Here you can find articles written by everyday Christians touching on issues of culture within Christin life and ministry. These pieces come from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives, each aimed at increasing personal growth, dialog, and vital cross-pollinating as we seek building a better Kingdom together.
Jesus placed a high value on friendship, demonstrated through his words and modeled in how he related to others. This holds true for us in our current world… close friendships provide protection against mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, response to stress, and heart health in difficult times, while loneliness increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and premature death…
We in the Church often think in this way— our focus is being in tune. How do I get my biblical doctrine right? How do I ensure I’m doing what’s right? But did you ever wonder if being in tune was the purpose of music? This perspective of being in tune, connected to God first, is important, even necessary, but at the same time, using the same analogy, being in tune is not sufficient for good music.
How can Christians better understand and better respond to the tragic events surrounding the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza? Here's a look at the three central views shaping today's conversations around war in the Middle East...
It is a mistake to think that being a Christian believer, church, or nation means that we will have a stronger moral character or a clearer conscience. It is even more of a mistake to think that one’s beliefs are right because they are “Christian?"
I had growing concerns about my church. At one time, it had been the organizing center around which my entire life had revolved: spiritual, social, and even professional... But that was before the new “vision” the head pastor had sprung on all of us...
A look at how the paradigm shift shared in 1st Timothy is needed to build better relationships with the opposite sex, a further step towards healthier Christian relationships.
As a Christian, what do you do when you realize that the life you always thought you were going to live has disappeared? When your career, your future, your hopes and your dreams, all of it has turned into an insubstantial mist that vanishes in the morning light. This is the same revelation that burdens the writer of Ecclesiastes when he laments: “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).
Much ink has been spilled over the legitimacy of historical revivals. The Jesus Movement and Asbury revivals remind us of the full Gospel, and remind us to be open to the things God is doing, so we can fling wide the doors of the church to a new generation.
Christianity and mental health care can co-exist beautifully and wonderfully to make a difference and save lives. Oftentimes, they are seen as two different entities working in opposite directions resulting in Christians feeling ostracized and ashamed for having mental health challenges…
One of the laments I hear from my sisters in Christ all the time is that they would like to be discipled by wiser men in their congregations. But in some cases because they are seen as mere helpers of men by those men or they have to be afraid they might assault or harm them, they have to settle for whomever will teach them.
My daughter Hanna was born in June 2023, and for the first time in my life, I became responsible for the life of another person. With this change came questions around my calling in Christ. What should come first, ministry or family life? Is my number one priority in life to raise my children or to go where God is calling me? How do we decide what comes first?
Praying for revolution is risky and it comes with consequences we are not always ready for. When the Spirit moves, it shakes up everything.
Are we listening to those who offer the philosophy of the age or are we listening to people who are teaching us the truth?
I felt as though God was telling me, “Just as though there is more to this church than meets the eye, there is more to My Church than meets the eye.” I had judgments upon people I had never met, and they had larger hearts than my misguided perceptions could have comprehended.
A look at the recent Jesus Revolution movie and what the historical movement can teach us today. The message of Jesus Revolution is for today, as much as it was to show us the message from 50 years ago.
Building relationships with the LGBTQ community is not so much about changing doctrine, but reapplying the actions of Jesus more authentically.
Have you ever come across a clash of cultures in your church group? Are there ways we can better navigate how and why culture influences our Christianity?
5 shocking trends from the past year every Christian should be aware of and thinking about:
Sharp rise in Teen Internet Use, Surge in Drug Overdose Deaths for Black Men, Rapidly Shrinking Middle Class, divergent View of Slavery Reparations, philosophical clashes on balanced Journalism and Equal Reporting.
How will advances in technology, like chatgpt3, the continuing after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the pervasiveness of divisive American politics impact the Church and your Christian witness in 2023..?
In 1 Corinthians 15:31, Paul writes, "I die every day!" That's the spiritual advice I'm trying to take into the new year.
There would be a quiet revival, a silent revolution. A movement of humans who have voluntarily decided to die to themselves every day. A movement of nobody in particular, of nobody important, of no one you've ever heard of. A movement exactly as God intended.
I have no doubt that implicit racial biases live within me. To some extent, it seems unavoidable. What is not unavoidable, however, is whether or not I succumb to the role of one or many of the “white ally” tropes.
If you’re like me, you may have grown up thinking white supremacy meant the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) and other extremist racist groups that took extreme action including acts of physical violence (e.g. lynchings) to ensure white people maintained power. While this is a subsection of white supremacy, it is an incomplete view of it.
Imagine you’re playing Monopoly, and your objective is to go around the board 400 times. That’s a crazy long game of monopoly, right? But in this game of Monopoly, everyone else is given the typical starting money to play the game and you are not.
As Christians, our calling and work must be rooted in biblical understandings, which shape what we do and how we do it. The following is a theological overview to guide our work with migrants and displaced peoples.
We live in a world in which mainstream values, devoid of a love ethic, have led us down a spiraling staircase to our own destruction.
Without the past, there can be no justice. Without the present, our values are simply something on paper. Without the future, our decision-making power is greatly limited.
The poet William Yeats, reflecting on the twilight of civilization, famously wrote: “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold… The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.”
We can suffer from allergies as the body of Christ. And like the springtime, there can be seasons where experiences and perspectives cause our “immune system” (discernment) to go on the offensive.
Instead of being salt and light in the world (Matthew 5:13-16) we’ve conformed too much to either the Left or the Right, embodying the same flavor as our non-Christian friends and neighbors in each of these camps. Now more than ever it may be time for us to take a step back from the political approach of our parents and grandparents, lest we waste the precious resources and energy God has so generously given us.
I know that the calling on my life to follow Christ, to carry my cross, and to lay down my life for my brothers and sisters means that justice must take precedence over self-preservation. Inner harmony can never be achieved without speaking up for “the least of these.”
One of the sad ironies about the way that church is done today: we are a relationship-based organization that is really bad at relationships… It’s a miserable revelation that many committed Christians have had to endure in these recent years of scandals and schisms–that a lot of our church friends are fair-weather friends, whose love and support depends on if you’re still in good standing…