Engaging Our Societies (Part 1)

A compilation Sep 22, 2015

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.—Acts 17:16–17 (1)

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The effectiveness of Paul’s evangelism was not just a consequence of divine calling, but also of careful planning. An important principle he applied to his listeners was to teach what is unknown by means of what is known. If our attempts to communicate something new begin with the unfamiliar, we will almost certainly confuse our listeners and leave them disinterested. But if we start with what is already familiar and carefully build a bridge to the unfamiliar, we are likely to gain interest and understanding.

Paul looked for a common platform on which he could build a bridge that would take his listeners from their familiar territory to the unfamiliar truths of the Gospel. … In the one recorded Scripture of Paul preaching in a synagogue, he connects with his Jewish hearers by addressing them as ‘children of Abraham’, and begins to talk about the dramatic deliverance from Egypt under Moses, all very familiar territory to them. To a group of women in Philippi, worshiping a God they didn’t know, Paul joins them and introduces a positive message about a God they could know. To the pagans of Lystra, he finds common ground in creation, and how a living God sustains it all, putting food on their tables and joy in their hearts. To Greek philosophers in Athens, he refers to futile attempts of men to express God in terms of gold, silver and stone, and tactfully leads them to a God who gives life and breath.

When reaching people for Christ, our starting point should be in the thinking, culture and presuppositions of our hearers, so that we first get into their territory. Then, like Paul, tactfully building that bridge that will lead them to the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.—Charles Price

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Jesus indicated that our problem is heart trouble. The greatest need of our great cities at this moment is evangelism. The apostle Paul stood in the heart of pagan, secular, immoral, and violent Corinth and said, “We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”2 The proclamation of the Gospel is still the desperate need of men today. We are never going to reverse the moral trends without a spiritual awakening, and we are never going to have a spiritual awakening until the cross of Jesus Christ is central in all our teaching, preaching and practice.—Billy Graham

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Many sincere Christians everywhere find themselves in situations where the Lord leads them to invest more time in building relationships with people, in being willing to be patient as they live their faith, witness as the Lord leads them, and wait for the fruit to come in God’s time. As the “salt of the earth,” the Lord is putting more of us in situations where we can build relationships, friendships, and give a more in-depth witness over time, which will allow people to discover the truth and the Lord’s Spirit for themselves as a result of seeing it lived before their eyes by faithful Christians.

Many past methods of reaching people still work. Of course, much depends on individuals and their needs, as well as the culture and mores of the society you’re in. In general, however, the world has become more skeptical, and more people are looking for “proof” and have a need to be fully persuaded before accepting spiritual concepts. Your example and your interactions with them can go a long way toward convincing them that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.





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