportunity you have to share the good news.  Because if you make the changes suggested, they will help you to spread the good news even more effectively to the ends of the earth.

The Culture Factor: Why some countries have dealt better with COVID than others

Understanding culture better could save lives.  Sounds like an exaggeration?  You might think so.  However the COVID pandemic has shown how national cultures not only influence our lives but also our death as well.  Culture is the forgotten factor in explaining the large differences in COVID death rates around the world and understanding this better could help save lives in the future. 

The key cultural lens to look through is Hofstede’s respected research on individualism versus collectivism1.  Hofstede defines individualist cultures as where “the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after him/herself and his/her immediate family”2.  By contrast collectivist cultures are where “people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) that continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty, and oppose other ingroups”2.  

What has become more and more obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic is that most of the countries which have the highest death rates are also the most individualistic.  By contrast those countries with the lowest death rates are often the most collectivist.  Although there are a variety of factors which impacts COVID-19 death rates, such as political decision making, population density, the age of the citizens and the country’s geography, it is still the case that there is a strong correlation between how collectivist a culture is and how successful it has been in responding to the pandemic.  This valuable information could help save lives in the west.   

The country which is the most individualistic in the world, the USA (scoring 91/100)3, is also the country with the highest number of total deaths from COVID and one of the highest ranked nations when it comes to COVID deaths per million of population4.  American individualistic culture is one where people “are expected to take care of only themselves and their immediate families“5.  This means that for some attending a mass anti-lockdown protest, where the virus can be spread, is considered "an acceptable risk”6.  As one protester said "I'm gonna do what I got to do to feed my family.  If it means I got to risk my health then so be it… and yes even potentially the health of others”6. 

The UK, the 3rd most individualistic country in the world rated 89/1007, is also in the top 3 countries globally for deaths per million of the population4.  The strong “ME culture”7 means that many do not want to restrict themselves for the benefit of others.  One lady, who admitted to not following quarantining rules after travelling abroad, said "it probably was really selfish of me...I guess you just think of yourself and you want that holiday - but then you don't want to quarantine. No one wants to quarantine...I don't regret it”.8

Is the link between COVID and individualistic cultures just a coincidence? Not when you also consider Belgium and Italy.  Belgium, a country which scores “very high” on individualism (75/100)9 is also ranked 1st globally for COVID deaths per million4.  Italy also scores highly for individualism (76/100)10 and has the 5th most COVID deaths per million in the world4.  In both countries getting people to think about others in order to follow restrictions has been a challenge.  As one Italian doctor said, some Italians “could not care less about collective health....they don’t understand that their personal health depends on the health of everyone else. They don’t realise that if they get sick, they’ll lose their personal freedom and risk being hospitalised for weeks.”11 

So what does a collectivist approach look like? One fascinating country to observe is Singapore.  A country which is at a disadvantage when it comes to a virus that spreads through human contact as it’s population density is 21,646 people per square mile12, almost 30 times that of the UK’s 727 per square mile13.  However this collectivist country (which scores 20/100 for individualism) is one where people “overcome their individuality”14 in order to maintain societal harmony.  This has resulted in only 29 COVID deaths in total in Singapore; equating to 5 deaths per million of population, compared to the UK’s 1,585 deaths per million4.

Vietnam and Thailand are also strongly collectivist cultures, both scoring 20/100 for individualism15/16.  They have seen incredibly low numbers of deaths from COVID 1.11 and 0.36 deaths per million population respectively4.  In these cultures people see collective responsibility as having priority over individual rights.  It has meant that “staying at home and washing one’s hands became a matter of patriotism in Vietnam”17.  

It is not just confucian Asian countries where this phenomenon exists.  It is also seen in Pakistan and Indonesia, both ranked amongst the most collectivist cultures in the world (each scores 14/100 for individualism)18/19 and both have had few COVID deaths, ranked 97th and 80th in the world for COVID deaths per million4.  

Whilst not all countries fit this pattern, as I said previously, there are multiple factors which effect the death rate. There is enough of a link between collectivism and reducing the spread of the virus for research by The University of Kent to have corroborated it.  They found that “people who adopt a collectivist mindset are more likely to comply with social distancing and hygiene practices to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.  People who are more individualist are less likely to engage, partly due to beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories, and feelings of powerlessness surrounding the pandemic.”20   

So what can the individualistic west learn from this?  Mikey Biddlestone from the University of Kent says that championing a “‘we are in this together’ mentality could encourage people to comply with guidelines that will reduce the spread of COVID-19. Promoting collectivism could make a positive difference...as a collectivist mindset might also make people less susceptible to conspiracy theories and misinformation that can negatively affect their behaviour”.20 Dr Gavin Morgan, a UK government adviser also supports this view saying "If we can begin to generate a sense of community and this feeling of social cohesion, which some countries do really well, our ability to fight Covid will be far more effective."8 

So understanding culture really does matter.  It might just save your life.