Communication Tips

Do’s

1. Persistence; There are those who will just take the flyer and walk away, grab there attention by asking a question such as “where are you from?”, or continue speaking about the coming meeting, “this coming Wednesday we have multicultural gathering, watching a movie it’s about…” Normally people would be willingly to listen to you for another 5mins. Persist by grabbing there attention in any way, be creative and biblical.

2. Friendship and be genuine; Ask questions that open people up, questions that interest them and that you want to know more about them. “Are you studying, what course?”, “where do you live, do you come here to shop often?”, “what country are you from, what’s that like, what is it famous for?” Friendship enables you to invite more easily and speak into peoples lives. More likely will come because of this. Smile, laugh, joke with them, and make them feel comfortable.

3. Engage interest; Quality relationship with a few people is worth more than a dozen contacts that you hardly know. Elaborate on questions above and try to relate to it, allow them to speak more than yourself by asking related questions. Give them your full attention and make them feel special. E.g. where are you from? China? Which state? Wuhan? I heard it’s the biggest state in middle of china, I forgot what’s its famous for, do you know? What food is special there, do you cook since you cam here etc….Further, you can ask them what they normally do on weekends, what hobbies and interest, then this can be used to invite them to activities or relate to them later on. Remember to write down as much information as you have after you part way, so that you remember who they are, and mention it in the next conversation to show genuine interest.

4. Read Body language; Handing out flyers really up to the individual. Personally it has work best when people are either doing something slow, like sitting down reading, or walking slowly to shop, just waiting around. On the occasion people who walk by, you can read their expression if they are in a hurry, closed off, deep in their own thoughts, follow the holy spirits leading. When speaking you can see if they are friendly, keen to make new friends and their openness by their replies and if they are standing to face you.

5. Walk by the spirit; Use the time walking to pray in your heart and in spirit, be aware of surrounding and people. E.g. look around for people that you feel the spirit is speaking to you.

6. Be bold and courageous; don’t over analyze, that puts hesitation in your heart, select person and speak to them. Be confident in what your sharing, people can see your nervousness when you speak (tone of voice, speech ums and ahs) and by your action (body language) and this can put them off. When you see this, it is preferable that your partner can help out.

7. Work as a team; Back one another up, when you see that your partner has gone blank or nervous, jump in with a question, can be related or not. Don’t just stand back and let your partner do all the work, take turns speaking to person. Take different approaches and see what best suits you. E.g. Partner is sharing about Wednesday night, gets stuck, jump in and start talking about the people on Wednesday night who come from different nations, ask them how they would fit in, how they feel about different cultures etc.

8. Pattern of conversation; Introduction (where you from?) -> Invitation (explain event) -> friendship building -> Invitation -> Get contact number; Process may be repeated over and over again for the same person in cycle if you find that person lacks interest in invitation, appeal to their friendship.

Don’ts

1. Don’t be aggressive; Don’t be pushy, if they are busy, or not interested, let them go, there are more fishes in the sea who are hungry for Gods word;

2. Don’t be afraid; Speaking to different people from different cultural background especially when English is not your first language can be daunting. Remember that we are all Gods creation, equal in all abilities and characteristic. We have the same makeup just maybe different color skin, or cultural background but we share one Father, God. When you talk to a fluent English speaker, remember that God places the words in your mouth, and allow the spirit to speak through you, picturing that the fluent English speaker is not really fluent and you trying to explain to them in English can give you more confidence too.

3. Don’t get distracted; don’t let your eyes wonder else where when you are speaking to the person, engage them. If you don’t show interest in them, they won’t be interested in you or what you may want to offer.

I hope this helps you to be more confident in sharing, if you want to discuss about it more, just email me;