Love Your Church Within Its Limits

Why accepting a congregation’s shortcomings is key to developing its strengths. Church can be so disappointing. We want it to be healthy and vibrant, growing and missional, faithful and generous, but we often see more problems than triumphs, more fear than courage, and more weakness than strength in our local congregations. We are not always an attractive lot. When we look outside the walls of our church, we see so many needs in our communities and across the globe: We want to care for the... Read More

What Ukraine’s Evangelical Women Want Known About Russia’s War

From preparing food to Molotov cocktails, Christian women contribute to resistance while some fear the divide between those who stayed and those who fled. Of Ukraine’s more than 4 million refugees, 90 percent are women and children. Of the 6.5 million internally displaced Ukrainians, 54 percent of adults are women. Men ages 18-60 are required to stay and resist the Russian invasion. And thus it is men who usually tell the public tales of war. Women are often kept to private forums,... Read More

The Gods of ‘Techtopia’ Giveth, and They Taketh Away

Silicon Valley showers its workers with “spiritual” perks, but only at the cost of absolute devotion. As someone who grew up in Silicon Valley, I can sometimes forget what a peculiar place this is. There are, for example, certain coffee shops and brunch restaurants where you can overhear entrepreneurs pitching to venture capitalists any day of the week. It’s not uncommon to be approached by strangers and asked to beta-test their new apps. The median home price is well above $1... Read More

Azerbaijan’s Churches Explain Their Evangelism

Many evangelicals celebrate their freedom of religion in the Muslim-majority nation. Orthodox and Catholics urge: Go slow. Emil Panahov has a vision. “I want to see 96 percent of Azerbaijanis confess their faith in Christ, and revival often began when the king became a believer,” he said. “But our God is the president of presidents, so the government does not rule over me.” He has a long way to go. Panahov, founder of the Vineyard church in Muslim-majority Azerbaijan,... Read More

After War, Can Armenia’s Evangelicals and Orthodox Save Their Nation Together?

Some evangelicals thank Apostolic church for preserving their nation amid trials. Some priests fear Protestant newcomers will divide it. Craig Simonian had a vision. It landed him in a war zone. Raised in an Armenian-American Orthodox family, he came to know Jesus personally at university. He served as a Vineyard church pastor in New Jersey for nearly two decades but continued to embrace his Apostolic church heritage. It laid the foundation of his faith—but also of his nation of... Read More

How Bread Became Engrained in Ukrainian Christian Life

In the breadbasket of Europe, ministries bring loaves for hungry bodies and spiritual nourishment for the soul. For Ukraine, Europe, bread is a way of life. Ukraine’s flag—now displayed around the world in solidarity—proclaims the nation’s agricultural heritage, with the yellow representing wheat fields and the blue representing the sky above. “Bread is very important in our culture, but Jesus has said that we do not live by bread alone,” said pastor Fedir... Read More

Orgies, Cocaine and the Dangers of Boring Sins

The temptations of the flesh don’t have to be dramatic to be detrimental. “No one’s ever invited me to a cocaine party or an orgy, and I’ve been working in Washington for years.” I never thought I’d say those words, but I did recently when a younger Christian asked me, in hushed tones, whether it’s true that members of Congress are snorting cocaine and organizing sex parties. I stared back blankly, wondering if this man knew that Congress resembles... Read More

Azerbaijan Adds Fuel to Armenian Concerns in Karabakh

With Russian peacekeepers distracted by war, Armenian activists, clergy, and officials debate how best to secure ancient churches and human rights in Artsakh. Suffering freezing temperatures during the long winter cold in the Caucasus Mountains, this month Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh had no heating for three weeks. The natural gas “malfunction,” stated Azerbaijan’s state-run energy distribution company, has now been repaired. It is not often that pipeline maintenance... Read More

Christian Witness After War: A Firsthand Assessment of Armenia and Azerbaijan

After churches change hands in Nagorno-Karabakh, can Armenian and Azeri Christians reconcile faster than their governments? Ibrahim Baghirov died as an infant. His mother, Mary, had read in the Gospels about Jesus and Lazarus, so she prayed for God to raise her child from the dead. He did, she says. Doctors in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, confirmed the miracle to her, which also confirmed her fledgling faith as a Muslim-background Christian. Two decades later, Baghirov is an emerging... Read More

Inside a Ukrainian Baptist Church at War

Christians in Lviv work and pray for victory as they face their nation’s crisis head-on. First they had to get a car. As the threat of a Russian invasion grew on the horizon, some shrugged it off, thinking it unlikely. But Vika Aharkova, who ministered alongside her husband Vasyl among the 20,000 international students in Kharkiv, near the Russian border, “kind of knew it was going to happen,” she said. It’s easy to delay when crisis is coming. It’s easy to think of... Read More