Today’s Briefing

Evangelicals across Europe are reviving an old idea: spiritual formation can conform our hearts to Christ.

A substitute teacher from California who was angry about the Dobbs decision pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate a Supreme Court justice.

A medical ethics professor analyzes the Texas measles outbreak on The Bulletin.

A controversial suicide pod in Switzerland offers an “easy” death. Christ’s death shows a better way.

Metaphors are more influential on the church than we realize.

Behind the Story

From news editor Daniel Silliman: I once went to a Bible study in France where the person leading it would say a few words in French and then stop, then say a few more, and then stop. In the pauses, we’d get a flurry of translations. In a knot of English speakers, someone would translate to English; for the cluster of German speakers, someone would translate to German; Portuguese for the Portuguese speakers; and so on.

If you focused your attention, you’d just hear the one voice, saying, “Jesus is asleep in the boat,” or something like that. If you let your mind shift a little, though, you’d hear it all: the gospel explained simultaneously in a rising murmur of multiple languages at once.

It sounded like chaos. But it didn’t feel like chaos. Jesus prayed for unity for his followers—“that they may be one” (John 17:22)—and honestly, to me, that’s what it felt like. We were unified across cultures, histories, and languages, all hearing how God wanted people to call on him in a storm.

You may have noticed that we’ve been translating a lot more articles recently. Like this piece from our European correspondent Ken Chitwood, on the revival of interest in spiritual formation, which is being put out in English and Portuguese. Part of the One Kingdom campaign goes toward the dramatic expansion of translation efforts. You will probably only notice the one in your language. But if you do notice the article in another language, I hope you have that wonderful moment of realizing how big, beautiful, and united the church is.

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In Other News

Youth With A Mission apologizes “to anyone who has experienced harm” after a British newspaper reports allegations of spiritual abuse and “very shame-driven” training.
Evangelical historian Richard V. Pirard, a founding member of the Conference on Faith and History and a frequent critic of American Christianity’s embrace of civil religion, has died at 90.
A Black Pentecostal church in Michigan is fighting a $123,500 tax bill.
Actress Meryl Streep is in talks to play Aslan in Greta Gerwig’s Netflix adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew.

Today in Christian History

April 9, 1626: English philosopher of science Sir Francis Bacon dies. After a dizzying rise to political power (he was named lord chancellor in 1618) and a bribery scandal, Bacon retired to writing. He introduced the essay form to the English language and wrote The New Atlantis, which mixed his scientific approach and his Christian beliefs. “Knowledge is the rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man’s estate,” he wrote. “A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion” (see issue 76: Christian Face of the Scientific Revolution).

Russian Pastors Risk Prison to Oppose War in Ukraine

Bishop Albert Ratkin knows his time could be running out. He opposes Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the Kremlin is watching him. Russian security forces searched both his home and…

Institutions Don’t Maintain Themselves

Of the church, Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, we should come to expect everything and nothing: everything because it is Christ’s body on earth and nothing because, even so, it is composed of…

Why Scandal Matters

Over the past few weeks, two Christian universities have been roiled by controversies at the boundaries of Christian speech. In one episode, Wheaton College’s social media team congratulated alumnus Russ…

The Secret Cure for a Health Care System Without a Heart

Andrew Wai hit a breaking point as a third-year medical student. Exhausted from the pressure of doing rounds and studying for exams, he began viewing each patient as another barrier…

in the magazine

Even amid scandals, cultural shifts, and declining institutional trust, we at Christianity Today recognize the beauty of Christ’s church. In this issue, you’ll read of the various biblical metaphors for the church, and of the faithfulness of Japanese pastors. You’ll hear how one British podcaster is rethinking apologetics, and Collin Hansen’s hope for evangelical institutions two years after Tim Keller’s death. You’ll be reminded of the power of the Resurrection, and how the church is both more fragile and much stronger than we think from editor in chief Russell Moore. This Lent and Easter season, may you take great courage in Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:18—“I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

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