Here is yesterday’s mantra:

Walk with God, invest in people, and help them do the same

And investing in people doesn’t mean only trying to help believers be more effective disciples. We invest in people before they become believers. In today’s climate, that may involve more than just sharing some true but “canned” gospel presentation. The problem is that we are “post-Christian” in America (and Europe). Or as some say, “Christendom is dead.” Not “Christianity is dead,” but a culture built to support churches and church attendance, such as the one in the South when I grew up in the 50s and 60s, is dead.

No one articulates that principle better than the late Tim Keller in this article written shortly before his death: Lemonade on the Porch (Part 1): The Gospel in a Post-Christendom Society. Even if some of us know that things are different now, we don’t always grasp the implication. These paragraphs capture it:

The U.S. had no national state church (though some states did) yet there were powerful social expectations that a “real American” went to “the church of their choice.” 

That meant two things at least. First, it meant that most people felt “attending church is a good thing” and therefore it was not that hard to get them in the door, especially for holy days (Christmas and Easter) or for major life transitions (weddings, funerals, baptisms). Second, when they did attend, preachers could assume that nearly all the visitors had four fundamental beliefs: 1) there is a personal God who created us and who judges us, 2) there is some kind of objective moral standard by which we are judged, 3) no one lives up to that standard perfectly and so we need forgiveness, 4) there is an afterlife, a heaven and hell. If you think for a moment of these beliefs as “dots,” then evangelism for centuries in the West has consisted of simply connecting the dots. Ordinarily this was done by increasing listeners’ sense of guilt and presenting Christ as a solution. Here’s how that may happen:

“You want to be sure you’d go to heaven when you die, right (dot #4)? And you know that will only happen if you live a good life, right (dot #2)? But I can show you that you are not good enough, that you do not live up to the moral standards, and you know in your heart that you don’t, right (dot #3)? Well, God (dot #1) sent his Son Jesus to die in our place and take the punishment we deserve so we can be forgiven and given eternal life as a free gift. Then you can be sure you are right with him. And here are the Bible passages that support this message of salvation I am giving you.”

This is how evangelism has been done in the West and in the U.S. for centuries and, with regard to its basic theological content, this message is perfectly true and accurate. But how does it fall upon the ears of someone who never lived in the forecourt—who lacks any of the “dots?” – Tim Keller

Paul certainly presented the gospel differently to Jews, who had a background in what we call the Old Testament, and pagans. We need to do the same.

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. (1 Corinthians 9.19 – 22, ESV)

So Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus and laid it out for them. “It is plain to see that you Athenians take your religion seriously. When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, TO THE GOD NOBODY KNOWS. I’m here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, know who you’re dealing with… (Acts 17.22, 23, MSG)