Reimagine Acceptance Through the Life of PhilipНамуна

Building Bridges

Sharing your faith can feel so intimidating, can’t it? Have you ever tried to share your faith only to watch someone’s eyes glaze over the moment you started talking? Or maybe you’ve gone tongue-tied in a spiritual conversation, unsure how to connect biblical truth with someone’s real-life struggles. The good news is that effective evangelism isn’t so much about having all the right answers as it is about asking the right questions and genuinely listening to the responses.

Philip could’ve approached the Ethiopian eunuch with a rehearsed speech or handed him a religious tract. Instead, he did something brilliant: he listened first. When he heard the man reading aloud from Isaiah, Philip asked a simple but insightful question: “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30, NIV)

The eunuch’s honest reply—“How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” (Acts 8:31 NIV)—opened the door to a beautiful gospel conversation. Philip didn’t barge in; he was invited. He met the man right where he was: confused, curious, and hungry for clarity.

Philip started with the very passage the Ethiopian was reading—Isaiah 53—and “told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:32, NIV). He used what the man was already thinking about as a bridge to introduce the gospel. He connected the dots between a centuries-old prophecy and its fulfillment in Christ.

This moment shows us something essential: evangelism doesn’t require artificial conversations. We don’t have to force faith into random situations. Instead, we can begin with what people are already talking about, struggling with, or searching for. We can build bridges from their world to God’s truth.

The Ethiopian was reading about a suffering servant. Philip helped him see that this servant was Jesus—the one who was led like a lamb to the slaughter, pierced for our sins, and by whose wounds we are healed. The message was relevant, timely, and powerful.

In the same way, people around us are often navigating their own losses, questions, and desires. They may not be reading Isaiah, but they’re reading their circumstances, heartbreak, and hopes. Many are quietly looking for meaning, peace, and purpose.

Like Philip, we can enter into those stories. We can ask thoughtful questions, truly listen, and begin where people are rather than where we think they should be. We can build bridges from their present experience to the eternal love of God.

The goal isn’t to win arguments—it’s to help people encounter Jesus. And often, the most effective way to do that is to meet them in what they’re already processing and show how Jesus speaks directly to their deepest needs.

Reflection Questions:

1. What can you learn from Philip about how to have a faith conversation?
2. Why do you think listening can be more powerful than talking in evangelism?

Prayer:
Lord, help me listen well and ask good questions. Show me how to build bridges from people’s hearts to Your truth. Give me wisdom to connect naturally with those around me. Amen.