Is there a way to share an offensive message to an offended culture while not being gratuitously offensive?
Blake Long wants to help us learn how to engage with boldness and gentleness, bluntness and compassion.
Blake Long is an author and blogger at theology-and-life.com. He is married to his wife, Shale, and they have two little girls and a rowdy dog. He received his MTS in Preaching and Pastoral Ministry from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
I enjoyed talking to Blake in this episode of the Gospel for Life podcast.
Key Ideas
- It’s easy to fall into pride in our evangelism.
- Following the example of Jesus helps us avoid pride in our evangelism.
- We need to learn when to be direct and blunt, and when to be soft-spoken and gentle.
- Even when we are kind and gentle, the gospel may still offend.
- We need to express genuine love for people in our evangelism.
- Behaving in an unChristian manner on social media harms our witness.
- God’s love for us is not based on our performance or how we’re feeling.
Quotes
“Evangelism is not a one size fits all encounter.”
On social media: “I think it comes down to understanding that we’re still talking to souls. We’re not talking to a screen.”
“The people I follow on social media are the people I find encouraging, edifying, and sometimes they challenge me.”
Episode Links
Books mentioned:
- Gospel Smugness: Displaying Christlike Character in Evangelism by Blake Long
- Humility by Andrew Murray
- Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners by Dane Ortlund
- Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane Ortlund
Transcript
Download a PDF transcript of this episode.
