This feature is adapted with grateful permission from an article by Dave Couchman of
Facing the Challenge.
Why don't we just "give people the Gospel"? Why make a starting-point at other topics, including
those relating to contemporary culture such as films?
The use of the Bridge Strategy is biblical as well as practical: our example is
the apostle Paul. Look at how he communicated with his Greek listeners on Mars Hill:
Acts 17:16-34.
- Paul went where the people were. He didn’t expect them to come in to a church building - there wasn’t one! (verse 17)
- He met people on their own terms. He didn’t expect them to listen to the Good News on
his terms. (verses 19-21)
- Paul went to the market places and meeting places (verse 17, 22). In the ancient world, these
were the places where people passed on news and ideas. If you had something to say, and
you wanted to be heard, this was where you had to go.
- He found a point of contact with them, in their altar to the unknown god (verse 23). He
quoted from two of their well-known writers (verse 28), and alluded to others –
the use of redemptive analogy.
- Paul was talking to Greeks, not Jews. He knew they were not familiar with the Jewish Bible
(our Old Testament). So he did not start with God’s Old Testament revelation. Instead, he
started with God in creation (verse 24).
- Paul could not give them the whole of the Good News. He talked about God in creation
(verse 24), in history (verses 26-27), and in judgment (verse 31), but when he started talking
about Jesus, the meeting broke up (verse 32).
Our situation today is similar in many ways:
- People do not come in to our church buildings in large numbers. We need to go out and
meet them 'on their turf'.
- The main place where people exchange news and ideas today is through the mass media. We
don't spend time chatting in the market places. Instead, we watch TV or read newspapers.
- Paul quoted from pagan Greek writers. The modern equivalents might include films, television
shows, and magazines.
- Paul's listeners were not familiar with the Bible. People today do not know what the Bible
is about. This means we need to start further back with God in creation, before we come
to the Good News of Jesus Christ.
- We need to be prepared for communicating the Good News to take a long time, and many
exposures, before people will understand the message. The Gray Matrix
helps us to understand this.
Paul's example has practical lessons – for web-based evangelism, church outreach, or individual witness.
There are further biblical mandates for these strategies.
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