June 23rd, 2025
“Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.”
There will be many instances during evangelism when you will have to respond to questions or challenges people may have about the Christian faith. However, I would argue that in even more instances, it will be necessary for you, as a believer, to engage others in effective ways so they can hear the gospel. So, how can we effectively share the Good News with others? While there is no “one size fits all” approach, we see a strategy for evangelism in the book of Acts that can be useful in our culture today.
In these verses of our devotional, Paul makes a stop in the city of Athens, a town predominantly inhabited by Greeks and some Jews, on his journey around the nation to share the Gospel. Paul shared the Gospel with people in many different ways throughout the New Testament. In this particular instance, Paul employs an interesting strategy to connect the gospel with his listeners by utilizing the cultural norms and habits of the people of Athens to his advantage in explaining the gospel.
For instance, we’re told in Acts 17:21 that it was culturally normative for those living in Athens to discuss and engage with the latest ideas of the time. Knowing this, Paul, while in Athens, puts on the hat of a debater, debating in the synagogues (Acts 17:17) the claims and realities of Christ. Another example of this use of cultural norms for the sake of Gospel engagement is identifying the fact that the Athenians were a religious people, often to the point of superstition, and thus created an unknown God for anything in the world that they could not attribute to some other Deity. Paul acknowledges this cultural norm and uses it as a launching point to preach the Gospel. He states
“For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.”
What we see in these verses is a discipleship strategy that Paul echoes elsewhere in scripture in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. In summary of these verses in Corinthians, Paul proclaims his willingness to forsake comforts and adopt other cultural norms for the sake of bringing the Gospel to others, and this is an approach we can adopt as well.
There are various ways we can adopt cultural norms in Canada as a means of sharing the Gospel with others. For example, social media use is very common among us and can be a great platform to share the Gospel through posts or created videos. Canada is culturally and religiously diverse, including many faiths which accept Jesus to some degree, although having a wrong image of Jesus. Discussing others' views of Jesus with them, in comparison to what the Bible says, can be a great launching point for a Gospel conversation. Even for atheists, we can find common cultural ground. For example, although they don’t believe in God, atheists and many others will hold firmly that human lives are valuable, humans have meaning and purpose, and that reason is significant. Discussing how God plays into the picture of purpose or how Christianity aligns with logic and reason can help in these kinds of Gospel conversations!
One thing that must be mentioned as we talk about adopting cultural norms or ideas to engage others with the Gospel is that these cultural norms we accept must never compromise the Gospel. Any cultural norm that would result in sin should not be a means we use to try to reach others. For example, although it's normative to smoke weed in Canada, we should not use that activity to try to reach the lost. Nevertheless, cultural engagement can be an effective strategy to reach the lost with the Gospel. Although this will require effort to understand the cultural habits of your local area, it's work that’s worth it!
Challenge For This Week
Do some research this week and consider the cultural norms of Canada. What opportunities are out there that you can take advantage of to share the gospel? Is there a popular gathering area in your city where many people congregate, or are there forums where people are open to conversation? Brainstorm and then go out and share!