Gen Z Gospel Flow & Fluency
- Shane Tucker
- May 5
- 4 min read
It’s a long-standing axiom that we must always be exploring new ways of sharing the Message of Christ without changing the Message itself. The Message -the Gospel- is timeless, while our methods are often time-bound. This requires both a faultless fidelity to the Scriptures; particularly the teachings, works, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as an acute awareness of the culture and context of our intended audience. This necessitates a committed heart, a keen understanding, and a determined diligence to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit.
St. Paul demonstrates these interconnected dynamics well throughout the Scriptures, but in many ways no clearer than in his encounter with the Areopagus in Athens as depicted in Acts 17:16-34. Without delving too deeply into this passage, Paul executes an insightful cultural exegesis and then re-presents his findings to an audience (the intellectually elite Areopagus) that would have already been fully aware of what he highlighted to them, albeit veiled by a film of familiarity. Paul ‘puffs them up’ a bit, and after complimenting them (what they would have no doubt loved hearing) he builds a bridge from what they already knew to that which they had yet to know and understand. He says, “For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.” (vs. 23) Paul then leads them to consider the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Some commentators, noting the seemingly weak show of interest in Christ during Paul’s visit in Athens, and his comments as he engaged a different crowd in a later visit to Corinth, assume that Paul regretted his evangelistic tactics with the Areopagus in Athens. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, “1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” It’s often interpreted that this signals a change in evangelistic approach in Corinth due to his experience in Athens. I’d like to suggest that Paul’s statement does not indicate a change in his message but in his strategy, illustrating that Paul was an excellent observer of culture and context. As an orator he knew his audience, therefore Paul’s change in tactics was not because of a lack of significant response to the Gospel in Athens, but because Paul knew exactly which approach would work best in Athens, and which would work best in Corinth. He changed the method of evangelism, without changing the message of the Gospel itself.
In recent months, For Columbus has been seeking to ramp up our
encouragement and facilitation of collaborative ministry amongst youth and young adults- amongst Gen Z. Toward that end, we applied for a generous grant from the Palau Association and received funds to reach and disciple lost youth and young adults by training and equipping their peers to come alongside them as they demonstrate and proclaim their faith in Jesus Christ. Being true to our calling, this attempt to develop an effective evangelism strategy is being enacted as a collective initiative, inviting churches and ministries already reaching and discipling this demographic to discern best practices and effective strategies together, with input from Gen Z Christians within their ministries. Finally, this year-long grant will enable these ministries and churches to enact their shared strategies together, both by those active within the Columbus City Schools system, and those active on OSU’s campus.
We believe it’s Gen Z themselves who will know how best to reach their peers, and it’s they themselves who are best positioned to do it. With guidance and support from various adult ministry and staff, these Gen Z ‘missionaries’ will be better equipped to do just that, collectively, across the Columbus region. To inspire and support this work, For Columbus has invited an international ministry partner that has spent the last 40 years reaching and discipling younger generations, to encourage what the Spirit is doing through this initiative within the Church of Columbus. Steiger International (www.steiger.org) is active in around 275 cities globally, helping to raise up ‘City Teams’ to reach Gen Z, usually through creative and non-traditional methods. They do this with the highest level of integrity, boldness, and commitment to Christ and His gospel, in community and collaboration with others. Steiger will be present on Thursday, May 28th from 11:30am-2:30pm to facilitate a Gen Z evangelism workshop which is open to anyone within the Columbus region- including Gen Z Christians themselves. Why don’t you join us as we embark on a new season of collaborative ministry to and with Gen Z, demonstrating and proclaiming the Good News of life full and free in Jesus Christ!? Registration details are on our website and social media platforms.
Like St. Paul, our message never changes, but our methods mold to meet the needs of the season, place, and people. May we follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to rise to meet the call of the LORD, and the cry of the people of the Columbus region!
