Team Rector’s Letter March 2020 Communication
What does it mean to “Communicate”? It’s pretty basic really!
“Communication is the process of passing information and understanding from one person to another.”
However, if I tell you something and you don’t hear me, or don’t understand what I have said, then has communication truly happened? We’d have to say “no, it hasn’t!”
You may know the bible story of the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis (chapter 11, verses 1 to 9) by which ancient people explained the differing languages in the world. According to the story, after Noah’s Flood, the human race spoke a single language. They travelled westward and came to the land of Shinar. There they proposed to build a city and a tower tall enough to reach up to heaven. God, seeing that they were over-reaching themselves, confounded their speech so that they could no longer understand each other. When God wanted to bring his message of love and hope and healing to a broken world, it was Jesus, fully human, and fully divine, who came to us.
In our own generation, there is no doubt, the way we communicate is changing, and that change is speeding up! And bringing its own problems! When does communication become mis-communication? Are we understanding each other any better? Probably not!
Look back in history and you will see many changes...
In the fifteenth century, the invention of the printing press and the increasing availability of the printed word. The development of the postal system over a number of centuries, and in the nineteenth century, the invention of the telegraph in 1832, the telephone in 1876, radio broadcasts from 1920, the first public television broadcast in 1936.
And then the pace of change speeds up!
First email in 1971, beginning of the World Wide Web in 1991, first text message in 1992, launch of Facebook in 2004, launch of Google in 2004, and YouTube in 2005 and the iphone in 2007. Twitter launched in 2006, WhatsApp in 2009, Instagram in 2010, Snapchat in 2012. And so it goes on.
Forgive me! I may have lost you somewhere back there, around 2004. Some of the more recently introduced methods of communication may be unfamiliar to you.
But this brings me back to my original point... Communication is about passing information and understanding. In our society today, we may need to use many different methods and styles of communication to pass information to everyone.
So, how do we communicate best, as communities, and as churches? To convey information about the work of the local church, the printed parish magazine and the church notice-board sufficed for many years. Now, in an age when we are bombarded by information from many different sources, we need to communicate in new ways.
Clearly the printed parish magazine still has a place, and the information in it is usually also on a church’s website. Many churches use Facebook and WhatsApp and share information with local residents associations and groups. We all use social media to some extent, and even our bishops have Twitter accounts!
This year, the Bexley Team churches are looking at the way we communicate information, so do let us know what you personally find helpful, or would like us to change.
Reverend Ren Harding (Team Rector)
contact me at Joydens Wood Vicarage,
6 Tile Kiln Lane, Joydens Wood, Bexley, DA5 2BB
01322-528923 renharding@hotmail.co.uk