Are You Speaking Their Language?

This morning I went to a McDonald’s Drive Thru and pulled up behind the vehicle sitting at the speaker who was waiting to have their order taken. I rolled down my window and I heard Spanish coming from the speaker. I’m thinking, they aren’t trying to communicate in Spanish are they? The driver of the other vehicle was sitting quiet.

When it was my turn to pull up to the speaker, I also had a hard time knowing what the person was saying. Finally I heard them instruct me to pull up to a window where someone would take my order.

As I pulled up to the window, I quickly realized that it was the same person I heard through the speaker.

I placed my order which is not a standard menu item. See I don’t like cheese on my breakfast items, so I ordered a Sausage McGriddle with egg (my other option is to order a sausage, egg and cheese McGriddle w/o the cheese). They asked if I wanted cheese and I said “No”. They also asked if I wanted the meal and I said, “No”.

Well, I got my order and drove away. When I opened it up to eat it later, I noticed that I simply had a sausage and CHEESE McGriddle (no egg!). They had gotten the order wrong.

This had me wondering about children’s ministry. Are we speaking their language? Do they understand what we are saying and are we understanding them? Are we really meeting their needs or are we getting it wrong? Whoever you are trying to minister to, you need to get to know them, their language, and what is really going to reach them.

I could tell that this worker at the McDonald’s was getting a little frustrated and they seemed to be doing what they could to take a process the orders, and sometimes we get frustrated when we don’t completely understand others.

So let me encourage you to get to know the “language” of those to whom you are serving.