The Dangers of Insider Language

I visited a church once where the bulletin had a section titled "DG Updates." No explanation. Just a header and three paragraphs of information underneath it that didn't give any context. I sat there genuinely unsure whether DG stood for a ministry name, a staff team, a giving initiative, or something else entirely. To this day, I have never found out what it meant.

That is insider language in its most visible form. But the more common version is subtler, and it shows up in almost every piece of church communication I have ever reviewed.

It is the email that refers to "our next steps process" without ever saying what that process involves. It is the social post inviting people to "join us for community" without explaining what that looks like in practice. It is the stage announcement for "the 9:15 experience." Has nobody stopped to consider that a visitor has no idea what an "experience" is or why it would be different from a regular service? Maybe it's tithing, small groups, anointed, communion, baptism, fellowship, narthex, unchurched, or benediction, used without context.

Every one of those choices feels normal from the inside, and you might be right that most people know what you're referring to. But from the outside, these phrases feel like a code the visitor hasn't been given the key to. And most people, when they feel like outsiders who are not welcome, don't ask for the key.

Why do church communicators keep using words outsiders don’t know?

Insider language develops gradually in any community that spends enough time together. People develop shared vocabulary, shared references, shared shorthand. That is actually a healthy sign of real community. The problem is when that vocabulary becomes the default in communications meant to reach people who aren't yet part of the community.

Most church communicators are writing from inside a culture they have inhabited for so long that they have lost the ability to see it from the outside. The terms that feel completely natural to them feel completely foreign to the person they're trying to reach.

The solution is not to strip all personality and specificity from your language. It is to develop the discipline of reading your own communications through a different set of eyes before they go out. I usually ask my team to view something through the eyes of the guy in the back row with his arms crossed.

Which church terms confuse someone visiting for the first time?

Some categories of insider language are more common and more damaging than others. These are worth looking at first.

Ministry names and abbreviations. If your church has a ministry called The Bridge, or a program called ROOTED, or a group called the 180 Class, assume nobody visiting your church for the first time knows what any of those names mean. Either explain them every time they appear in external-facing communications, or use plain descriptive language instead. "Our six-week class for people new to the faith" tells someone exactly what they're being invited into. "ROOTED" tells them nothing.

Theological terminology used without context. Words like sanctification, justification, fellowship, and discipleship are mission-critical. They are also words that a significant portion of the people in your community have never encountered, or have encountered in contexts that made them feel judged or confused. That doesn't mean you stop using them. It means you don't assume they're self-explanatory, especially in outward-facing communications.

Event names that only make sense if you've already attended. A retreat called "Deeper Still" or a conference called "Amplify" tells a first-time visitor nothing about what it is, who it's for, or why they might want to come. A name that communicates the experience or the audience is always more useful to someone who doesn't already know. You can add a tagline for context, but make sure everything you're communicating reinforces that context instead of just the name.

Internal references to programs and processes. "Sign up at the welcome table to get connected to your next step" sounds helpful and specific from the inside. From the outside, it raises three immediate questions: Where is the welcome table, what does getting connected mean, and what is a next step? Answer those questions in the communication rather than leaving them for the person to figure out on arrival.

How do you test your church communication for insider language?

Take the last three pieces of communication your church published, whether that's a social post, an email, a bulletin announcement, or a slide. Read each one out loud as if you are a person who has never attended your church, never heard your pastor speak, and has no context for how your church operates.

Mark every word, phrase, or reference that requires prior knowledge to understand. Then rewrite those sections in plain language. You will likely be surprised by how many marks you make and how much clearer the rewritten versions feel, even to people who are already insiders.

Better yet, find someone who actually is an outsider and ask them to read something you're about to publish. Ask them to tell you where they got lost or confused. Their feedback will be more useful than anything you can guess on your own.

What does clear communication tell a visitor about your church?

The most unkind thing you can do as a leader is to be ambiguous. When someone who has been carrying questions about faith finally musters the courage to engage with your church and encounters a wall of language they cannot decode, they don't usually try harder. They conclude that this is not a place for people like them.

That conclusion is wrong. But your communication didn't give them a reason to reach a different one.

Writing clearly, in language that doesn't require a glossary, is one of the most practical ways a church can communicate that it genuinely means the invitation it extends. That is worth the extra effort of reading your own work like an outsider, because the outsiders are the ones we most need to reach.