How It Works

How does the Matrix help us understand our various audiences and what they need to know and feel?

Any person, regardless of demographics, can be located at some point on the Matrix. If we feel that we know a person well we can possibly make a shrewd guess and say that he/she is at a point such as (-2,-6) in quadrant (A) for example. This would be interpreted as saying that they (at point X) are quite closed to the Gospel (-2), and also very ignorant of what it is about (-6)

Another person (Y) might be at (+1,-4) which suggests that he is open to the Gospel, anxious to find answers and ready to know more. A third (Z), a believer, may be located at (+2,+3) indicating a positive attitude, eager to grow spiritually, and fully functional as a Christian.

We can find people like this in the Bible

Let’s take a look at some of the people whom Jesus encountered:

The crowd were quite hostile to Jesus when he revealed that he was not their king. They wanted to kill him. On the Matrix they might be at (-3,-4) in Quadrant (A).
The Woman at the Well (John 4) would clearly be in quadrant (B) — though her spiritual understanding was far more than minimal. Her openness to receive Jesus' teaching demonstrated an appetite for spiritual truth that developed as their conversation progressed. Put her at (+2,-3).
Who should we nominate for quadrant (C)? How about one of the disciples — John? Or we could choose the apostle Paul as he moved from (-2,-3) in quadrant (A), say, to (+3,+4) in quadrant (C) and beyond. In fact we could name a wide variety of individuals who were totally committed to serving Christ.
Demas was described by Paul as one who had deserted him “having loved this present world.” He had fallen away. The O.T. prophet, Balaam (Numbers 23-24), might serve as an example of some in quadrant (D). Or perhaps even king Saul in his older days.

These are, of course, guesses to illustrate the point. In a real life situation today we need to be more careful in our assessment of where people are at. Guessing is not very objective and can easily reflect a poor understanding of the audience and where they are — both spiritually, and in their real openness to the Gospel. To conduct a research study would be much more enlightening. A good example of this is the Bangkok All Media Penetration study conducted by Viggo Sogaard in Thailand. Using clustered samples it pinpointed attitudes and the levels of understanding held by different sectors of the Thai populace in Bangkok.

Our overall purpose in our communication is to help people move toward the quadrant (C) in the top right of the matrix so that he can grow in Christ as a member of a local fellowship of believers.

More than Knowledge

If a person or people group is to move from the bottom-left (A) to the top-right (C) quadrant it will involve two components:

the vertical component (a person cannot come to faith without a basic understanding of the Gospel), and
the horizontal (which indicates that for a person to come to faith they must have an open attitude to the Gospel and toward God.)

Knowledge alone will not convince a person. Our messages must also convey elements of grace and sensitivity to the listener’s situation.

Above all, we need to remember it is ultimately God's work. The Holy Spirit is also active in this process — both in revealing Truth (cognitive) and in opening up a person's heart (affective) so that they might receive the Good News with gladness and growing interest

Once we can identify with a degree of certainty where our "audience" is located then we can begin to develop forms of ministry or programs appropriate to their situation and level of understanding. It may take some degree of experimentation and fine tuning to discover what works best. It may even include a variety of forms of outreach, each contributing its own relative strengths in the overall communication strategy. If it can be shown that overall progress is upwards and towards the right we can say that our approach is working.