Three C's of Communication

Every summer, I hire college students to be my interns, and I usually make my male interns teach at least one time. Since they typically haven't taught before, I attempt to teach them how to communicate clearly.

I'm not typically into alliteration, but in this case, it seemed to work. This week, I'll be writing about each of these individually. I'm primarily writing about preaching, but this are basic communication principles which apply to anything.

CONTENT

The content is the raw data to be communicated.

At the foundation of preaching/teaching is the content. This is raw biblical information, theories, principles, etc. This involves the preacher/teacher correctly understand and interpret scripture. Depending on the nature of the sermon, it may involve exegesis, studying theology, or correcting integrating various principles or doctrines.  

The "content" is all about the teacher having something biblical which they correctly understand.

CLEAR / CLARITY

Clarity is all about taking raw data and presenting it in a way that the audience understand and apply it.

This point involves the teacher presenting biblical truths which make them clear for the intended audience. The entire purpose of teaching is to bridge the gap between where the listener currently is at, and where you want them to be.

CONNECT

Connecting is all about the teacher holding the listeners attention.  If the lister isn't paying attention and connecting with the teacher, there's no point in communicating.

Is the audience paying attention to the communicator? Countless factors can interfere with connection between the teacher and the listener. Some of them involve the way the information is communicated. Some of it relates to the environment. Sometimes, it involves the listener not caring about the content.