Category: Christian news

Every time I lead a person to repeat those words, I am saying them to God on my own behalf. I’ve led thousands of people in the sweet “repeat after me” sinner’s prayer: “Dear Jesus, I am a sinner.” What the person praying with me doesn’t know is that every timeI lead a person to repeat those words, I am saying them to God on my own behalf. I am a sinner. No kidding, I really am—a really real sinner in utter, desperate need of God’s love... Read More

Gen Z’s digital natives bring followers along for the experience. “I think what I learned can be summed up like this: I can either live missionally, or live for nothing,” read an Instagram caption posted by Max Park, one of 7,000 young adults who attended the Cross Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, at the start of the year. That week, another 40,000 showed up for Passion in Atlanta, Dallas, and Washington, DC, and more than 10,000 for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s... Read More

“This generation is less likely to affiliate with established religious groupings than previous ones, even if they do have a sense of spirituality.” Ed: How would you describe the state of Christianity and the church among emerging adults—18 to 29-year-olds—today? What are their biggest questions, concerns, or motivations? Russell: According to the Pew Research Center, over 50 percent of emerging adults identify as not religious. Three out of ten emerging adults are neither... Read More

Increasingly global delegation outweighs American push to shift LGBT stance, leading some progressive congregations to leave the denomination. After days of passionate debate, deliberation, and prayer—and years of tension within the denomination—the United Methodist Church (UMC) voted Tuesday to maintain its traditional stance against same-sex marriage and non-celibate gay clergy, bolstered by a growing conservative contingent from Africa. The plan passed—with 438 votes in... Read More

But early Christian yonic art symbolized baptism, not free sex. In case you haven’t heard, Nadia Bolz-Weber recently commissioned a statue of a vagina. She gifted the statue to Gloria Steinem, who I hope put it on her mantle (though in a pinch, it could also double as a paperweight or spoon rest). The sculpture exists in part to promote Bolz-Weber’s new book, Shameless, and in part as a kind of performance art protest against the damage done by “purity culture.” She... Read More

“If you can bring people together in safe spaces where they get to know each other as people and not as issues, you can see a lot of change.” Ed: Give me an example of when Christians in your community have done good things that were surprising or that undermined the perceptions unbelievers had about who Christians are and what they do. Rich: One of the places that we've really stepped into is immigration. We set up immigration counseling services. We're one of two immigration... Read More

The church of Jesus Christ has always resembled her King best when she was in a place, not of dominance, but of yielded weakness. Will the church in North America face an increasing spirit of hostility to its accustomed status of cultural privilege? Absolutely. The question is not, ‘if,’ but, ‘when?’ And my suspicion is that it’s coming much sooner than most would expect. The coming cultural backlash to our unrestrained ties to political power will become a... Read More

Before the vote passed, evangelicals flexed unprecedented political might in a controversial campaign opposing a new definition of marriage and other national reforms. As Cubans voted to approve a new constitution on Sunday, widespread Christian opposition may signal a shift in political tone and a new sense of unity among the island’s churches. The grassroots campaign—formed largely against more permissive language regarding same-sex marriage—earned Christians a measure of... Read More

What we learn about Bible figures from the clothing they put on, take off, and tear apart. Storytellers know that the unfolding of dramatic events can be hard to follow. So to help their audiences make sense of what is happening, they often insert symbolic clues. In cartoons, the villains scowl and speak with gravelly voices, and the heroes smile and sound all-American. In movies, a menacing bassline announces the arrival of a dangerous person, while comic figures appear with bouncier... Read More

The World Evangelical Alliance champions human rights and religious freedom within the United Nations. As I walked into the United Nations building in New York to meet Secretary General Antonio Guterres, I recalled a preacher who predicted that this world body was the coming world government, as he said had been prophesied in The Revelation. Added to that ominous prediction of its coming role, many view the United Nations as deeply flawed: often biased in its analyses and lacking ability to... Read More