Theme for this Sunday: How to Communicate the Gospel

Passage for Sunday: 1Cor 2:1-5 + Rom.1:18-21

After looking at how Paul preached the gospel to an audience of Jews & Gentile God-Fearers last week, this week we take a pause to consider further a few things about how we might communicate the gospel to others. The gospel or 'good news’ is another way of labelling the central essential Christian message. In Acts the gospel is given many titles - “the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24), “the word of his grace” (Acts 20:32), “the good news about the Lord Jesus” (Acts 11:20), “the message of his grace” (Acts 14:3),“the message of his salvation” (Acts 13:26) etc. When we look at the various occasions when the gospel is by Peter then Paul we see a variation in the way that central message is presented as its adapted to its different audiences. So although the way the gospel is presented changes its content remains broadly set with the main theme being that through Jesus we are saved by grace. 

According to John Stott these essential elements of the gospel message can be broken down into four basics - the gospel events (Jesus’ death and resurrection for our sins), gospel witnesses (the testimony of the Bible and the eyewitnesses to the resurrection), gospel promises (objective pardon for sins and subjective freedom and joy), gospel conditions (the requirements of repentance and faith). Tim Keller helpfully reorganises these into 3 questions that provide a helpful outline for how we might organise our thoughts to share the gospel: “Why should I believe?”, “What must I believe?”, “How can I believe?”

• This week we’re going to consider further how we might approach communicating the gospel to people today...