13 CT News Stories That Made Us Happy in 2021

It was another hard year on many fronts, but it wasn’t all bad news.

2021 brought more headlines about COVID-19, religious persecution, division, and spiritual abuse. Amid the heaviness, we saw God at work through his people in big ways and small, from signs of hope for Christians in the Middle East to a surprise worship leader at a church in California.

Here are 13 of our favorite good-news stories covered by CT this year, listed in chronological order.

Read all of our year-end lists here.

- More from CT Editors

Also in this series

Introduction

Christianity Today in 2021: Our Top News, Reviews, Podcasts, and More

CT Editors

Top 10 CT News Stories of the Year

CT Editors

Christianity Today’s Top Testimonies of 2021

CT Editors

Christianity Today’s 15 Most-Read Book Reviews of 2021

CT Editors

CT’s Top 10 Articles for Pastors in 2021

CT Editors

CT’s Top 20 Stories of 2021

CT’s 2021 Cover Stories, Ranked

CT Editors

Biblical Archaeology’s Top 10 Discoveries of 2021

Gordon Govier

CT’s Stories of 2021 That You May Have Missed

CT Editors

Our Favorite Christianity Today Podcasts from 2021

12 Leaders Evangelicals Lost in 2021

Daniel Silliman

The Global Church in 2021: CT’s Top 20 International Articles

Morgan Lee

Our Latest

An eye and an artist's canvas.

I Failed to Mature as an Artist—Until I Learned to See

Drawing is a way of entrusting what I can see to the care and attention of God.

Kelly Rowland as Leah Caldwell and Clifford “Method Man” Smith as Jarrett Roy in Relationship Goals.

How A Pastor’s Book Inspired a New Rom-Com

Haleluya Hadero

Mike Todd’s book, Relationship Goals, gets a spotlight in a film aimed at both Christian and secular audiences.

Charles-Marsh-Bonhoeffer-120th-birthday

The Russell Moore Show

Charles Marsh on Bonhoeffer’s 120th Birthday

What does it mean to follow Jesus when the state is demanding your loyalty—and the church is tempted to comply?

Several abstract wine bottles.

Jesus Did Not Serve Grape Juice

Why reopen debate about what we serve for Communion? Because it matters that we follow God’s commands.

A baby with pink and blue circles.

We Are Obsessed with Gender

Bonnie Kristian

With incoherent language trickled down from academic theorists, we think and talk about gender incessantly—and to our detriment.

Faith leaders pray at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Springfield, Ohio.

Bracing for ICE Raids, Haitians Get Temporary Reprieve

Andy Olsen in Springfield, Ohio

A federal judge on Monday extended deportation protections for Haitian immigrants. While they waited for the ruling, pastors in Springfield, Ohio, gathered and prayed.

How ChatGPT Revealed a False Diagnosis

Luke Simon

A devastating cancer diagnosis wrecked a young couple. But after five years of uncertainty, a chatbot changed everything.

The book cover

Excerpt

We Can’t Manifest the Good Life

Elizabeth Woodson

An excerpt from Habits of Resistance: 7 Ways You’re Being Formed by Culture and Gospel Practices to Help You Push Back.