How can we communicate well in today’s culture?

ELS speaker Jo Frost tackles the challenge of spreading the gospel in these times of a changing culture

Jo, describe the culture we’re living in and how it’s changed over recent years.

Culture is always changing but there are foundations that remain the same – like the secular story that caused us to doubt and question our world and the individualist story that put “I” at the centre. Those things are well-established, almost to the extent that we can’t step out of that way of thinking.

On top of that, the past five to ten years have been a very transitional season. Everything’s coming at us, whether it’s war, the climate emergency, racial injustice, the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, strikes. There’s a crisis literally every other day.

The effect is that we feel very unsettled, our world seems fragile and we feel vulnerable. It’s this relentless, chaotic, “What’s going to kneecap me next?” feeling of instability. We’re exhausted because we’re not meant to live at crisis level all the time.

How can we communicate well with people in the middle of all that?

Firstly, it’s helpful to tell people that the way they’re feeling isn’t unusual or wrong. Creating a sense of understanding is a very powerful, redemptive act. The other helpful thing in a world that’s unsettling is to point out the hopeful, present, unshakeable, rehumanising nature of God. He isn’t destabilised or upset by our world, but invites us into something beautiful and good.

Both of these things are important as we search for significance, crave connection, seek to understand what being in the world means and how we can make a difference.

Our culture tells us profound but contradictory stories. Understanding it – the truth and the fractured parts – creates significant opportunities to communicate with people and share the truth of the gospel.

It’s easy to feel like you’re saying the wrong thing though. Do you have any advice?

Part of what I love about the gospel is the way the characters all communicate the same message so differently, but that’s OK. You see bombastic, loud, brash, provocative prophets and quiet, poetic, persuasive ones. You have John who wants everybody to love each other, Paul who argues, Peter the people-pleaser. They all have different methods of communicating beautifully.

For me, I want to always point to Jesus. If you’re not, you’ve got to ask yourself what gospel you’re sharing. And I want to do it in a way that reflects the character and nature of God: his truthfulness, integrity, heart for the poor and marginalised, that he is a reconciler, a peacebuilder, that he’s creative and prophetic.

How do you do that?

I’m very persuaded by the late American theologian Tim Keller. To butcher a quote of his, he would argue that when you’re having a debate or dealing with an argument, you always start from the most persuasive position of the person you’re arguing with. That’s because that’s the moment of encounter and engagement – not when you’re ridiculing someone’s position.

How do you have good conversations about tough topics?

Traditionally, apologists would argue ideas. It would feel very philosophical. There’d be lots of ‘isms’. But in today’s culture, if you talk about ideas you quickly find you’re talking about identity and that becomes very personal. It’s incredibly hard to talk about difficult topics and detach them from a person who is deeply affected by them. That means you always have to consider their dignity and significance.

To do that, ask yourself who you are talking to. Is it an individual who is made in the image of God, is loved by God and whom God wants to be in relationship with? Or is it an ideology or argument that may have captured or distorted somebody worldview? If you engage with hot topics and difficult conversations but diminish someone’s humanity it’s going to go wrong. But if you try to have those conversations pastorally, persuasively, compassionately and generously, you have more space to be heard, to listen and to understand.

We seem to have lost the art of disagreeing well. How do we do that?

It’s really hard in today’s culture! We live in a culture of affirmation and support. We’re to be each other’s allies, so we don’t have much understanding about disagreeing well.

‘The Rest is Politics’ podcast is built on disagreeing and is one of the most popular podcasts in the UK. It’s fascinating that people are clearly interested in this being modelled, but they don’t see much evidence of it in our world.

For Christians to disagree well, we need to go back to Tim Keller’s idea of starting at the most persuasive and compelling points and engaging there.

The phrase I use here is a lovely one: ‘generous disagreement’. That means if I hear something that lacks substance or truth or there’s a different way of looking at it, I start from a place of generosity as opposed to a point of condemnation.

How can we share the good news well?

Try to consider three things: what is the culture and context into which we are communicating? What is the compelling gospel truth we are trying to share? Why is it beautiful for our culture?

Sometimes we assume we know why the story of Jesus is good news so we don’t spend much time thinking about it. Every day, we need to go back to the gospel and consider what is good about Jesus, why we are giving up our entire lives to know and worship him, what we are sharing with our neighbours and why it matters.

If we do that as we also critique the cultural commentary around us, that’s when we’ll see more people flock to Jesus. Not only will they recognise where they are broken, injured or struggling, but they’ll also experience the hope, promise and grace that’s available in him.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.

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