Straight to the Heart: Communicating the Gospel in an Emotionally Driven Culture

Our approach to apologetics needs to change when the very idea of ＂truth＂ is controversial. But as authors Daniel Blackaby and Mike Blackaby teach us, we can still reach people if we understand what they value most.

This practical guide to our current landscape explores five effective communication pathways:

Story: As people wired for narrative, we can speak through the stories we live and tell.

Beauty: In an increasingly industrialized world, we can point people to ＂pockets of beauty＂ that reveal the attractiveness of God.

Art: In a society that celebrates the arts, we can cultivate creativity in the church, then send artists out as cultural missionaries.

Desire: To a people motivated by love, identity, and purpose, we can show how Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of our deepest longings.

Community: As relational creatures where connectivity is disappearing, we can offer a community of unified diversity.

Culture may be in flux, but God’s Word remains true. Straight to the Heart helps us speak to the passions that drive our culture without compromising the life-changing truth of the gospel.

Mike Blackaby is a pastor and church planter in Victoria, BC, Canada. He earned a PhD in worldview and apologetics from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and was formerly a pastor to young adults. Mike is married to Sarah, and they have four young children.

Daniel Blackaby earned a PhD in Christianity and the arts and a ThM in philosophy, apologetics, and worldview from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He runs The Collision (thecollision.org), a multi-media ministry equipping Christians for cultural engagement. He lives in Georgia with his wife, Sarah, and twin boys.