Hope

Paul’s Method

1. He went first to the synagogue, then to the Gentiles
In city after city, Paul’s pattern was “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). He’d reason in the synagogue on the Sabbath, using the Hebrew Scriptures to show Jesus as the promised Messiah (Acts 17:2-3). When rejected there, he turned to the Gentile population — often relocating to a public space like a lecture hall (Acts 19:9, in Ephesus, at the hall of Tyrannus).

2. He adapted his approach to his audience
With Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, he argued from Scripture. With pagan Gentiles who didn’t share that starting point, he began from what they already believed — creation, conscience, and their own poets and altars (Acts 14:15-17; Acts 17:22-31). He didn’t have one script; he had one message delivered through different doors.

3. He supported himself financially
Paul was a tentmaker by trade (Acts 18:3) and often worked to support himself so he wouldn’t be a financial burden on new believers or accused of preaching for profit (1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8). This gave him credibility and access — working alongside people put him in daily contact with the very communities he was reaching.

4. He used existing relationships and networks
Paul frequently stayed with people he’d met — Priscilla and Aquila in Corinth (Acts 18:2-3), Lydia in Philippi (Acts 16:14-15) — turning households into bases for further outreach. The gospel spread through these relational networks as much as through public preaching.

5. He planted churches, then followed up
Paul rarely evangelised and left permanently. He’d establish a small community of believers, appoint elders (Acts 14:23), and then maintain contact through return visits (Acts 15:36) and, especially, letters — which is why his epistles are as much a part of his evangelistic method as his sermons.

6. He endured opposition without softening the message
Paul was beaten, imprisoned, and run out of cities (2 Corinthians 11:24-27), yet consistently preached the same core message: Christ crucified, a message he called foolishness to some and a stumbling block to others, but the power of God to those being saved (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).