Is the Language of the Church Relevant?

Language is a barrier.  It’s obvious when you travel the world that you can’t fully assimilate into a society until you’ve learned the language.  In a business, there are terms that must be learned prior to fully being accepted.  Some retail, like Starbucks, have created their own special terms to separate the true followers from the casual coffee drinkers.

Our pastorthis week was troubled by some comments about how our Church has a “mold” that some people don’t feel they fit into.  I think a lot of people don’t feel they fit in because they don’t understand the language: “Church-ese”.

Here are some of the main Church-ese terms along with a Wordle picture of a few of our most popular worship songs:

Blessing
Worship
Fellowship
Savior
Sin
Redeem
Christ-like
Holy
Glory
Glorify
Praise
Righteous
Adoration
Mercy
Grace
Sacred
Hallelujah
Alleluia
Rule Over
King
Lord

This is probably just 1% of the special language of the Church. I know that many of these terms can be found in society today, but they take on special meaning between people of the Church and I believe this is a big part of the reason Christians are seen as "fitting the mold".  And there is a bigger issue here – are these terms relevant to the seekers or just to the Church?  Like Starbucks, have we created a language so we can feel special?  Is it bringing others in or keeping them out? 

Example:  In the U.S., we haven’t been subject to a King since the Revolutionary War.  Lord is also a term that isn’t used liberally in American society.  Elsewhere in the world, those terms may have deeper meaning, but here, not so much.  We use them because they were great metaphors for God when Kings and Lords were the prevalent political leadership structure.  Perhaps the image How would a modern communicate this?  Leader, President, CEO, Chairman?   Doesn't seem to have the same impact, but perhaps that's just my 50 years of Church language training.  : )

I know this might make many feel really uncomfortable, but it’s long overdue that we thought about our words in the Church.  After all, they are just words and metaphors to help us explain God and our relationship to Him.  Could we let go of the “sacred” words and open up a 21st century dialog that didn’t build a barrier?  I'm just asking...

Simply,

Tim