Christian Speech Community

by: Hannah McGee

The speech community shown is that of a Christian. This speech happens all the time, but most common in church or on the mission field. There are several speech characteristic, such as the language. Many Christians who attend church regularly become familiar with words and phrases that get used on a daily basis without the knowledge. In this video, my father has just returned from a mission trip and is sharing his experience with my mother. This was a simple conversation between two people, but the language used is universal. He used language and phrases such as Vacation Bible School, minister, life story of Jesus, and gift of God. Vacation Bible School refers to an event that most Christians recognize. It is a time of sharing the gospel in a fun and new way to young children through education. The term minister is referring to the action of sharing the gospel. This is most common through preaching of the gospel by missionaries overseas, Sunday school teachers, and the everyday Christian living his or her life for Christ. The life story of Jesus deals with the birth from a virgin, a perfect life, the ultimate death on a cross for the sins of men, and the resurrection three days later. This story has become a part of the world today, many people in America are aware of at least the basics of the story, but for a Christian, the story is so much more valuable and holds a significance far above anything else. The final phrase mentioned was the gift of God. This holds such a high value, and with the story it accompanies shows the wonders of what it entails. An uneducated man is able to speak in seven different languages fluently. A gift of God, is truly that an unexplainable gift that only God can grant to humans. These are just a few of the speech characteristics that Christians will say on a regular basis. I choose to include the song Forever Reign by Hillsong in the background to introduce the type of music that Christians listen to and sing along with. The lyrics of this song talk about the characteristics

of God such as good, love, light, hope, peace, truth, joy, and life. They use the phrase run into your arms. This phrase does not literally mean to run into his arms, but instead look for comfort in him and turn to him. Light of the world forever reign is a line in the song that indicates the use of the name for Jesus, light of the world, and the knowledge from the Bible, that his reign is eternal. The song also used other popular phrases such as darkness closes in, covers my sin, fear is crippling, in my wandering, and death has lost its sting. This speech community uses these characteristics in everyday language and it becomes a part of who they are. True Christians believe in the words they use and live them out. This speech community can cross over with countless other unrelated communities, especially in the United States because of the vast majority who have gone to some sort of church or Christian religious service. This may have been just at important times, such as Easter or Christmas. Some of the major holidays in the United States have Christian backgrounds and thus the religion has encountered multiple speech communities. The speech community and the speech characteristics are so common that they have become an unrealized part of many speeches.