As we saw in the previous post (here), I mentioned two categories for evangelism; relational evangelism and cold evangelism. Relational evangelism takes into consideration the sphere of influence that exists in your life such as your family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and community.
Then there is cold evangelism, which means that there is no relational context by which you have to build on in order to share the Gospel. This includes street evangelism, door to door evangelism, or “as you are going” such as on a plane, in a coffee shop, or at the grocery store.
This kind of evangelism is intimidating for many people because it requires one to invade in another’s flow of life without any knowledge of how that person may respond. This type of evangelism also lends itself to err on extremes, whether on the Love of God or the Judgment of God. But it doesn’t have to be an err at all, if we remember that the point in sharing the Gospel is to share Christ clearly (see this post).
Thankfully we have an example for us in the Scriptures with the Apostle Paul. In the book of Acts, we see much of what Paul went through and how he navigated the differences between cultures as well as being intentional to preach Christ in all opportunities.
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.
Acts 17:16-17
Paul, in this context, was sent away from Thessalonica to Berea because of the hostility of the Jews. But while he was in Berea, the Jews from Thessalonica heard that Paul was preaching so they went there to cause problems. So the brethren sent Paul away from there as well and he ended up in Athens waiting on Silas and Timothy to meet him there.
But while he was there, he observed all of the idols in the city, and being the man he was, he was provoked in his spirit. This term provoked as defined by the Princeton dictionary as aggravated: incited, especially deliberately, to
anger.
Other translations have translated the term as stirred, deeply troubled, greatly distressed, painfully excited, grieved and roused to anger, moved, very upset. The point is that Paul was moved to preach Christ to those in the city that he was in and he went to the synagogue and in the market place daily.
As we see with this text, Paul did not take a break from preaching Christ, but instead was bold to interfere with anyone who would give him an ear. He did not binge out on Netflix, or post up at a local Starbucks and put his headphones in but instead sought out anyone who would listen to the message of Christ.
And so doing he got the attention of the philosophers who then invited him to share his words at a place called Areopagus. And it is here where we get some insights from the seasoned Apostle on how to handle cold evangelism.
Acts 17:22-31 is Paul’s evangelistic sermon to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. In the next post (here) we will look at this text and draw some helpful thoughts on getting into Gospel conversations with those strangers that we do not know.