Preaching and Toastmasters (Monday with Mounce 58)

When we moved to Washougal a few months ago, my wife and I had to start the somewhat painful experience of making new friends. We were committed to having friends outside of a local church so that all of our friends are not Christians. That task is easier said than done.

 

Robin, my wife, is a good speaker and enjoys conferences with other women; so she wondered if she should take the new time she has and develop those gifts. Toastmasters, here she comes.

 

Toastmasters is an interesting organization (www.toastmasters.org). It is designed to help people, especially people in business, learn to verbally communicate, a skill that all people in business require. The different groups gather weekly, and the different members give speeches and are encouraged and critiqued.

I have found my wife’s experience with Toastmasters a more positive and encouraging experience than anything I have ever witnessed in a church, and I find myself wondering if every preaching pastor should not aggressively make Toastmaster part of his or her weekly experience. They would learn a lot about preaching, and they would foster positive relationships with non-believers. Where is the problem in this picture?

 

1. Toastmasters is positive. If you do a poor job in a speech, you will be told; but you will be told in such a way that you are encouraged to become better. The reviews come from all the people who listen to you, they tell you what you did right, and in positive, encouraging terms they tell you what you should work on.

 

2. Toastmasters is welcoming. They were glad to see Robin, personally invited her to come in, made a place for her to sit, and struck up a conversation with her. This attitude was a natural expression of who they are and what they are doing; they did not need a “Greeting Time” to artificially welcome people.

 

3. Toastmasters is based on mentor relationships. As soon as Robin decided to make Toastmasters part of her weekly schedule, she was assigned a mentor. She looks for Robin and is her primary critiquer.

Robin sends her mentor Taran her speeches before she gives them. Taran looks over the speech and makes suggestions and comments, and after the speech is quick to respond. Two are definitely better than one; I read that somewhere ;-)

 

4. Toastmasters cares about you. This is why their constructive criticism is, well, constructive. They see that there are no failure, only opportunities to learn, which is how friends treat friends.

 

5. Toastmasters knows the lessons of the seven minute manager; specifically, they know to get you involved, but not overly involved. As soon as you commit to coming, you are assigned small tasks. You are the time keeper for the speeches (some preachers could learn about crafting a sermon so that it does not go on, and on, and on …). You are assigned the job of grammarian (they have a list of expressions and grammatical errors that you count, like saying “hum” and “so”). And you give a short speech rather quickly about yourself. This gives people the opportunity to get to know you, and so that they can see where you are in your overall ability to publicly communicate.

 

Robin’s experience may not be universal, but I believe it is the normative Toastmaster’s experience.

 

If you haven’t detected it, there is a lot of “stuff” (Toastmasters probably wouldn’t like that word) going on between the lines in this blog.

 

1. Preachers should go to Toastmasters. It gives them a wonderful opportunity to learn how to speak publicly, to establish relationships with nonbelievers and learn things about the world that lie outside the four walls of their church community. Robin has learned much about leadership, resolving conflict, snow caves, preventing accidents on the job, and autism.

 

2. Elders should go to Toastmasters. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a pastor’s main support structure could actually do for him what Toastmasters is doing for Robin? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they were capable of positive, constructive, informed criticism? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if elders knew they too needed to be involved in people’s lives? (Some do; I believe most don’t.)

 

3. Perhaps the entire church should go to Toastmasters and learn what it is to communicate in healthy, positive, encouraging ways, and in the process get to know non-believers. I am struck by the statistic that the average Christian, five years after conversion, does not have a single non-Christian friend. And gossip and critical speech would never be tolerated in Toastmasters.

 

4. Perhaps I need to go to Toastmasters, since I have no non-Christian friends.

While I am sure there are many good Christian communities out there, I wonder what would happen if we all acted more like Toastmasters—encouraging, positive, involved, loving. You may think I am a bit jaded, and perhaps I am. But sometimes the bumps in life are needed to wake you up and see how bad things really are, and how easy it is to become complacent in the midst of what is normal and customary.

 

I would like to attend a church that shared more in common with Toastmasters than it does with traditional church life. I would like to have Taran as one of my elders.

 

William D. [Bill] Mounce posts every Monday about the Greek language, exegesis, and related topics at Koinonia. He is the author of numerous books, including the bestselling Basics of Biblical Greek (third edition coming in 2009!), and general editor for Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of the Old and New Testament Words. He served as the New Testament chair of the English Standard Version Bible translation. Learn more and visit Bill's blog (co-authored with scholar and his father Bob Mounce) at www.billmounce.com. 

Comments

[Keith Schooley]

Really good post. It's scary how secular organizations can show more Christlikeness than many churches.

With regard to Christians having few or no non-Christian friends... It seems to me that this is an unintended consequence of the Church drawing people into as many church-related activities as possible, and viewing outreach as something organized and directed by the local church organization, rather than coming organically out of its members. I'm increasingly coming to the view that churches should encourage people to involve themselves in civic organizations (of whatever flavor each person is interested in) and should create space in the church's own schedule to allow for that.

Just like "quality time" can't be scheduled by busy parents--rather, teachable moments arise unexpectedly in the context of quantities of time being spent together--successful "evangelism opportunities" can't be scheduled by churches. Rather, the opportunity to share one's faith should arise naturally from the relationship created by people sharing a mutual interest.

[John Umland]

I've been a church elder over 10 years and a toastmaster for 7 years. I only preach once or twice a year, but what a difference Toastmasters has made in my speaking. You didn't mention the leadership development Toastmasters offers as well.
God is good
jpu
CL, AL Silver, Area Governor C3, Dist 53

[Phil Faris]

I concur. Many organizations produce similar benefits--though few are as explicit and efficient as Toastmasters. But, rather than relying solely on a remedial system for adults, we might consider ways to raise children with these skills. Community theater has been my family's organization of choice, though we just happened to live near the country's best such group which also coincidentally was run with biblical standards and values. Finally, a hospitable home with many and frequent guests (new ones) is where parents can demonstrate and pass on these skills. As you noted, the church can only benefit from all believers including these skilkls and venues as part of their spiritual lives.

[Doug Ward]

I once belonged to a small denomination that routinely used Toastmaster's in its congregations. The experience had all the benefits that you mention.

One concrete example: I am a faculty member in a university mathematics department. Every April we have an awards banquet for our students, and I have often served as the emcee at the banquet. Other department members find this task a bit intimidating, but I can approach it more positively because of my Toastmaster's experience.

[Richie]

Bill,

Perhaps you and your wife should consider starting your own house church. Then you could build a Christ-like church on a person by person basis with people that you yourselves meet in your daily lives, i.e., after the example of Paul, et al.

[Matt Hauck]

Greetings!

I appreciate the positive experience you've had with Toastmasters, and it is an interesting way to learn to speak better. However, this post was actually rather discouraging, and I think a little too jaded.

The point is well taken that there is much criticism and destructive speech in the church, but is comparing it to a club really a fair comparison? It seems like a disgruntled husband comparing his equally-disgruntled wife to his coworkers that all greet him with a smile every day. (Without mentioning that they then proceed to gossip about the boss and their own wives/kids, etc.) The deeper relationships go, the closer sinners get, the more difficulty there will be.

I think most clubs will probably be easier to get along than at church. Clubs deal with one area of life everyone has an interest in, and attracts similar types of people. The church is concerned with all aspects of life and draws people from all walks of life.

Just some thoughts. I got started on Greek from your textbook and am thankful for your teaching ministry. I pray the Lord would direct you to a congregation where Christ is exalted and the people generally, albeit imperfectly, live out their faith in love.

-Matt