April 9, 2026

When The Keller Center sought applications for six new fellows at the start of the year, they were given a question to answer: What one thing should Christians do right now to introduce their neighbors to Jesus? What surprised us is that all six gave the same answer—the importance of the public witness of gathered Christians, the church.

In a recent episode of Gospelbound, Keller Center fellow Bob Thune reflected on the role the local church plays in apologetics. Bob shared, “People need to not just hear the gospel, but they need to see it lived out in a community.”

If you’re looking for ways on how your church can embrace its apologetic task, I commend Bob’s interview on Gospelbound as well as his chapter in The Gospel After Christendom. In the chapter (excerpted below), Bob highlights five ways your church can live out the effects of the gospel in your community.

My neighbor Evan (I’ve changed his name) is a successful, extroverted fortysomething: hip, engaging, friendly, and easy to talk to. He’s always willing to lend a hand, an ear, or a tool. His kids are the most respectful and responsible middle-schoolers on the block. Evan and his wife know I’m a pastor; we’ve had them over for dinner; we do our best to initiate as much conversation and front-porch interaction as we can.

Yet Evan doesn’t seem particularly curious about the deeper questions of life. He hasn’t identified any God-shaped hole in his heart. It’s not that he seems hardened or closed off to faith; he just doesn’t appear to have any persistent spiritual hunger.

I sent Evan a text message to invite him to church this past Easter. He never responded.

I think a lot about Evan. I think about him when I preach: How would this message resonate with him? I think about him when I pray: How can I love him and witness to him more faithfully? And I think about him as I lead: How might I help him experience the church—and the gospel it proclaims—as interesting, compelling, and credible?

What I really want is for Evan to see the world differently. I want him to apprehend and be changed by the fact that “the last word in human affairs is represented by a man hanging on a cross.”

It’s God, of course, who must open Evan’s eyes. But the Westminster Confession reminds us that “God, in His ordinary providence, makes use of means.” And one of those means is the church. I want my church––and your church—to give our neighbors a new set of “lenses” through which to see the world.

And we can. When churches take seriously our calling as countercultural communities, we start to do the work of cultural apologetics without even thinking about it. Because we love our neighbors and want them to know Christ, we think more intentionally about “how we do what we do.” And without losing any of its depth and richness, what we do starts to reflect the gospel’s transformative power in ways that our neighbors often find compelling. Here are five ways that happens.

READ 5 WAYS THE CHURCH IS AN APOLOGETIC