BE EQUIPPED
Communicating the Gospel in Today's Australia
In 1971 approximately 33% of Australians attended a local church regularly 2. Today, less than 20% of Australians self-report as attending Church 3, and 43% identify themselves as “Christian” 4.
Apologist Ken Ham describes the difference we see in our generations as being like the difference between the God-fearing Jews who knew of Yahweh in Acts 2, and the unknowing Greeks in Acts 17.5 He argues that we now live in an Acts 17 world and need to speak a lot more like Paul in Acts 17 than Peter in Acts 2.
In the past the Australian culture included an general understanding of Christian concepts, values, and terminology which supported the communication of the Gospel. Today, not only are explicitly “Christian” language and concepts perceived negatively, but many of the foundational understandings of morality and reasoning are absent, make the mission to communicate the Gospel significantly different to how it once was.
This means that our evangelism has to start in a different place than we would have started a couple of generations earlier. We can’t assume that anyone is familiar with Christian ideas or words. We have to learn to speak the gospel in regular English rather than in fluent Christianese. The goal of evangelism remains unchanged, but the method, means, and perspective needs to be more strategically considered than previous decades.
OAC is committed to helping the church grow in effective evangelism. We have gospel specialists who will come to your church and resources to help Christians communicate the eternity changing message of Jesus.
Coming Soon - Study with OAC
In 2025, OAC is planning to launch the new College of Vocational Evangelism (COVE) as a vocational education program designed to equip today’s passionate Christians to be tomorrow’s equipped gospel workers.