It worked in Utah. But national effort by the CCCU and NAE will be more complicated. Among the many unanswered questions going into a new year and new government led by Donald Trump, American evangelicals await the prospects for the tense back-and-forth between religious liberty and LGBT rights. The conflict took on new urgency in …
Tonya White Mountain lives out the Christian call to be a peacemaker. Assemblies of God pastor Tonya White Mountain regularly makes the nearly two-hour drive from her home on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation to Bismarck, North Dakota, the closest place to shop at Walmart and get medical checkups. During a recent trip, a truck …
What’s behind our timeless fascination with religious pilgrimage? Years ago, Thomas Friedman’s The Lexus and the Olive Tree contrasted two ways of being in the evolving Western world. One, epitomized by the “olive tree,” is rooted, in place, stable, stationary. The other, the “Lexus,” was the emerging vision of the modern individual: a life distinguished …
Although caused by aliens, the breakdown in communication in Arrival feels all too familiar. Reader, I confess: I clicked “unfriend” last month. Several times. Understand, I wasn’t ending friendships. I was respecting them—by refusing to let Facebook’s limitations do them further harm. It troubled me to see conversations we might have enjoyed in person go …
Framing addiction as a chronic disease gives a broader framework for understanding. I can’t remember much about the day when everything went wrong. No obvious moment indicated that the standard outpatient procedure would lead to weeks in the ICU, months in the hospital, and almost a year out of work. Memories of a dark hospital …
What pastors and elders must do to value women’s discipleship. Where can complementarian women go to find female teachers? For many, the answer lies outside of the local church. Because of theological beliefs, most complementarian churches don’t let women preach. Many also struggle to elevate women’s voices within their own congregations, indirectly encouraging women to …
Three seminary leaders explain how believers balanced justice vs. grace. The longest-running conflict in the Western Hemisphere finally came to an end yesterday, after Colombia’s congress approved a peace deal with its largest guerrilla group. However, in order to do so, lawmakers skipped over Colombian voters, who last month narrowly rejected a similar peace deal …
How the New Testament offers a better, higher calling than the Declaration of Independence. An Anglican man rang me out of the blue the other day to ask if the New Testament teaches “equality.” “Not really,” I replied. “The New Testament mentions equality once or twice, but when it comes to social relationships, it is …
Historic renovations at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre won’t change some Protestants’ preference for the Garden Tomb. Beneath layers of ancient marble, renovators at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem say they have found what may be the limestone bench where the body of Jesus was laid after his crucifixion. For the …
Why it’s the best and worst of times for India’s burgeoning churches. The world’s most unexpected megachurch pastor might be an illiterate, barefoot father of five. Bhagwana Lal grows maize and raises goats on a hilltop in Rajasthan, India’s largest state, famous for its supply of marble that graces the Taj Mahal. He belongs to …