Communicating

I am was reading a book earlier today that deals with communication in one of its chapters. Some of this principles presented challenged me to think about the topic in a little bit different way than I had before.
The three principles are: 1
1. Communication is the art of being understood.
2. Persuasion is more complicated than it seems.
3. God is the one who transforms

Those three things as they relate to communicating with others are pretty broad. Here's my thoughts on them, please give your own feedback on them.

#1- I don't know about you but at times I find it very frustrating when I am not understood. I often blame whoever I'm communicating with for not understanding. However, my job as the one communicating is not complete until the message has been received. I think a great example of this is watching someone try to communicate with another person who doesn't speak their language. People often try to speak louder and in slow motion, as if the other person is deaf because they cannot understand. The problem is not with the volume, it is with the clarity of the message. Speaking as if your in slow motion doesn't really accomplish much either. When we are trying to communicate the Gospel we sometimes fall into similar traps. If someone doesn't understand something we continue to use other "churchy" words or metaphors and never try to speak in a language that our listeners can understand. Have you ever experienced something like that?

#2 and 3. I believe that's its important that these two things are put closely together because there is a danger, if persuasion is done without realizing that it is God who transforms, of thinking of others as projects. That is not at all what I or the writers of the book mean by persuasion. This type of persuasion is not to change people, but rather, it is to persuade them to "consider who God is and what His call is for their lives". The last part of this is understanding that God is the one who transforms. Therefore it is our job to communicate God's relevance in our own lives in a way that invites people to consider God. Since God is the transformer (no not those Transformers) it is not our job to make the Bible relevant, but it is unquestionably our job to communicate the relevance of the Bible 2.

Sources:
1 Deep Ministry in a Shallow World: Clark, Chap and Kara Powell
2 Culture Shift: Henderson, David.