Welcome back to Writing for Ministry. I'm Adam Navis. This week, identify and  know your audience well. Today, we're going to be talking about the foundation  of all writing: human communication. We're going to talk about how good writing  begins with empathy for your audience, and how being as specific as you can  about your intended audience actually has the best chance of reaching the  widest audience.  

Why is this important? Good writing is good communication. I have something to say. Great, but if I say that thing and you never hear it, what has happened?  Nothing. Or if I have something to say, but when I do say it, you hear something  different. Maybe because I wasn't clear or precise with the words I used, then  communication has broken down. Now there are whole disciplines of  communication theory that explore this idea, but for our purposes, before we  start choosing what words go where on the page, what sentences go where?  

We need to remember this foundational principle: that good writing is about  interpersonal communication. Writers need readers. Now, there are writers who  will say that they never think about their readers when they write. They claim  that they they put their audience out of their mind. Maybe they're able to do this.  I get what they're saying because there are times when a writer needs to try to  forget about their audience, forget about what the reaction to their writing might  be. This is usually in a time when they need to write something that's true, but  controversial, or you might need to overthink it. If they overthink it, they'll freeze  up and not get the words out, so they need to forget about their audience for a  little while. And you'll know these moments, you'll feel these moments when they come.  

But in the method I'm laying out, it is really important to begin with a clear  understanding of who you're trying to reach with your writing. The reason being  is that if you're clear on your audience, a couple of things are going to  automatically fall into place. For example, when I'm stuck in my writing, I like to  take what I'm writing and change it into a letter, say I'm trying to explain why I  want one political candidate over another, and I'm feeling stuck because I'm  writing it for this large general audience, and I know that a topic like that is going to generate strong opinions on either side. Now I could easily feel overwhelmed, but when I think of a specific person, say my grandmother or my my friend or  one of my coworkers, and I start to write a letter to them, things start flowing  much more smoothly.  

It's because I suddenly have a very specific person I'm writing to. I know them  very well. I know what they know or don't know. I know what they like and don't  like. I know what tone to use with them. When we write letters or email to people

we know and know really well, the writing just comes out of us. We sound like  ourselves because we're less worried about sounding smarter than we are, and  our own voice just comes through. Let's be honest. Sometimes when we're  asked to write an academic paper, or a sermon, or even a blog post, we can  sometimes feel a little disconnected from our audience.  

So we fill our writing with with big, important-sounding words, words that don't  often usually mean anything, which is why writing a letter, even if it's just an  exercise, is a really great way to hone in on exactly who we're trying to reach to  identify who is our audience.  

So then, how do. Figure out your audience. This can be answered in two ways.  One way is wrong, and will lead to poor writing, even if it's technically proficient  writing. The second way is right, and will put us on a path to writing that is  transformative.  

First, the wrong way. The wrong way is to identify people that you think need to  change. Maybe you see people who are living unhealthy lifestyles. You know  that they would, if they would improve their diet, their exercise, and get a good  night's sleep, that they would live a better life. You could write a nice argument  to that effect. Many people have.  

But now the better way. Who do you love? Who do you care about? Who do you want to see thrive and improve. Let's take that same issue. Let's say I have an  uncle who's really overweight. Of course, he should change his lifestyle in all the ways that I just laid out. But when I make those points, I'm also going to  remember that he just went through a divorce, or he has a sick kid, or that his  whole family is overweight.  

Things suddenly get more complicated, but as a writer, they get more interesting as well. And we always, when we're writing, we want things to be as interesting  as they can be. The first method is easy. It's easy to pick a person or a group of  

people that you think are wrong, or misguided, or evil, and then just march  through all the things that you think are wrong about them, but if you approach  people in order to tell them what's wrong with them, they are not going to listen  to you. And remember, this is all-all writing is-is about human communication. I  know I only listen to people who first know me at a very deep level and then love me, even though I'm not perfect. If you start your writing from a place of love and concern, that love and concern is going to come through in what you write.  

Maybe you have a heart for young people, then write to young people. Maybe  you want to be a theologian, so keep other theologians in your mind as you 

write. Maybe you care about what's happening to the elderly in your community,  or business leaders, or teachers, or the people living in your neighborhood, but  the more specific you can be, the better your writing is going to be.  

Now I'm guessing there are two questions that jump to your mind right now.  First, you might think, "Well, there is a truth in Scripture that needs to be  proclaimed. The world needs to hear. After all, Isaiah 55:11 says that the word  does not return void. True, but I think Scripture actually has more to say on this.  I base my understanding more on I Corinthians 13:1. If I speak in the tongues of  men or of angels, but have not love, I am a resounding gong or a clanging  cymbal. I also think this is deep truth behind what we read in Romans 12, where Jesus calls us to feed and care for our enemies, and in that way we will heap  burning coals on them. There's no stronger piece of writing than that writing that  holds up a mirror to the reader, where they can see themselves. But to write that way, but to write that way, you have to know really deeply and truly know and  love your reader.  

The second question that might pop into your mind is this: But I want my writing  to have the broadest possible appeal. I think that this truth that I have to  proclaim needs to be heard by everyone. To which I would tell you that even  though it feels counterintuitive, the general is found in the specific.  

General statements slide off readers like water off a duck. Try to reach  everyone. And you'll reach nobody. Try to reach some, and you'll get more than  you expect.  

Your assignment is to identify a very specific person or group that you want to  reach. Maybe it's your church. Maybe it's your mother or your father. Maybe it's  yourself. There's nothing wrong with using writing to try and figure out what you  think about things, though for this assignment, try to pick someone outside  yourself. Maybe it's your children, so they'll grow up and be guided by what you  write.  

Your assignment this week then is to identify your audience. Find or draw a  picture that represents this person or group of people. Think about what they  fear, what they desire, what they want. Why are they that way? What motivates  them? If you want, you can even jot down a few words around a picture.  

One other note: be careful how many lines of privilege that you write across? I  am a white American middle-class male. If I write about my own experience,  fine. But if I write about, say, the experience of a woman from Vietnam, my  readers are going to ask, "Does he really know what he's talking about? I'm 

going to have to prove that I really do know what I'm talking about, and not only  do I know with my mind, but also love with my heart.  

I'm going to do this assignment do throughout this course along with you, so you can see what what I'm talking about. So I'm passionate about writing to young  people, people age 16 to 20. So I found this picture, I've printed it off. I'm going  to put it on this piece of paper here and adhere it there, and write maybe write a  few words about the people. Maybe young, just write young people, and it might  seem a little silly at first, but stick with it because we're going to develop into this really interesting graphic that's going to tell us about our writing and about the  forms that that things are going to take.  

In our next lesson, we're going to choose what topic we're going to write about,  and then look at the way to make sure we're considering the wider conversation  around that topic. Let's write. 



Modifié le: lundi 12 octobre 2026, 10:03