On Wednesday Night, December 16^th, we will discuss “Christianese.” Christianese is the “Language of Zion”, the dialect of the Church. If you have been in church for a while, you probably speak Christianese without even thinking about it. There are many words and phrases that Christians use that make perfect sense to us. However, they can be quite confusing to people who are not familiar with Christianity. For example, many of our songs are filled with Christianese – “I’m so glad I’m a part of the Family of God, I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, For I’m part of the family, The Family of God.” If you are not familiar with the Church or the Bible – what does “washed in the fountain”, “Cleansed by the Blood”, “Joint Heirs”, and “Traveling this Sod” mean?

Having our own language is not unique to Christianity. Every religion, business, sport, and hobby has it’s own unique vocabulary. The military has hundreds of acronyms that are only understood by fellow soldiers. Even Movie fanatics who are in to Star Trek or Star Wars have their own “language.” But when it comes to Christianity, we have been given the “Great Commission” by Our Lord Jesus Christ to go into the world and share the Good News that Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins and give us everlasting life -so- our message should be CLEAR and not clouded by words and phrases that do not make sense to people who have never heard of Jesus.

In the Bible, in Acts 8, we read about the encounter between Philip and the man from Ethiopia who was trying to read the Bible but did not understand it. Acts 8:35 “So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.” In other words, Philip shared the Gospel of Jesus with this man in words and phrases he could understand.

I’m NOT saying that we should not use the “Language of Zion” in our conversation, singing, and worship. I am saying that we should be prepared to translate what we are talking about to people who may not understand.

Speaking of Christianese, there is a lot of Christianese language used in the Church during the Christmas season. One is “giving to Lottie.”  “Giving to Lottie”, can be confusing to people who are new to Baptist Church life. “Giving to Lottie” means giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missionaries who are supported by the Southern Baptist Convention. The offering is named for Lottie Moon who was a SBC Missionary to China from 1873-1912.

As we prepare for our Wednesday Night Discussion, let’s look at another Christianese word used during the Christmas season:

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