The Weekend – 10-18-25

October 16, 2025
CT Weekly

weekend reads

If you’re an introvert, post-church coffee hour might be your least favorite part of any given Sunday. That’s been Matt Reynolds’s experience: “I’d stumble through some perfunctory small talk, counting the moments until I could browse the church’s bookstall in blissful solitude.”

But reading the 15-year-old book Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture got Reynolds thinking about how his introversion interacts with his identity as a follower of Christ. “Perhaps, after worship, most introverts prefer holy silence, quiet prayer, or deeper dialogue to shooting the breeze in a noisy foyer,” he concedes. 

“Yet my own inward journeys of reflection suggest a less flattering answer: I don’t always love God’s people as I should. I treat them as roadblocks to reading books or watching Sunday afternoon football.”

These days, it’s cool to be introverted. “That’s an improvement over stigmatizing introverts as antisocial weirdos,” says Reynolds. “But I’ll pass on attending any victory parades. I’ve never let stereotypes get me down, and I don’t want to let cultural acclaim puff me up. If introverts know anything, it’s the value of standing apart.”

In the news: This week, Israel and Hamas began the first phase of a peace deal, with 20 Israeli hostages coming home in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Mike Cosper and guests talked the events through on The Bulletin. Plus: Russell Moore on biblical references to Gaza, and a report on a shrinking Palestinian Christian population that’s wary of the cease-fire.

A gift for your pastor: Show appreciation to your church leaders this month. A cup of coffee might kick-start their morning, but what sustains ministry throughout the year is encouragement and the right resources. Christianity Today provides inspiring testimonies, practical wisdom, thoughtful ideas, and vital global perspectives—valuable for every season of ministry in today’s complex world. Gift a one-year subscription to a ministry leader in your life today.


weekend listen

Christianity Today’s new podcast Wonderology covers the intersection of science and faith. 

In episode 1: a powerful telescope, some very old stars, and what it means to be a person. 

“If we’re just a speck on a speck floating in an endless sea of darkness, do we still matter? Tonight on Wonderology, we chase the story of the biggest thing ever photographed—something so vast it makes Earth look microscopic. And we ask, ‘Does living in a vast universe make humanity more valuable or less?’” | Listen here.


PAID CONTENT FOR HODDER FAITH

There’s nothing quite like a story well-told. A curiosity-stoking beginning, a conflicted middle, a compelling conclusion—these elements, woven together with rich characters and relatable dilemmas, go beyond delivering information to…


editors’ picks

Kate Lucky, senior features editor: Stephanie H. Murray’s Substack Family Stuff is a fascinating roundup of demographic policy and data about everything from divorce rates to breastfeeding. She’s also funny and very much a “cool mom” who helps her readers (at least this reader) chill out.

Isabel Ong, Asia editor: As fall kicks in and temperatures get cooler, I use a shower oil because it feels luxurious and keeps skin more moisturized. I love L’Occitane’s almond-scented oil, and Bioderma’s option is good for sensitive skin.

Caroline Fea, associate engagement editor: I top this roasted butternut squash soup with pumpkin seeds, goat cheese, and bacon crumbles.


prayers of the people


more from CT

Study author praises staff members who “stay where their presence matters most.”

Awarding Kirk the Medal of Freedom, President Trump questioned his widow’s emphasis on his willingness to forgive and love his enemies.

The founding member of Maverick City Music is releasing new songs as a solo artist with an impressive roster of guests.

First in a series called Long Obedience in the Same Direction.


IN THE MAGAZINE

The Christian story shows us that grace often comes from where we least expect. In this issue, we look at the corners of God’s kingdom and chronicle in often-overlooked people, places, and things the possibility of God’s redemptive work. We introduce the Compassion Awards, which report on seven nonprofits doing good work in their communities. We look at the spirituality underneath gambling, the ways contemporary Christian music was instrumental in one historian’s conversion, and the steady witness of what may be Wendell Berry’s last novel. All these pieces remind us that there is no person or place too small for God’s gracious and cataclysmic reversal.

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