Communication with Power

Kraft, H Charles. "Communicate with Power: Jesus the Model for Contemporary
Communication." Manila, Philippines: OMF Literature Inc, 1991.

Author information
Dr. Charles H. Kraft, the author of this book, is very well known in the subject of anthropology and cultural issues. He has written a lot of books about different cultures and their functions in order to provide the needed information for missionaries around the world. He is Professor of Anthropology and Intercultural Communications at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Christianity with Power and Christianity in Culture are included in his many books.
Reaction
The author of this book dealt the need and the important topic of Christian ministers who prepare for sharing, preaching and proclaiming the gospel of God to another people group, land and culture in this book of Communicate with Power. Every preacher, teacher and missionary must learn and understand to convey the message of God in a communicational way. It is essential for us to have and build intimate relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. I believe that if there is a lack of communication, there will be lack of trust and fellowship in the society and even in the church. We must produce creative information and communication methods in order to gain the attention of the receptors so that they will be more convinced for what we preach and share to them. Kraft stated, “ Our God is a communicating God.”(3) The communication of God was so magnificently creative and lovingly planed that he sent His one and only Son Jesus Christ to be just like human beings in this sinful world so that he could deliver us from the bondage of sin. In order to have effective communications with the receptors, we must have a loving hearts upon them. We also need to learn and understand their frame of references so that there will not be problems in our communications. We have to follow the patterns of our Lord Jesus. As missionaries, we should understand the value systems of the people as much as possible in order not to interpret us in the wrong way.
It is also a very importance to remember that we, as communicators of the message, must know and meet the felt of needs of the receptors. Crossculturally, we have to discover how to do things in order to meet the needs according to their cultural value systems and meaning. I agreed with Kraft that in cross-cultural setting of missions the “meanings exist only within persons, within me and within you” situation (72). I am not saying that we should forget the hermeneutical interpretation of the Word. We should consider the receptors’ worldviews, cultural patterns of meaning, and their way of interpretation in order to have proper communication. There are many different ways of interpretations and giving forms of meaning within a particular society. So we need to learn and understand the receptors’ verbal and non-verbal traits and languages. Understanding the receiver’s language is so important in communication. Kraft discussed a lot about language in this book. If I want to build proper communication with or learn something from someone who is totally different from my culture and language, I must learn the language of that particular person or society. We should also be identify with them so that there will be a good friendship relationship between each other. We cannot convince them to Christ without building a strong relationship. Building a trust relationship is essential even among the same group of people who are living together. As Jesus Christ, the Word, lived out among us, we should also do it to show that we are just like them to the receptors. Jesus Christ is our model for everything we walk and do in the ministry. He has shown us the excellent patterns to follow. Every excellent information we need for our ministry is shown in Jesus Christ! Most of the pastors and teachers in Myanmar do not have this kind of learning and understanding toward the Burmese group who are practicing Buddhism. We do not consider their cultures and practices. This might be one of the reasons why Christianity in Myanmar is growing very slowly. There are some churches which evangelize and reach out the Burmese group with the Gospel. They are not succeeding because they did not learn how to communicate the message in such a way that they could understand. They do not have “down-to-earth”(131) communicational relationship with them. This book has given me a lot of insight how to conduct missions in my country. I understand that Christians in Myanmar are lacked in this communication area. When it comes to the mission fields, communication is very important in the ministry of the word of God.
The six myths of communication that Kraft discussed are somehow helpful for us to get information because we cannot apply everything that he explains in that particular areas. We need to consider the situations and people group where we communicate and share the gospel. There are a lot of people who testified and said by hearing and reading the word of God they are saved. The work of the Holy Spirit is very important in this kind of event. I agreed with Kraft when he said, “ God’s basic method is incarnation.” (117) Being the creator and God, Jesus first incarnated as a human beings so that we might believe and have eternal life. Thus, we have to incarnate ourselves according with the receptors cultural frame of references. We must prepare for everything to win them to Christ because God is still using people as his primary channel to flow his love to the world. I believe that a sermon on Sunday is to change the lives of the congregation in certain degree because there will be some who do not accept Jesus Christ in their hearts and there will be some who need to renew their hearts in Christ. Besides, a pastor can also encourage, strengthen, remind, and challenge the audiences to live glorify life for God. I also do not believe that there is only one best method to communicate the gospel. We need to communicate it according to the acceptable and suitable way of the people. Since there are different cultures of people around the world, there must be different ways of communications within each society and land. As Kraft mentioned we should be like
“ a repairman who has a toolbox full of tools and is able to study any situation and use the appropriate tool or technique.” (129) Since there are varieties of languages in the world, I believe that there will be different understanding and interpretations upon a particular word. I agree with Kraft that, “a given word may have different meaning to different groups of people.” (132)
Life involvement is also very crucial need in communications. We can influence the receptors much through personal communication rather than just giving them some information. We encourage them by asking questions and having fellowship with them. By personally involvement in talking to them will help get their ways of receiving message. We can also know the felt need of the people and can organize how to present them the messages. Kraft made a very strong statement concerning the message that is importance for us to remember in our ministry-“that the real Christians message lies in the behavior of the messenger rather than in his words.” (154) Incarnational communications and life involvement are the secondary needs in doing missions. The first and foremost important need is the call of God for missions and the empowered of the Holy Spirit. Without the filling of the Holy Spirit, we cannot do anything! We must also have prayerful life in such a way that can change the hearts of the people. This book is very helpful for me. I have learnt a lot of things pertaining a powerful communications and its theological usage shown in the life of Christ.