Birdies, Eagles and Sharing Your Faith

When I attended an education conference in Singapore back in 1986, a professor from Wollongong University spoke about language acquisition (how we learn language).

He talked about three things that need to be present for a child to learn language when they start to talk.

1. They must believe they are a potential doer.

2. They must believe it will further the purposes of their life.

3. They must believe it is safe to have a go.

Are they a potential doer? A child sees that everyone around them is talking so they have no reason to believe that they can’t do it too.

Will it further the purposes of their life? When dad says, “Pass the bread please.” He gets given the bread. Neat trick. “That’d be handy for me to learn.”

Is it safe to have a go? Parents don’t normally say, “Junior, you’re putting the verb and the nouns in the wrong place in your sentences. Talk properly.” Kids know that they can approximate language and develop in their use of it in a safe environment.

I believe these three things also dictate our ability to learn in general.

I heard on the radio that some golfer had birdied 3 holes today. What the? I have heard endless stories on golf talking about birdies and eagles but they still mean nothing to me. Being immersed in the language of golf and seeing lots of it on TV sports stories hasn’t helped me to learn anything about it. Why? I don’t believe that I’m a potential doer. I don’t believe golf will further the purposes of my life. With my coordination, I don’t feel it’s safe to have a go.

Finally I come to the point. When we express our faith, either personally or in our corporate meetings, do we convey those three concepts? Do others really believe that they are a potential Christian based on what we demonstrate as being Christian? From what they see of us and our faith, do they really think it’ll further the purposes of their life to get involved with Jesus? Do we give people trying to explore our faith the license to make mistakes so that it’s safe to have a go?

I might take this one further sometime but the post is already way too long. I’d appreciate your thoughts.

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