The right way to Take Benefit of the Vibe Shift

You may’t learn the pages of the Bible and never see that God desires his folks to inform of his mighty deeds—to name folks to observe the one true God.

Within the Previous Testomony, the mission was centripetal: Israel was to carry the nations as much as Jerusalem. Isaiah writes,

Within the final days the mountain of the Lord’s home will likely be established on the high of the mountains and will likely be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it, and lots of peoples will come and say, “Come, let’s go as much as the mountain of the Lord, to the home of the God of Jacob. He’ll educate us about his methods in order that we might stroll in his paths.” For instruction will exit of Zion and the phrase of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isa 2:2–3 CSB, emphasis added)

Within the New Testomony, the mission shifts from being centripetal to centrifugal. The commissions of Jesus (in chronological order: John 20:21, Matt 28:18–20, Luke 24:46–48, and Acts 1:6–8) all level to this. In Acts 1, the ultimate phrases of Jesus ship us out to the world:

“However you’ll obtain energy when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

It’s now out from Jerusalem.

Moreover, one of the putting issues concerning the e-book of Acts can also be one of many easiest: The early church did precisely what Jesus known as them to do. Jesus commissioned his followers to make disciples (Matt 28:19–20) and to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). The pages of Acts element how that band of believers did simply that, going forth on a worldwide mission that has actually touched all the world. They overcame obstacles and seized alternatives, exhibiting and sharing Jesus.

You in all probability knew that already—I’ve stated it so typically my fingers might sort it of their sleep. However understanding it and seizing it are two various things.

God is on a mission—and he invitations us to affix him on that mission, spreading the excellent news of Jesus. That’s evangelism.

However what makes this second totally different?

What’s taking place? A singular season of alternative

These aren’t regular instances. Christianity is experiencing renewed curiosity. Many converse of a “vibe shift.” I wrote about it for USA At present on Easter Sunday.

Sometimes, the church is given a singular cultural window to raise the identify of Jesus.

Again within the late Nineteen Sixties and early ’70s, after a decade marked by unrest, protest, and counterculture actions, folks turned to spirituality normally and Jesus specifically. We see this in various methods, although not all aligned with Scripture. From the musicals Jesus Christ Famous person and Godspell, to songs like “Spirit within the Sky” to “O Pleased Day,” Jesus emerged in popular culture. The Jesus Folks Motion, a youth revival motion that unfold like wildfire, made the duvet of Time and Life magazines, altering the worship model of church buildings to this present day.

In some ways, we’re in an identical second.

And we will’t afford to overlook it.

Take The Chosen. Starting as a crowdfunded mission, it has change into a global phenomenon. In 2025, Season 5 earned $140 million in theaters over Easter weekend. It topped Apple TV in 2024 and now streams on Amazon Prime.

We see faith-based movies Jesus Revolution (2023), which tells the story of the Jesus Folks Motion itself, and lately the sequence Home of David on Amazon Prime. Forthcoming initiatives embody The Unbreakable Boy, I Can Solely Think about 2, and the sequel to Ardour of the Christ.

Joe Rogan had apologist Wesley Huff on to speak about Christianity—and Rogan began going to church.

The He Will get Us marketing campaign put Jesus entrance and middle in Tremendous Bowl advertisements, different skilled sports activities occasions, and throughout social media.

Mainstream exhibits reveal the rise of Jesus in tradition right now. On Easter Sunday in 2025, American Idol featured a worship night time. Contestants sang worship and gospel songs. The night time featured CeCe Winans, and launched America to the track collaboration between Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll, “Exhausting Fought Hallelujah.”

In sports activities, Christian witness is booming. The nationwide champion NCAA soccer crew from The Ohio State College made headlines with many gamers talking brazenly about their religion and baptizing over 50 folks at one occasion. Prime athletes, together with golfer Scottie Scheffler, 2025 Tremendous Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts, 2024 NBA champion coach of the Boston Celtics Joe Mazulla, and 2025 Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Junior Alvarado, converse brazenly of their religion in Jesus.

Present information about Gen Z tells a compelling story. There’s an upswing in church attendance particularly amongst Gen Z males. A report of a “Quiet Revival” within the UK reveals a big rise in church attendance amongst Gen Z, with church attendance quadrupling from 2018–2024. The expansion is even stronger amongst Gen Z males, whose attendance swelled greater than fivefold from 4 % to 21 %. At present 2 million extra individuals are attending church companies within the UK than attended six years in the past.

This isn’t simply an anomaly. It’s a chance. Although we nonetheless face important cultural opposition in our time, we discover ourselves in a time filled with risk.

So, all of this brings up the query: How ought to the church reply? What will we do with this obvious flip we’re seeing?

How would possibly we reply? Trying to Scripture’s instance

The openness is sweet information, however it’s unhealthy information that in all probability introduced us right here.

The previous couple of years have rattled Individuals, and with good purpose. We’ve seen unprecedented political division, a worldwide pandemic, and wars. And, we nonetheless face an unsure future. It seems that we’re one disaster away from widespread social unrest.

Moments like this—disrupted moments—trigger folks to look anew at who they’re and what they consider. Disruption has created this cultural second.

We glance to God’s Phrase to see how the early church met the challenges and disruption of their day—specifically persecution—to proceed spreading the gospel. In the event that they did that within the face of obstacles, how can we reply within the face of alternative?

The early church was out and in of seasons of persecution. Their world was disrupted, however so was their time—occupied by Romans, unsure of their nationwide future, after which persecution breaks out. However, as we’ll see, their time of persecution was additionally a time of alternative.

One of the crucial riveting passages in Acts is available in chapter 11, the place Luke picks up the story of the outbreak of persecution following Stephen’s martyrdom as recorded in chapter 7. He explains how their disruption led to gospel alternative–and the way they seized it.

As he typically did, Luke summarizes what occurs subsequent at first of chapter 8:

On that day a extreme persecution broke out in opposition to the church in Jerusalem … Saul, nevertheless, was ravaging the church. He would enter home after home, drag off women and men, and put them in jail. (Acts 8:1–3)

How did the early Christians react to this disruption and their first incidence of widespread persecution? “So those that had been scattered went on their manner preaching the phrase” (Acts 8:4). Now, don’t let the phrase “preaching” right here confuse you. This isn’t speaking about standing behind a pulpit. The Greek time period used right here is “evangelizing” (εὐαγγελίζω), that’s, they merely instructed the excellent news (evangel) of Jesus wherever they went.

Examine phrases like εὐαγγελίζω with Logos’s Bible Phrase Examine.

Luke picks issues up once more in 11:19–20:

Now those that had been scattered because of the persecution that began due to Stephen made their manner so far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, talking the phrase to nobody besides Jews. However there have been a few of them, males from Cyprus and Cyrene, who got here to Antioch and started chatting with the Greeks additionally, proclaiming the excellent news concerning the Lord Jesus.

Luke provides vital particulars, together with the geographical unfold of Christians, and the way they spoke first to Jews after which Greeks, reiterating their message was the gospel (“proclaiming the excellent news”).

This passage just isn’t incidental to the bigger message of Acts. Antioch was the fourth largest metropolis within the Roman Empire, a gentile metropolis of some affect. A church planting motion enabled by evangelism established Antioch because the outpost for additional missionary growth, evangelism, and the planting of church buildings. Why? As a result of it was from Antioch that Paul would start his missionary journeys (Acts 13:1ff).

Historian Michael Inexperienced feedback on this passage, noting that the early centuries noticed the rise of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire not primarily via gathering folks into mass conferences or a choose group of gifted preachers, however by on a regular basis Christians telling the excellent news informally out of the fact of their modified lives. They shared Christ not via “formal preaching, however the casual chattering to buddies and probability acquaintances, in houses and wine retailers, on walks, and round market stalls.” He provides, “They went all over the place gossiping the gospel; they did it naturally, enthusiastically, and with the conviction of those that aren’t paid to say that kind of factor” (emphasis added).

Now, the purpose is to not examine our previous couple of years to the persecution in Acts. The purpose is that disruption results in gospel alternative.

Their disruption—like ours has—led to gospel alternative. We simply need to seize that second.

What can we study? 4 sensible takeaways

So, again to the sooner query. If the primary believers responded to their second of disruption, how can we reply within the face of alternative?

As we proceed to dig into the textual content, we observe 4 sensible takeaways that, I belief, we will apply to our personal second.

1. Count on disruption to open doorways for the gospel

In Acts 11, disruption had scattered believers due to persecution, however it didn’t silence them. They boldly proclaimed Christ as they went, it doesn’t matter what they confronted. In truth, Paul instructed the church at Corinth, “a large door for efficient ministry has opened for me—but many oppose me” (1 Cor 16:9).

Opposition was no impediment to the gospel; disruption didn’t divert their mission. As an alternative, it emboldened these early believers to proclaim Christ boldly.

In a comparable manner, cultural shifts, digital disruption, and even social nervousness and psychological well being points amongst Gen Z create a starvation and openness to religious issues. Relatively than retreat, Christians ought to see this as a chance for trustworthy presence in new areas—on-line, on campus, in our communities, and in on a regular basis conversations.

2. Boldly cross boundaries for the sake of the gospel

In Acts 11, these scattered Jewish believers started sharing the gospel with Greeks (gentiles) as properly (Acts 11:20). The challenges they confronted led to higher boldness, not much less.

Likewise, we must always boldly and lovingly take the gospel to those that aren’t like us. Jesus deliberately stated in Acts 1:8 to take the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Samaritans symbolize folks not like us, and even these we don’t naturally care to be round.

In our cultural second, division abounds. There are people who find themselves “not like us” and thus “not of us.” And cable information and speak radio are shifting us to people who find themselves solely like us. Sure, on this gospel alternative, we be a part of Jesus on his mission after we break that mould and break away from that echo chamber—dwelling on mission in a counter cultural manner in a culturally divided second.

Simply as our Lord “needed to journey via Samaria” (John 4:4), the present instances name for daring witnesses to like the onerous to like, the marginalized, and the ostracized amongst us.

3. Associate with the Holy Spirit who’s at work

The dominant particular person within the outreach of the early church in Acts is the Holy Spirit. Time and again you examine a believer or believers being stuffed with the Spirit, and because of this they proclaimed Christ (Acts 4:8, 31; 6:5–7). In Acts 11:24 we learn that Barnabas was filled with the Holy Spirit, and “giant numbers of individuals had been added to the Lord” (see additionally v. 21).

What we’re seeing right now is the work of the Spirit, giving us a chance to make a lot of Jesus. It is a reminder that every one our plans, items, and assets pale compared to the work of God via the Spirit. We associate with God in our witness.

4. Mobilize with encouragement, not guilt

In Acts 11 we learn that Barnabas was despatched by the church at Jerusalem to steer the rising motion in Antioch (v. 22). Barnabas’s life was marked by encouragement (Acts 4:36–37), so it’s no shock that upon arriving in Jerusalem he inspired them (Acts 11:23). What was the end result? Many extra got here to Christ (v. 24b).

Believers right now don’t want a guilt journey—they want confidence. We are going to mobilize witnesses by encouragement, not chastisement. Allow us to remind believers that we had been made for this second—to be ambassadors for our King to a damaged world.

Conclusion

I’ve written a number of instances that we’re amid a cultural convulsion—a singular time of turbulence and tumult, in contrast to something we now have seen in our lifetime. The final time we noticed a second like this was the late ’60s, which is value noting.

Moments like this unmoor folks from their beliefs. Generally that’s led to unhealthy issues—everyone knows some individuals who have gone off the proverbial deep finish in the previous few years. Nonetheless, that unmooring can also be a gospel alternative, a second to affix Jesus on his mission on the planet, inform of his mighty deeds, and (as soon as once more) name folks to observe the one true God.

It’s an incredible alternative to “take advantage of the time” (Eph 5:16), and although evangelism is at all times our name, this can be a distinctive cultural second to grab.

Let’s be discovered trustworthy on this second.