Journey to Understanding: How Style and Content Impact the Spoken Word

This is a philosophical investigation of the issues of understanding, using the church, a preacher and his congregation as well as extended audience (the listeners of his Sunday morning radio show on Raypower 100.5 FM) as the focus. This monograph surveys how information is disseminated, received, interpreted, understood and acted upon within the above described sender-receiver spectrum. This treatise considers both sides of the understanding divide as a subset of the communication process. Here, ‘Understanding’ is treated as a concept that bears significant relevance to the process of communication, but not as the process itself. The sender-receiver spectrum is problematised in this study, evaluating the antics, theatrics, flamboyance and verbose style of Reverend Chris Okotie, Senior Pastor, Household of God Church (located in Oregun-Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria) versus the depth of understanding of his messages that members of his congregation possess. The style and content distractions that may corrupt the understanding of a preacher's messages are discussed in ways that offer solutions to the problem.