Category: Christian news

There can be a great deal of tension in our evangelical subculture when women try to live into their callings. Many sermons have been preached and many articles and books have been written about the scandalous nature of our God. We see this quality evidenced regularly in the Gospels as Jesus prioritizes spending time with common people, tax collectors, and sinners over spending time with religious leaders of the day (Matt. 9:10-11; Luke 15:1-2). We see him overthrowing money tables at a... Read More

Their unexpected ministry cuts across life stages. It’s no secret that married couples in local churches need to reach out to the singles in their midst. “Doing life alone” can be exhausting, says Holly Stallcup. But the Scriptures “consistently paint a picture of interconnected community … where we find ourselves in day-in and day-out partnership with others.” Bridging this single-married divide is particularly important for women. Although married women... Read More

Some Chaldean detainees lost their chance to fight to stay. But it’s still unclear if their home country will let them back. Hundreds of Iraqi Christians detained in immigration raids are once again at risk of deportation after losing their chance to keep fighting their cases in court. On Tuesday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals closed the book on Hamama v. Adducci, a class-action lawsuit filed in June 2017 by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of 1,400 Iraqi natives,... Read More

Three trends that may indicate the beginning of kingdom breakthrough. “Who’s ever lost money investing in real estate?” This was the single question that stood as the foundation of many people’s ‘all-in’ attitude for real estate investing in the early 2000s. My wife and I were certainly all-in, cashing out all other forms of investments to buy multiple homes. For some years, it seemed like a no-brainer. Every deal followed a predictable pattern—I... Read More

These new Master’s students will study in Chicago in the summer and Miami in the winter. Today, I’m glad to share that Wheaton College has partnered with Christ Fellowship Church in Miami, Florida, to create a unique learning opportunity for Christian leaders and pastors to deepen their skills in preaching and inspire their congregations as they lead from the pulpit. This is not just for people in Miami, but for all over. It just happens to be in Miami… in January…... Read More

Some congregations will file taxes for the first time to comply with a new 21 percent tax on employee parking. A new provision in the corporate tax code has some churches and other tax-exempt nonprofits wondering if they’ll really be on the hook for paying a “parking tax” this year. 2018 was the first year nonprofits were subject to a tax of 21 percent on employee benefits like parking and transportation stipends, under tax reforms passed by the GOP-controlled Congress the... Read More

Multisite churches must have carefully sorted priorities. Over the past 15 years, the concept of multisite churches has moved from a rare yet novel blip on most pastor’s ecclesiological radar to the dominant trend most growing churches consider in efforts to sustain continued momentum. Without delving into the ecclesiological issues that some assert as intrinsically problematic with the multisite model (because most common issues can be addressed through careful and creative... Read More

I wanted nothing to do with faith. That changed the night I tried to take my own life. I grew up with idealistic missionary parents who wanted more than punch-a-clock and pay-the-mortgage normalcy. They pursued a ministry life abroad, but after I was diagnosed with leukemia as a child, we were left stateside and struggling financially. We moved a lot—Hawaii, then Nepal, then back to Hawaii, then New Mexico. For most of my teen years, we lived in Albuquerque, and during that time, I... Read More

A growing group of Jews who believe in Jesus is crossing boundaries to revive their identity and restore unity in the church. The lights are dim during a Friday night service in a sanctuary that holds 4,000 people at the non-denominational Gateway Church in Dallas, Texas. Many traditional Jewish elements of the Sabbath are present: There’s a blessing over the bread and wine, candle lighting, a Torah scroll, and a prayer shawl. About 12 musicians play contemporary Christian music that... Read More

Three important trends regarding race and faith that must be considered as we try to lead evangelicalism through this era. Evangelicals are having a branding problem. When I searched Twitter in December of 2018 for tweets that contained the word “evangelical,” I was surprised to see that one of the most popular words that appeared in those tweets was the word “white.” In fact, I looked back over a number of different sets of tweets going back to 2017 and the term... Read More