If you follow the culture wars, you’ve no doubt noticed how toxic debate has become, even when Christians are involved.

Matt Brown’s answer to this disturbing trend is a thoughtful and engaging book, Truth Plus Love: The Jesus Way to Influence.

Brown was doing an interview for a podcast a few years ago when the pastor interviewing him said that Christians needed to tell people the truth and the truth is sometimes harsh.

“My response was that gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit,” Brown said. “We are walking in the flesh, not the Spirit, whenever we are not gentle and kind.”

As an evangelist, Brown knows that we need to model Christ’s love if we want to have an effective witness. “In a day when people feel like they can believe whatever they want, and no one is allowed to tell them otherwise, we need truth plus love more than ever,” Brown writes.

If you heed his message, you will find others eager to hear the good news of God’s grace.