Making Sense of Us: Exploring Six Stories That Shape How We Live (Group Study and Video Access)

Making Sense of Us is a 7-week video curriculum that helps young and newer Christians, and even non-Christians, explore key narratives that have shaped Western culture. You’ll see how these stories fall short, and how the one true story of the gospel fulfills our deepest longings.

Outside your window, music bleeding through the walls, sirens at all hours—you start tuning it out. But even when you stop noticing it, the city’s noise is still affecting you, shaping your everyday life.

In the same way, we live in a culture that’s constantly telling us stories—stories about who we are, what matters, and how to be happy. Even when we don’t notice them, they’re shaping us. These cultural narratives help us make sense of ourselves and our world. These are the stories we live by, the scripts we inherit, the frameworks we rely on to tell us who we are and how to live.

Making Sense of Us is a 7-week video curriculum that helps young and newer Christians, and even non-Christians, explore key narratives that have shaped Western culture. You’ll see how these stories fall short, and how the one true story of the gospel fulfills our deepest longings.

• Explore key narratives that have shaped Western culture—our stories about self, happiness, science, justice, liberty, and progress.
• See how the gospel answers common cultural longings. Understand why people in our culture find these stories compelling, and learn to share how the gospel speaks a better word.
• Learn on your own or with your church. This 7-week video curriculum is suitable for individuals, groups, or church-wide study.

Michael Keller (MDiv, ThM, Gordon-Conwell Seminary; PhD, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) is the founding and senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church–Lincoln Square and a Council member of The Gospel Coalition. He also serves as a fellow for The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. His PhD is in computational linguistics applied to historical theology.

John Starke pastors Apostles Church Uptown in Manhattan. He's written for Christianity Today, Books & Culture, Comment Magazine, and others. He is the author of The Secret Place of Thunder and The Possibility of Prayer.

Rebecca McLaughlin holds a PhD from Cambridge University and a theology degree from Oak Hill Seminary in London. She is the author of several books, including Confronting Christianity, The Secular Creed, Jesus Through the Eyes of Women, and Does the Bible Affirm Same-Sex Relationships?

Sam Chan (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is the lead mentor and trainer at EvQ School of Evangelism, a ministry of City Bible Forum. Based in Australia, he’s the author of several books, including Evangelism in a Skeptical World and How to Talk About Jesus (Without Being That Guy). Sam speaks at conferences around the world on storytelling, apologetics, and the practice of evangelism in a post-Christian culture. He blogs at Espresso Theology.

Trevin Wax is vice president of research and resource development at the North American Mission Board and a visiting professor at Cedarville University. A former missionary to Romania, Trevin is a regular columnist at The Gospel Coalition and has lectured on Christianity and culture at Oxford University. He’s the author of multiple books, including The Gospel Way Catechism, The Thrill of Orthodoxy, and The Multi-Directional Leader. His podcast is Reconstructing Faith. Trevin and his wife, Corina, have three children.