Our Prime Minister’s speech teaches us how to preach in 21st Century Australia.

His speech has always attracted the public’s attention. First, he amazed us with his fluent Mandarin. We were less enamored with his mastery of Hollowmen styled Public Service techno-babble. Last week the vernacular ‘fair shake of the sauce bottle, mate’ raised questions of whether his speech was authentic or contrived.

What can preachers learn from all this?

1. If you want to speak persuasively to Mandarin speakers, it is good to speak fluent Mandarin. Australia doesn’t have enough native Mandarin speakers. Corporations understand this - they compete with each other to recruit the best and brightest bilingual speakers. Sydney Anglicans are also desperately short of Mandarin speaking ministers. Pray for more. And encourage your children to learn Mandarin. Long for the day when Moore College has Mandarin speaking faculty members and a steady stream of graduates. (the same could of course be said for Arabic, Cantonese, etc)
2. Techno-babble has its place. If you want to get the public service moving it is good to be able to speak its language. Any profession develops its own vocabulary that aids precision. I heard a couple of Victorian bushfire survivors describe how Kevin Rudd’s ability to speak to the emergency services leaders delivered real and instant results. But techno-babble is only good for ‘in house’ speaking and becomes baffling waffle when spoken to outsiders. The Synod debates over whether ministers should be presbyters or priests is a good example of that. The precise theological language of the synod floor is incomprehensible when spoken to outsiders. We need to speak clearly and plainly wherever we can. There will be a place for some technical insider language but lets avoid it unless it is needed.
3. What about ‘fair shake of the sauce bottle’? We have to be all things to all men (1 Corinthians 9.22). There is therefore a place for different speech to different groups. At the same time gospel speech is to be a genuine sharing of our very selves and not trickery (1 Thessalonians 2). Australians sniff insincerity a mile off. Our confidence must be in the power of the word of God and the cross and not in oratory (1 Corinthians 2).  Trying to hold all this together can be tricky. I remember taking a funeral where I was surprised to find the large congregation were obviously working class and unchurched. I has to quickly ditch my sermon notes, paraphrase large parts of the prayer book, and use different illustrations and speech. As I was doing this a voice inside my head was saying: ‘are you being fair dinkum with these people?’

A final plea. We’re not here to praise or pillory Kevin Rudd. He has an incredibly demanding job. He is a Christian brother. He is our leader. So let’s be committed to praying for him. I offer these comments not as a critique on him, but so that we can turn the spotlight on ourselves and see how it is that we should speak.