Michelle Van Loon is the author of two books about the parables of Christ and has contributed to three recent devotional projects. She’s done a wide variety of freelance writing including plays and skits, curriculum, articles, and ghost-writing. She’s been a church communications director, served on staff at Trinity International University, and currently handles communications for a Chicago-area ministry that networks evangelical congregations. She’s married to Bill, and is mother to three and grandmother to two. Her writing focuses on issues of the church and spiritual formation. She blogs at michellevanloon.com.
Voice of the Victims: Sex Abuse Survivors and the Church | Tom White’s recent suicide brings to light the priority of healing the abused over restoring the offender. (April 30, 2012)
Why Nancy Sleeth Wants You to Be a Bit More Amish | The message of Almost Amish is, fittingly, simple: How we live matters. (April 10, 2012)
Is It a Sin to Look Your Age? | How ‘old is cold’ stifles true beauty. (March 26, 2012)
Learning the Spiritual Disciplines from a Mormon Blogger | Jana Riess’s Mormon background does not detract from Flunking Sainthood‘s message. (February 1, 2012)
When Higher Education Is Neither: Why Should I Earn a Degree? | Thoughts for adults considering returning to college in 2012. (January 9, 2012)
Stop Turning Thanksgiving into a Facebook Like | Biblical gratitude is far more than an attitude. (November 23, 2011)
Holy Hot Flashes! A Spiritual Take on Menopause | How the mysterious life stage changes a woman’s capacity to nurture others. (October 28, 2011)
Taking a Break from Your Spouse | Research and experience confirm that time away from one’s spouse actually strengthens the marital bond. (October 6, 2011)
When A Midlife Crisis Becomes Serious | And how the church can turn midlife into prime time for the entire community. (October 3, 2011)
Christ And My Curly Hair | Attempts to undo my wiry hairdo had grown to idolatrous proportions – and taken up three whole months of my life. (August 30, 2011)
My Father Was A Porn Addict |The Playboys lying on the coffee table were the tip of the iceberg in our home. (July 25, 2011)
Would Jesus Walk Away From A Mortgage? | Reflections from an underwater home owner. (July 11, 2011)
Raising Yeshua-Followers In the West Bank | Ariella, a Messianic Jew, raises four children amid violence in the Holy Land.
A Christian Woman’s Midlife Crisis | With the guidance of older, wiser mentors, women can face the existential angst of midlife hoping for a new identity in Christ, one stripped of status and comfort. (April 19, 2011)
Where Are All the Women City Leaders? | The way the Christian city-renewal movement is being narrated, one would assume all the leaders driving the movement are megachurch pastors. (March 25, 2011)
‘Happy Holidays’ In Church? | While some Christian groups continue the battle over seasons-greetings language, I wonder if many churches are forsaking the reason for the season. (December 14, 2010)
The Best Christian Halloween Party | Along with hell houses and harvest fests, might evangelicals consider celebrating All Saints’ Day? (October 29, 2010)
The Trouble with Confessing in Church | As blogger Anne Jackson’s new book makes clear, our church culture will need to change before individual confession won’t turn into gossip. (September 29, 2010)
Church Volunteers: An Oxymoron | Why I’ve stopped using the word volunteer to describe those who serve. (July 13, 2010)
The Hutterites: Beyond Buggies and Bonnets | A review of I Am Hutterite, Mary Ann Kirkby’s memoir of growing up in a radical Anabaptist community. (June 7, 2010)
Why Boys Are Failing In the Classroom | The author of Why Boys Fail says females now have an unfair academic advantage in most schools—and that the pendulum needs to swing back. (February 25, 2010)
