Speaker: Rhordan Wicks
INTRODUCTION
The final message in the Here, There & Everywhere series challenges the Church to rethink our mission in the digital age. The average Singaporean spends around 7 hours a day online, prompting one to believe that the internet has become today’s Agora – the public gathering place of Ancient Greece – where people search for meaning, ask life’s deepest questions, and form their beliefs.
Acts 17:16–34 shows that waiting on the Lord does not mean remaining passive. While Paul was in Athens awaiting Silas and Timothy, he observed that the city was full of idols, and his spirit was provoked. His heart was stirred with compassion rather than criticism, compelling him to engage the people where they were.
Likewise, the Holy Spirit desires to awaken the Church today. Rather than retreating from the digital world because of its dangers, Christians are called to have a voice and to enter it as faithful witnesses.
DISCUSSION
Ice-Breaker: Ask everyone to take out their phones and think about the digital spaces they have entered in the past 24 hours. Share with the group:
a. Where did you spend the most time online?
b. What were people looking for there: connection, entertainment, answers, affirmation, belonging?
c. What messages or values were shaping the conversation?
Read Acts 17:16-34. In v. 16, we read that Paul was waiting for Luke and Silas to arrive, and during that time, “his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.”
a. Sometimes God puts us through a time of waiting – and in that space, He whispers fresh words of encouragement and direction. Think about a time when you waited on God. As life unclutters with fewer appointments and agendas, what was the Holy Spirit saying to you? If you are in a season of waiting now, how have you heard His voice?
b. Paul was moved with holy discontent with the situation in the city. He reacted with compassion toward those around him. How has the Holy Spirit disrupted your comfort zone to awaken compassion for those around you?
c. In vs 17, we see that Paul reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and in the marketplace. To the Jews, he was a brother, schooled in Hebrew scriptures and Jewish customs. To the rest of the people, he was a fellow citizen of the world. The Greek word for marketplace, Agora, was where people gathered for commerce, for entertainment, to exchange ideas, discuss philosophy and search for truth.
Today, much of that happens online. People now ask Google, YouTube, AI and social media questions to seek answers to many of life’s mysteries.
a. The Christian voice is often missing in the digital space. How do you feel about using digital platforms to share your beliefs?
b. Paul did not expect them to understand Christian language. Instead, he entered their world respectfully while remaining faithful to Christ. He quoted Socrates and Greek poets when speaking to the people in the Agora, using terms and ideas that they could understand or relate to. How can you apply this example to your digital content?
d. What are some practical ways you can follow Paul’s example in using social media platforms to share your faith? Share with the group.
As a result of Paul’s unwavering sharing of his faith, some people believed (vs34). As the church, we need to remain faithful to the work that God has placed in our hands and to trust God for the outcome. Not every conversation will lead someone to the faith, but every conversation has the potential to lift burdens, encourage, bring life, love and joy to another.
a. Have you experienced rejection when sharing your faith with another person? Did that discourage you from sharing again?
b. When we share our stories online, we may not see the impact it has on other people’s lives. Like Paul, we should persist in engaging in conversation, extending our digital influence to a far greater audience than we would have had in our immediate social circles. If you have any stories of how this has happened to you, share with the group.
WHAT WILL YOU DO
Instead of only consuming content online, become a faithful witness.
Consider:
When you notice someone expressing pain or struggle:
Sometimes ministry begins with simply saying,
“I see you.”
MEMORY VERSE
For though I am free from all, I have made myself servant to all, that I might win more of them. – 1 Corinthians 9:19