Here’s a quote from Lesslie Newbigin that should give evangelical Christians both pause and comfort:
The radical conversion of the heart, the U-turn of the mind which the New Testament calls metanoia, can never be the calculable result of correct methods of communication. It is something mysterious for which we can only say that our methods of communication were, at most, among the occasions for the miracle.
Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture, p. 6
It should give us pause in that we shouldn’t rely upon our fanciful methods of communication to change the hearts of people.
It should give us comfort in the knowledge that no matter how lacking in finesse our communication is, it is God who finishes the job.