Our November Issue: What Happens When We Testify

The bold witness our CT reporter encountered in Buffalo.

Photography by Brandon Watson for Christianity Today

Emily Belz expected to encounter a community in grief when she traveled to Buffalo this past May to report on the funerals of those murdered in the racially motivated Tops supermarket shooting. And, of course, she did. “The city’s Christians aren’t rushing the grieving process,” Belz wrote at the time, noting a pervasive sense of both “righteous anger” and “resilience” among Buffalo’s Black Christians.

But one experience Belz didn’t write about continues to stand out for her: time she spent in a local cigar shop where she personally experienced the bold passion for Jesus characterizing many of the believers gathered there.

A local pastor had directed Belz to the cigar shop, located just a block from Tops, because it served as a neighborhood gathering place. In three separate conversations at that shop, Christians shared the gospel with her. Not knowing her own faith background—and despite their own heavy sorrow—these people seized the opportunity to witness to her about Jesus, to testify to his love, and to boldly ask if she had faith in him. There as a CT reporter, Belz found herself being ministered to by the very people whose loved ones had been murdered just days before. What a compelling testimony to the vibrant work of God within the Christian community in Buffalo.

In this issue of CT, Belz returns with further reporting on the work of churches and ministries in Buffalo’s East Side. She examines the ongoing challenges that Christians there face six months after the shooting and spotlights the resilient ministry of “young Black Christians who grew up in the neighborhood [and who] were already working to change their city before May 14. When a gunman took the lives of people they were close to, it spurred them on to more love and good works.”

The thing about a powerful testimony is that even just hearing about the cigar-shop evangelism secondhand has spurred me on in my love for Christ. I have a similar reaction to our regular Testimony features—including Eduardo Rocha’s story in this issue, in which he tells of the Holy Spirit speaking esperanza (hope) into his life in a moment of desperation.

This editor’s note is the first in my new role as print managing editor as I work alongside my colleague Andy Olsen in his new role as senior editor. My hope is that everything you read in CT would testify to the love of Jesus and the truth of his gospel. Whether in these printed pages or in cigar shops and other gathering places, may we boldly spur one another on in faith.

Kelli B. Trujillo is print managing editor of Christianity Today.

Also in this issue

Our cover story this month examines the dramatic increase in physician-assisted deaths in Canada and its growing public acceptance. How are Christian doctors navigating this shifting landscape? How can the church respond? Plus: What healing looks like in Buffalo six months after the Tops massacre, ancient images of women in ministry, Paul’s model for social media, and more.

Cover Story

Canada Euthanized 10,000 People in 2021. Has Death Lost Its Sting?

Myanmar’s Christians Fight for Peace

News

Environmental Train Wreck: Houston’s Black Churches Fight Pollutants

In a Sea of National Tragedies, Look to Buffalo’s Christians

Lament Is More Than a Country Song

What’s Wrong with Winsomeness?

The Collateral Damage of Sin

A New Solution to Gun Violence: Neighborly Care

Conversation Is Hospitality—Even on Social Media

What Ancient Italian Churches Tell Us About Women in Ministry

News

Why Should Pastors Get All the Good Theology Textbooks?

Excerpt

Don’t Let Missions Fall Prey to ‘Genericide’

Reply All

We See the Morning Star More Brightly Through the Ages

Testimony

I Untied My Noose and Took Up My Cross

News

‘Our Father Who Art in Heaven’ Evidence of Russian Torture

News

Billy Graham Gets State-of-the-Art Archive

News

More Evangelical Women Have Had Sex With Women Than You Might Think

Tell Me Your Beliefs on Sex Without Telling Me Your Beliefs on Sex

Review

The World’s Logic Says Diversity Begets Division. Gospel Logic Says Otherwise.

Review

Christian Orthodoxy Is Your Ticket to a Land of Adventure

New & Noteworthy Books

View issue

Our Latest

News

Black Clergy and Christians Grapple with Charlie Kirk’s Legacy

Many say the activist’s inflammatory statements on race should inform how we remember his life.

News

A Sudden Death: Voddie Baucham, Who Warned the Church of Fault Lines

Known for confronting critical theory, moral relativism, and secular ideologies, Baucham died a month into leading a new seminary in Florida.

Why Many Black Christians Reject the Evangelical and Mainline Labels

The history of a prominent church pastored by MLK in Alabama shows the reason African Americans often don’t embrace either term.

News

Pastor Abducted in Nigeria Amid Escalating Kidnapping Crisis

Armed gang continues to hold him after family paid the ransom.

Review

The Liturgy of American Charisma

Historian Molly Worthen studies dynamic leaders, eager followers, and their shared efforts to “consecrate a new reality.”

Inside the Ministry

The Next Gen Initiative

Casting a captivating vision of following Jesus for the next generation.

News

Where Refugees Were Seen as an Opportunity from God

In Sweden, a church continues to advocate evangelism of Muslims, despite criticism from all sides.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube