I am a believer in the power of words. Be it a poetic approach or simply an informative angle. Within my world, words can inspire, confuse, or even distract.

Our verbiage is important. It even helps communicate what we’re not saying. The language that a group of people use often describes that tribe of people. It can express how they dress, the kind of music they listen to, and what they believe.

Here’s an example- In “churchy” circles I’ve begun to hear the terms “churched” and “unchurched”. I understand both sub-cultured terms, but both make me a little unsettled to be honest. What about this perspective? By “churched”, we’re implying that once you are in church (go to church, join a church, yada yada), that we are in the “club”. By using the term “unchurched”, it implies that one is outside of the church (people that don’t attend church on a regular basis).

To me, “churched” means that one is programmed to get the lingo, know the secret handshake, and understand the churchy verbiage. Where “unchurched” can mean that “they” don’t get the lingo, don’t know all the right things to say or do. Kind of makes me want to be an “unchurched” follower of Jesus to be honest.

A few months back, my church decided to change up a little verbiage. We are no longer using the term “member or membership”, and are using “partner or partnership” to describe the people that join us in a covenant fellowship. Personally, I think it was a good move, as we are striving to be aware of our words are not saying.

I will admit that I get hung up on verbiage & the words people use, all-the-while others don’t give it a second thought. You might be thinking “dude, get over it, you know what they mean”. I would say, why NOT change how we speak. Sometimes things unbroken should be broken. They might have more character. Challenging the status quo cultivates growth.

So, may we think, process with an authentic filter, and sense the manner in which we speak, print, publish, and post. What are we not saying?