San Francisco has long been one of America’s most irreligious cities, with Silicon Valley at the center of that resistance to faith. For most of the last decade, roughly half of tech workers identified as either atheist or agnostic. Yet, that resistance to God—and the gospel in particular—has begun to soften in recent years.
Christians have always been present within the tech industry but, for a time, most felt the need to keep their faith private lest it make them an oddity at best and a pariah at worst. Or at least that was the perception. Believers like Trae and Michelle Stephens felt a greater degree of comfort living out their faith than most, though even they recall often feeling like the “token Christians in the room” when among their peers.
That feeling is part of what led the couple to help start the ACTS 17 Collective last year.
ACTS 17 is both an acronym—Acknowledging Christ in Technology and Society—as well as a callout to the passage in Acts where Paul shares the gospel at the Areopagus. Their hope is to take a similar approach in reaching out to the intelligentsia of their day, and God has been using them to do just that.
“The powerful need Jesus just as much”
As Michelle Stephens notes, the group’s mission to target the wealthy and influential within the tech industry may seem like “a somewhat counterintuitive Christian calling” to many. In an interview with Emma Goldberg of the New York Times, Stephens describes how “We are always taught as Christians to serve the meek, the lowly, the marginalized . . . I think we’ve realized that, if anything, the rich, the wealthy, the powerful need Jesus just as much.”
To that end, the Collective says they are “redefining success for those who define the culture.” And their approach matches that ambition well.
Through events centered on high-profile, Christian speakers who appeal to the tech community—even if some are controversial—the group has built an environment that often appeals more to those who are looking to network with the elite of their industry than to those who are looking to know more about Jesus. And the Stephens are fine with that:
“After an ACTS 17 event, all we would like is for folks in attendance to take a next step in their faith journey. Maybe they’d never heard of Jesus, and a next step is reading the Bible.”
They understand that, for many, the very notion that some of the industry leaders they respect could be Christians is a novel concept. As such, expecting them to jump right into attending church and declaring Jesus to be Lord is relatively unrealistic. So, instead, they meet people where they are, offering something of value in exchange for the chance to tell them about Christ.
It’s an exchange that many in the tech world seem happy to make, and the early results have been promising.
In addition to events in Silicon Valley, seventeen other cities in the US have shown interest in hosting the group. Yet they have also engaged with nations beyond America’s borders, holding two events last November in Abu Dhabi and Dubai about how the Christian faith can impact career planning, as well as how it impacts their views on AI and national defense.
However, regardless of the nature of the topic or the location in which it’s given, the basic approach of using their expertise and gifting to earn the right to share the gospel remains the same. And that approach demonstrates an important lesson for each of us today.
Satan is fine with us making the world a better place
People come to Jesus for a variety of reasons. For some, he’s a great moral teacher who espouses the kind of ethic they want to see in their own lives and the culture at large. Jordan Peterson has made headlines in recent years for largely adopting this approach to the Bible, yet he seems to stop short of seeing Christ’s sacrificial death as the literal path to salvation.
Those who see Christ’s message to the poor and needy as the central pillar of the gospel make a similar mistake. While social justice movements have done a great deal to point out our society’s longstanding sins and call believers to action, it can be tempting for that message to become more prominent than our innate need for Jesus to save us. Yes, we are called to pursue justice and help those in need, but in Christ’s name and power rather than our own.
As Skye Jethani described on a recent Denison Forum Podcast, the ethical principles and social actions to which Christ calls us do not have to be either/or concepts.
Jesus did come to set a moral example for us to follow and he did teach us to care for the poor and the needy. But our first priority needs to be seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, as it’s only then that we will have our priorities properly aligned to fulfill the rest of his calling for our lives (Matthew 6:33).
As Christians, it can be easy to get our priorities out of line, particularly when there’s a cause we care deeply about. But while people can come to Jesus from various places and with various goals in mind, our presentation of the gospel must center on Christ above everything else.
Social justice, personal advancement, or becoming a better person can be helpful and worthy steps along that path, but we can’t stop there if we want to get to salvation. At the end of the day, a gospel that doesn’t end with the call to recognize Jesus as Lord is not the gospel—no matter how similar it may be to aspects of the message he taught.
Satan is fine with us making the world a better place, and even doing so in the name of Christ, so long as we stop short of recognizing Jesus as Lord.
So how well are your priorities aligned today? When you think about Christ’s call for your life, is knowing him as your savior and Lord at the top of your list?
Helping others to know Jesus as Lord is far more difficult if he isn’t your Lord first. Make sure he is today.
Quote of the day:
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” — A.W. Tozer
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