5 Tips for Communicating without Starting a Fight

Whether you are defending your faith, telling someone about God, or simply in a discussion—these simple tips can help you communicate effectively without high blood pressure or raising your voice:

1. Start with examples your audience will understand: Always start with an example or concept your audience knows, understands, or finds interesting, and connect it to your core message.
2. Speak your audience’s language: When you speak to an audience, to the extent possible, you must speak their language.
3. Use witness: Consider the use of witnesses essential to the construction of an effective message based on narrative and ethos. Wherever possible, elicit testimonies.
4. Know when to speak: There are a lot of important topics in the world, and it is not necessary that you have something to say about all of them—particularly if speaking on the topic would hurt your credibility or detract from your primary goal.
5. And know when to be silent: Silence is one of the most powerful forms of communication. It shows that you are in control and gives the person or people a moment to think for themselves and consider how they will respond to your message

Read full article from Relevant Magazine here. Adapted from How to Argue Like Jesus.