Effective Communication
For too long we have been telling people about Jesus who are not ready to hear. With practice, skills, and following a few simple guidelines we can lead Explorers around to being open to listening about Jesus.
Always speak last
It's a skill to hold your opinion to yourself until the other person has finished speaking. Put this skill into practice and you get to reap the rewards. It helps to find out where the person is at.
It gives Explorers the feeling that they have been heard.
You get the benefit of hearing what they think before you give your response.
The skill is to keep your opinions to yourself and ask questions so you can understand what they mean and why they have the opinion they have. So now we have the ‘what’ and the ‘why’.
Then comes the ‘where’. Where are they standing at this moment with the comments or questions they are asking? Explorers typically won't tell you upfront the real questions, answers, or beliefs they have. This can be masked by many lead statements. You must understand from where they are speaking, why they have the opinion they have, and not rely on just what they are saying. Don’t simply accept at face value what they are saying. There is often something much deeper underneath what they are initially presenting. Once you have clarified a few things then you get the opportunity to say something in response and to build rapport.
