Orientation is not necessarily sexual, Nate Collins says. The Revoice Conference, which begins tomorrow, has generated a great deal of conversation among theologically conservative Christians. The gathering, according to its website, is about “supporting, encouraging, and empowering gay, lesbian, same-sex-attracted, and other LGBT Christians so they can flourish while observing the historic, Christian doctrine of …
On questions of race, religious liberty, and political power, the Baptist preacher should be our guiding light. Isaac Backus may be the most interesting and influential American you’ve never heard of. At the peak of his career, Backus (1724–1806) rode thousands of miles per year to preach to and encourage Baptist congregations throughout New England. …
Children with the greatest need for a supportive community were the most likely to feel unwelcome. America’s religious communities are failing children with chronic health conditions such as autism, learning disabilities, depression, and conduct disorders. And they have been doing it for a very long time, suggests a just-published national study following three waves of …
How Christian discipleship affects household income. Before World War I, German sociologist Max Weber famously linked the work ethic of Protestant Christians to the economic development of Europe. The “spirit of capitalism,” he argued, was sparked by Martin Luther’s emphasis on calling and his argument that “worldly” labor was no less holy than the ascetic …
Scripture reminds us that love—and loving communication—is patient. I have a box of letters that my husband wrote to me while we were dating last year. Traveling from Tennessee to South Carolina and back again, these paper conversations established our friendship, growing mutual trust, and admiration. Getting to know a person this way is reasonably …
Why Christians are called to inefficiency in an age of easy living. It was about two years after I signed up for Facebook when I noticed how lackadaisical I had become in my relationships. We’d moved across the country, from Vancouver to Toronto, the year before. It took just one cross-continental flight to shift a …
Effective Christian evangelism and discipleship requires us to be disruptive. Most days I can hardly hear myself think. It feels like there are a million voices calling for my attention as long as I’m awake: text messages, work emails, kids wanting a drink of water, looming deadlines, billboards, the sense of missing Something Important on …
The simplest questions can open the door to amazing conversations. I asked Mike about his tattoo partly out of curiosity but primarily from an instinct of self-preservation. He was helping his cousin jumpstart a car in the middle of our street in Long Beach, California, where I was involved in planting a church. As he …
How the earliest evangelicals struggled to leave their imprint on emerging trends in science, law, and culture. In Matthew 13, Jesus tells his disciples that “every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures …
White evangelical leaders applaud SCOTUS nominee’s religious liberty credentials. That’s not necessarily the litmus test for their brothers and sisters of color. Christian conservatives praised President Trump’s decision to nominate Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace outgoing Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission president …