We have several coffee drinkers in our house so it is not uncommon to be at a coffee shop picking up more than one drink at a time. A while back I had one of those moments where I was grabbing several drinks, trying to load them into my car, and in the process I set one cup on the roof of the car. As I moved around, I accidentally knocked it over and the coffee creamer spilled all over my windshield. Fortunately, I was at a shop I visit often, and they quickly replaced my drink and handed me paper towels so I could clean up the windshield enough to get on my way.

I wiped everything down and felt like I got the windshield pretty clear. I got in my car and headed home. But something strange happened. From the outside looking in, the windshield looked completely clean. But from the inside it had a haze over it. I am not sure if there was an oil in the creamer or something else, but it created a blurriness that made it hard to see clearly. It was even worse because it was getting dark and every headlight created a halo effect on the glass. The wipers did nothing. I had to wait until I got home and really clean the windshield before I could see properly again.

And what was odd was that from the outside it still looked fine. Even in daylight it probably would not have been noticeable. But because it was night, and because of that thin film of creamer, it was distracting and difficult to drive.

So why bring this up? What does this have to do with ministry communication?

We talk a lot about the importance of messaging being clear. But it is easy to assume that because something is clear to us it is clear to everyone else. Just because something is meaningful or compelling to us does not mean it feels that way to the person receiving it. For some reason that windshield moment really brought this into focus for me.

Something can look clear from the outside yet still distort what people see when they look through it. Something can be technically correct and still fail to communicate heart, substance, and purpose. And many ministries suffer from what I now think of as the coffee creamer windshield effect. Everything looks fine to the team inside the ministry, yet when we talk to people who engage with the ministry, they cannot explain the mission or the heartbeat at all. What is obvious and meaningful to the ministry leader is vague or cloudy to everyone else.

This comes back to the idea of perception. Everyone sees differently. Most of us know what it is like to have a smudge on our glasses or a film on a windshield. You do not notice it until you try to look through it. When something is off, it creates fuzziness. It creates distraction. It creates a clarity problem.

Imagine the person you are trying to communicate with is the one sitting behind the wheel with that hazy windshield. You are the one on the outside thinking everything looks clear. But they are looking at your ministry through a blurry, smudged surface. If the message is fuzzy, vague, or hard to connect with it becomes distracting. And in ministry it often becomes discouraging or uninteresting. Most ministries do not have a content problem. They have a clarity problem.

We need to make sure people can see clearly when they look at what we are doing. We need to clean the glass they are looking through.

How do you know if people are trying to view you through a smudged screen? Here are three things that help bring clarity.

1. Ask people what they see, hear, feel, and experience from what you present.

Whether through a focus group, simple conversations, or a survey, the only way to know if your message is clear is to ask. Your perspective alone is not objective enough. Show people what you have and ask if it is clear, compelling, and meaningful.

2. Accept the feedback with humility and make the changes that make sense.

You do not need to accept every suggestion, but if several people point out the same issue it is probably worth fixing. Do not take the feedback personally. This is how communication gets better.

3. After making changes, go back and ask the same people again.

This will confirm whether the improvements are actually working. It will refine your communication and also bring people into the process, which builds ownership and encouragement. When people help shape clarity, they often become your most natural advocates.

People cannot respond to what they cannot see clearly. When ministries commit to removing the smudges in their communication, they make room for deeper connection and greater impact.