We share the unchanging message of the Gospel in a way that people can understand. This is what Paul meant when he said, “I become all things to all people…” In today’s episode of Develop in the Dark, Brad Cooper, Trevor Cox, and Jeremy Jenkins discuss the art of Gospel contextualization. How do we declare our allegiance to Christ, order our loves, and reach people who don’t look like, sound like, or think like us?

Links and Sources: 

• A free world religions course from AllThingsAllPeople.org. 
• 40 Questions About the Great Commission – a book by Daniel Akin
• The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism – a book by Tim Keller
• Contextualization in the Late-Modern West – an article by Michael Keller
• Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible – a book by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien 
• Evangelism in a Skeptical World: How to Make the Unbelievable News about Jesus More Believable – a book by Sam Chan
• A Spectator's Guide to World Religions: An Introduction to the Big Five – a book by John Dickson

Questions: 

• How would you say that the Gospel transcends any one culture? 
• What are some examples of Jesus contextualizing His message of the kingdom? 
• What does it mean to order our loves? What happens when we misorder our loves? 
• Why do we struggle to consistently give Christ our primary allegiance? 
• When hoping to share the Gospel effectively, what are some important cues to listen for that help us contextualize our message? 
• Paul said that he “became all things to all people.” How do you see Paul contextualizing the message without compromising the message?