Writing Opinion Pieces in Mainstream Media - Lars Dahle, Espen Ottosen, and Stefan Gustavsson

There is an urgent need for faithful Christian presence in mainstream media. How to be salt and light through the writing of opinion pieces? In this talk, Stefan Gustavsson and Espen Ottosen share from their wide experience as evangelical opinion writers in Sweden and Norway, respectively. Based on case studies from their opinion pieces on key Gospel and cultural issues in different newspapers, we get fascinating insights into the actual writing process. Writing in a clear, winsome, and persuasive way is both a craft and an art. This includes such key elements as understanding the context (responding or agenda-setting?), analyzing the issues (what and why?), developing the idea (the argument), grasping the format (the structure), and communicating to the audience (target group(s)). The talk is in a conversation format, including brief presentations and an open discussion.

Find more great talks like this at https://www.FOCLonline.org.
Remember to like and subscribe to see all of our talks!

Lars Dahle is a theologian, educator, preacher, and apologist. Having a long previous experience in various academic leadership roles, he now works as Associate Professor in Theology (with special emphasis on Apologetics, Missiology, and Media Theology) at NLA University College, Kristiansand, Norway, where he has lectured in worldviews, ethics, and apologetics since 1991. Lars is also CEO of Damaris Norway, a resource development ministry for worldview analysis, cultural apologetics, and media engagement. He wrote his PhD on Acts 17:16-34. It is entitled An Apologetic Model Then and Now? (Open University, UK, 2001).
Since 2013, Lars is also Lausanne Catalyst for Media Engagement. Lars has written several academic and popular articles and was the lead editor of The Lausanne Movement: A Range of Perspectives (Oxford: Regnum, 2014). He is also the Founding Editor of the peer-reviewed Nordic apologetic journal Theofilos. In addition, Lars co-leads the European Leadership Forum Media Communicators Network with his wife, Margunn Serigstad Dahle, and his NLA and Damaris colleague Bjørn Hinderaker.
 
Follow Lars on his blog Media Messages Matter or on his Twitter account @LarsDahle.

Espen Ottosen has worked as the information director for Norwegian Lutheran Mission since 2003. In that capacity, he has frequently appeared in debates on national television and radio. Also he has written essays and articles in a wide range of Norwegian newspapers and publications. For many years he has been writing a column regularly in Aftenposten (see www.ap.no), currently the biggest newspaper in the country. Ottosen has published about 20 different books and pamphlets in Norwegian and in Spanish mostly on popular theology. Before taking the position as information director, he was a missionary in Peru together with his family.

Stefan Gustavsson is a member of the European Leadership Forum Steering Committee. He is the director for Apologia – Centre for Christian Apologetics and makes his home in Stockholm. He was the founding general secretary for 16 years of the Swedish Evangelical Alliance. Stefan travels widely with apologetic teaching and training and is often involved in university evangelism and public debates. He is the author of six books on Christian apologetics and the Christian mind and contributes regularly to news media in Sweden. Stefan is married to Ingrid, they have three grown children and four grandchildren.

23AFW404