Christianity Today in 2025

A year in review of our most read articles and favorite stories.

Illustration by Christianity Today

In this series, we’ve curated several categories of CT articles that we think are worth returning to. Browse our list of 2025’s big stories, book reviews, podcasts, obituaries, testimonies, and more. You can also read this year’s top 10 discoveries in biblical archeology, along with our most read stories of the global church.

This year, CT published more than 6,000 translations, including stories featured in the top 10 articles in Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese (simplified and traditional). We also reach thousands of readers around the world every day through social media and newsletters.

Thanks for reading Christianity Today in 2025. If you’re not already a subscriber, check out our membership options here, and subscribe to our newsletter here.

Big CT Stories of 2025

CT Editors

Ten of our most-read articles this year.

CT’s Best Ideas of 2025

CT Editors

From AI to K-pop to medical missions, our essays on culture, ethics, sociology, and more tackled the year’s most discussed topics.

Christianity Today’s Top News Stories of 2025

CT Editors

From the massive policy shifts under the second Trump administration to violence taking off in Nigeria, Ukraine, and Gaza, we rank the biggest developments we covered this year.

The Top 10 Articles in Christianity Today Magazine

CT Editors

Our best reporting, ideas, and theology pieces in print in 2025.

Christianity Today’s 10 Most-Read Book Reviews of 2025

CT Editors

Women in ministry, Christian summer camp, Tim Keller, and what the church has always said about sex.

Workers from the Israel Antiquities Authority excavate a section of a city wall from the Hasmonean period in the Old City of Jerusalem.

10 Striking Biblical Archaeology Stories of 2025

Gordon Govier

Research and natural disaster uncovered exciting finds from the ancient world.

Christianity Today’s Most-Read Testimonies of 2025

CT Editors

Ten of the most powerful conversion stories of the year.

Images from three articles in the series.

10 Notable Christians We Lost in 2025

CT Editors

Remembering Kay Arthur, John MacArthur, Jennifer Lyell, and others.

CT Stories You May Have Missed in 2025

CT Editors

From a Christian chess detective to spiritualized gambling to hymns in the Alaskan wilderness.

Images from three podcast episodes in the list.

CT Media’s Favorite Podcast Episodes of 2025

CT Media

A selection of notable conversations from The Bulletin, The Russell Moore Show, and some of our latest podcast series.

The Best of CT’s Big Tent Initiative in 2025

CT Editors

Glimpses of the diversity within the evangelical church in the United States.

15 Stories About the Vibrant Global Church in 2025

CT Editors

A doctor caring for Congo rape victims, pastors shepherding a Ukrainian youth group in wartime, and leaders serving faithfully in Christian-minority Japan.

- More from CT Editors

Ideas

CT’s Best Ideas of 2025

CT Editors

From AI to K-pop to medical missions, our essays on culture, ethics, sociology, and more tackled the year’s most discussed topics.

Illustration by Christianity Today

Christianity Today published thoughtful essayists from around the world in 2025 who analyzed current news events, offered culture criticism, and wrote about how faith and theology intersect with the dilemmas of our time.

Author Jen Pollock Michel told the complicated story of caring for her mother with Alzheimer’s disease, and writer Carrie McKean told stories of model immigrants who were mistreated as well as about hosting vaccine experts and critics to meet together and talk in her living room. Our writers tackled Charlie Kirk’s death, ethics around artificial intelligence and porn, revival in Silicon Valley, CCM music, immigration, Christian schools—even Zyn and Labubus.

Here are our editors’ picks of top Ideas essays of 2025.

- More from CT Editors

News

Big CT Stories of 2025

CT Editors

Ten of our most-read articles this year.

Illustration by Christianity Today.

Summarizing an entire year of reporting, commentary, and storytelling is no easy feat. One way to reflect on 2025 coverage is by looking at what you, our readers, visited the most. Here are our top ten by page views, an intriguing mix of breaking news reports, cultural coverage, and global stories.

But readership is only one way to measure an article’s impact. In our other year-end lists, you’ll find curated selections based on topic (such as ten of this year’s biblical archaeological discoveries), medium (such as articles from the print magazine and podcasts), genre (book reviews, testimonies), and more.

As we close out 2025, we hope these lists allow you to meditate on all that God has done this year.

Killed: Acclaimed Gospel Vocalist Jubilant Sykes

Kelsey Kramer McGinnis

The Grammy-nominated singer jumped from gospel to opera to spirituals to jazz; he considered it all sacred.

Pastor Ara Torosian filmed ICE arresting Iranian members of his congregation.

ICE Goes After Church Leaders and Christians Fleeing Persecution

Andy Olsen

On Tuesday, Iranian asylum-seekers were detained in Los Angeles, adding to the count of church members taken despite lawful status.

David played by Michael Iskander in House of David

How Biblically Accurate Is ‘House of David’?

Peter T. Chattaway

A look at polygamy, giants, and Goliath’s Greek armor.

Died: John MacArthur, Who Explained the Bible to Millions

Daniel Silliman

The Southern California preacher wanted to illuminate Scripture with Scripture and separate real Christians from false.

Mike Pence and Donald Trump shake hands at Jimmy Carter's funeral

Mike Pence Shares the First Thing He Said to Trump in Four Years

Harvest Prude and Kate Shellnutt

The day after Jimmy Carter’s funeral, the former VP spoke to CT’s Russell Moore about what happened in the presidential pews and his prayers for his former running mate.

An AI-generated man walks down a road arched with trees wearing a tan suit and hat and waving to the side.

The Current No. 1 Christian Artist Has No Soul

Kelsey Kramer McGinnis

AI-generated musician Solomon Ray has stirred a debate among listeners, drawing pushback from popular human singer Forrest Frank.

A woman looking at her young and old reflection in the mirror

At My Mother’s Deathbed, I Discovered the Symmetry of a Long Life

Jen Wilkin

The chiastic pattern I’d come to love in Scripture also shows up in God’s design for aging.

Woman's face with a loading symbol over it

AI Porn Is Covetousness

Timothy Pickavance

AI-generated pornography promises to meet all our sexual desires—but only adds to our pervasive violation of the tenth commandment.

The Last Supper from Season 5 of The Chosen.

Review: The Chosen Season 5

Kate Lucky

Vivid, artful, imperfect but faithful: Even if you know every beat of the Holy Week narrative by heart, the hit show’s latest season is worth watching.

Hannah Yeoh, the Malaysia Minister of Youth and Sports, seen during the 46th ASEAN summit in May 2025.

Malaysian Minister Accused of ‘Pushing a Christian Agenda’ Wins Defamation Case

Kelly Ng

Muslim groups decried Hannah Yeoh’s memoir, in which she details her faith journey.

- More from CT Editors

News

Christianity Today’s Top News Stories of 2025

CT Editors

From the massive policy shifts under the second Trump administration to violence taking off in Nigeria, Ukraine, and Gaza, we rank the biggest developments we covered this year.

Illustration by Christianity Today

This past year we saw big changes under the second Trump administration as well as violence in the US and abroad. The news team looked back on what we covered to rank what we saw as the most significant developments for the church.

11. Ministry Scandals

Several high-profile leaders made headlines over confessions or allegations of misconduct. Former Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison for sexually abusing a minor in the 1980s. After allegations surfaced online, Newsboys singer Michael Tait confessed to substance abuse and sexually assaulting multiple men. His scandal highlighted the lack of moral accountability in the Christian music industry. As the Anglican Church in North America weighed a high-profile case about abuse cover-up, its archbishop also faced allegations of sexual harassment.

10. Artificial Intelligence in Ministry

The growing AI industry captured public attention this year in a new way, and generative AI made its mark in Christian spaces too. Christian engineers working on these powerful AI models wrestled with burnout and purpose. What were these tools creating? In one case at ChatGPT, it looked like it would be erotica. Elsewhere it was Bible videos. In November, an AI-generated artist hit the number one spot on Apple’s top 100 chart for Christian music.

9. Abortion Pills Debate

In a move disappointed pro-lifers called a “stain on the Trump presidency,” the US Food and Drug Administration expanded the availability of abortion pills by giving the green light to another generic version of mifepristone. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, more than 60 percent of abortions take place through medication, making the fight over their legality today’s primary abortion battleground.

8. Ongoing War in Ukraine

Ukrainian evangelicals, numb and bombed out, lived through another year of war in their country as Russia’s attacks continued. They were suspicious of Trump’s early cease-fire proposals after he berated Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in a high-profile Oval Office meeting. Meanwhile, Ukrainian refugees rebuilt lives elsewhere.

7. Persecution in Nigeria

Heeding the outcry of Christians who have suffered kidnappings, mass killings, destroyed churches, and a worsening crackdown on religious freedom, President Trump designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern.” Nigeria is the seventh-deadliest country for Christians, Open Doors determined in its 2025 World Watch List, with the country’s religious minorities persecuted by extremist jihadist group Boko Haram and militants linked with Fulani herders.

6. Chinese Church Leaders Arrested

Fears of a new wave of persecution against Christians in China rose after police detained and arrested pastors and staff members of a well-known house church this fall. Despite the crackdown, family members living abroad continue to preach over Zoom to congregations who meet in smaller groups inside houses or private restaurant rooms. And around the world, Christians have called for the release of the arrested leaders of China’s Zion Church.

5. End of Israel-Hamas War

A US-brokered cease-fire ended two years of war in Gaza, freeing remaining hostages and restoring food aid. The shrinking Palestinian Christian minority in the Holy Land was relieved but wary of plans for lasting peace. Israel and Hamas continued efforts to influence US perceptions of the war.

4. USAID Shutdown

The Trump administration’s sudden shutdown of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had immediate fallout for Christian aid groups and the people they serve around the world. Clinics serving those with HIV/AIDS struggled to access lifesaving medications. Cuts disrupted food for starving children and medical care for pregnant mothers. The agency’s dismantling reverberated in Christian operations from Africa to Iraq to Latin America.

3. Winding Down of US Refugee Program

In less than a year’s time, the Trump administration has all but strangled the US refugee program, in effect “slamming the door” on persecuted Christians. Americans hoping to continue ministering to refugees have faced stop-work orders, reimbursement delays, and a near-total ban on any refugees but white South Africans entering the country.

2. ICE Deportations

Early in 2025 a report predicted that 10 million Christians could be deported from the US under President Donald Trump’s immigration plan. Hispanic pastors saw many in their congregations stay home out of fear of arrest, and some Trump-supporting Latinos felt betrayed by the extent of the crackdown. CT documented one of the first ICE detentions at a church, a new practice that a federal judge affirmed. But then the raids hit Christians elsewhere. International students lost visas at Christian colleges. Persecuted Iranian Christians were arrested. Longtime leaders in Saddleback Church’s Hispanic ministry were deported. In cities targeted for raids, like Los Angeles, churches learned how to band together to support immigrants in their communities, setting up systems to take care of the children of those arrested or to visit immigrants in detention.

1. Charlie Kirk’s Assassination

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was killed at age 34 when shot at a rally on a Utah campus. The tragic incident propelled a national conversation over rhetoric (including Kirk’s comments on race) and political violence, spotlighted Kirk’s significant role in rallying young conservatives, and spurred followers to carry on Kirk’s legacy of speaking out for his Christian faith, with some showing up at church for the first time and tens of thousands crowding into his stadium memorial.

- More from CT Editors

Ideas

CT Stories You May Have Missed in 2025

CT Editors

From a Christian chess detective to spiritualized gambling to hymns in the Alaskan wilderness.

Illustration by Christianity Today

At Christianity Today, many of our most-read articles have titles that draw the eye, report on major news events, or weigh in on highly debated topics. But beyond the stories that get thousands of likes on Instagram or show up in your Google search results, we’ve offered many quieter meticulously reported news stories, book reviews that engage thoughtfully with the text, and ideas that encourage us to think critically about how to live as Christians.

As editorial support staff, we have the privilege of reading every article that publishes at CT each year—yes, all 1,300-plus. So we know when a piece didn’t get the attention we feel it deserves.

Among the selections below are stories of a retired professor singing hymns to bears in the Alaskan wilderness, one of the last Christian medical schools that is changing how doctors do medicine, and a missionary who spent 17 years behind bars translating the Bible. Plus, arguments for why couples should use marriage vows from the 1550s and why millennial dads are a major sign of hope.

As we wrap up 2025, we hope these hidden gems make your holiday reading list.

—CT’s engagement and copy editors

A black and white silhouette of a face made of paper

Racial Unity Is Out of Style

Justin Giboney

Christians’ race debate is increasingly a battle between those blind to the sin of racism and those convinced racism and sexism are the only sins.

A bride and groom cut out and overlayed on top of the text of the marriage vows from the Book of Common Prayer.

Don’t Write Your Own Marriage Vows

Gretchen Ronnevik

Custom wedding vows are popular. But Christian marriage is about more than personal identity, ephemeral affection, and jokes about chores.

A doctor with her eyes closed surrounded by different hands holding medical equipment

The Secret Cure for a Health Care System Without a Heart

Emily Belz in San Bernardino, California

One of the last Christian medical schools in the US could change how doctors do medicine.

A cutout image of a father holding their child, with cutout hearts and stars around them.

The Millennial Dad Dividend

Bonnie Kristian

Every young father I know is a great dad. I think it’s a major sign of hope.

Donna Gail Shaw, a retired science education professor, on her weekly hike in Anchorage, Alaska.

Singing Hymns to Warn the Bears

Anna Broadway in Anchorage

On the outskirts of Anchorage, a Southern Baptist retired science education professor captures creation on her cameras.

The silhouette of a middle-aged woman, with a drawing of a kind of cyborg inside her.

The Transhumanist Question

Miroslav Volf

Is our being merely human something that ought to be overcome?

‘Without God’s Permission, I Cannot Go to Prison’

Angela Lu Fulton in Torrance, California

Missionary David Lin spent his 17 years behind bars translating the Bible and ministering to his cellmates.

Kenneth Regan's face with math equations and chess pieces.

A Christian Chess Detective Faces a Mathematical Stalemate

Emily Belz in New York

Complexity theory remains one of the great unsolved mathematical puzzles. Kenneth Regan is trying to figure it out.

Portrait of Emmanuel Nwachukwe on a foliage background

I Found Jesus in Science Class

Emmanuel Nwachukwu

How God used a skeptical teacher to help me make my faith my own.

A Woman’s Mental Work Is Never Done

Bonnie Kristian

Sociologist Allison Daminger’s new book on the cognitive labor of family life is insightful but incomplete.

The Secret Prayers of Gamblers

Daniel Silliman

Locating the spiritual longing hiding in America’s obsession with betting.

How Can I Help? Ask the Church.

Isaac Wood

After a disaster like Hurricane Helene, volunteers and donations need systems—and that’s where local congregations come in.

A collage of organic cutout shapes, with images of silhouettes of people inside.

The Uneasy Conscience of a Christian Introvert

Matt Reynolds

Introverts don’t need to become extroverts. But sometimes I’ve let my introversion excuse my failure to love God’s people as I should.

Journalism Was My Religion. Then I Encountered Jesus Christ.

Franco Iacomini

I wanted to be an eyewitness to Brazil’s history. Instead, God made me a witness to his work in the world.

- More from CT Editors

News

15 Stories About the Vibrant Global Church in 2025

CT Editors

A doctor caring for Congo rape victims, pastors shepherding a Ukrainian youth group in wartime, and leaders serving faithfully in Christian-minority Japan.

Illustration by Christianity Today

This year, Christianity Today expanded its coverage of Africa, highlighting the myriad ways in which believers on the continent are bringing the Good News to their communities and tackling political, social, and economic issues in their contexts with wisdom and tenacity.

CT also reported widely on ongoing turmoil and struggle in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, with stories of Christians persevering under persecution or embarking on countercultural practices that displayed selfless, Christlike love.

Meanwhile, CT examined how the faith is thriving in unexpected ways and how missional living is paramount for evangelism in Latin America and Oceania.

These stories are opportunities for CT readers to witness God’s hand at work on a worldwide scale, intercede for fellow believers who are suffering, and praise God for all the ways he builds his church.

Here are our editors’ picks of international stories worth reading in 2025:

A young girl painted with shaky brushstrokes

Inside the Crowded Hospital Full of Congo’s Rape Victims

Mindy Belz

Dr. Denis Mukwege, a local pastor and surgeon, is a tireless advocate for women and children suffering through war.

How to Lead a Youth Group Through a Missile Attack

Jill Nelson

Ukrainian teens and tweens learn to pray and read Psalms through a Russian bombardment.

Man stands in empty church surrounded by empty chairs and empty pews in Japan.

Growth Is Good. Survival Is, Too.

Sophia Lee in Japan

Japan’s Christians still pray for revival. But endurance is its own reward.

Tio Pedro's ministry reaching those attending Carnival in Brazil

Tio Pedro’s Mission Field Is Carnival

Franco Iacomini

Most evangelicals shun the holiday. But one man sees Brazil’s favorite festival as a key evangelistic opportunity.

One of the Palestinian prisoners released in the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Shrinking Palestinian Christian Population Wary of Cease-Fire

Heather M. Surls

“As people, we can live together … because this is what Jesus asked us to do.”

A crown made from an A+ graded homework paper.

My Child’s Success Isn’t My Crowning Glory

Ahrum Yoo

In a culture that prizes academic achievement, prayers for our kids can sound like shallow negotiations with God.

‘Without God’s Permission, I Cannot Go to Prison’

Angela Lu Fulton in Torrance, California

Missionary David Lin spent his 17 years behind bars translating the Bible and ministering to his cellmates.

Christianity Is Declining in Australia. Or Is It?

Amy Lewis in Australia

New study finds hundreds of thousands of people, especially those over 55, are quietly turning to Christianity.

A bus that was burned with a man looking at it

Hindu Mobs Killed His Friend. He Forgave Them.

Divya Chirayath

As India releases the killer of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his sons, one Indian Christian chooses acceptance.

Portrait of Sophia Loibl looking into the light with a dark background

I Was Sold into Slavery. Jesus Set Me Free.

Rakthai Sophia Loibl with Isabel Ong

In the Thai Muslim community where I lived, enslavement was all I knew. Then God spoke into the darkness.

Orphaned children play in an abandoned amusement park in Nigeria.

Their Families Abandoned Them. Emeagwali Took Them In.

Emmanuel Nwachukwu

A Christian orphanage director pushes back against child abandonment and a broken adoption system in Nigeria.

Flight passengers walking in the Hong Kong International Airport.

Pastors Press on After 46,000 Churchgoers Leave Hong Kong

Joyce Wu

Political upheaval led many to emigrate overseas. Yet some pastors still remain to shepherd those who stay.

Blurry people walk past a church in Potsdam, Germany

An Old Idea Is New Again in Europe: Spiritual Formation

Ken Chitwood in Germany

Evangelicals across the continent are experimenting with discipleship.

I Was the Enemy Jesus Told You to Love

Yassir Eric with Jayson Casper

As an extremist Muslim, I beat a Christian boy and left him to die. His faithful prayers for me led to my salvation.

The Sandanbeki cliff in Shirahama, Japan.

The Pastor Who Rescues People from Japan’s ‘Suicide Cliff’

Kazusa Okaya in Shirahama, Japan

Yoichi Fujiyabu has spent three decades sharing God’s love to people who want to end their lives.

- More from CT Editors

Church Life

Christianity Today’s Most-Read Testimonies of 2025

CT Editors

Ten of the most powerful conversion stories of the year.

Illustration by Christianity Today

Christians have been sharing conversion stories for 2,000 years, ever since Saul of Tarsus—a brutal persecutor of the first followers of Christ—miraculously became a follower himself (Acts 9:1–31). The Christianity Today team is honored to share current-day stories of transformation. It is our prayer that these testimonies encourage you and strengthen you in your faith.

I Was Sold into Slavery. Jesus Set Me Free.

Rakthai Sophia Loibl with Isabel Ong

In the Thai Muslim community where I lived, enslavement was all I knew. Then God spoke into the darkness.

The Lion, the Wizard, and the Great Physician

Nina Maksimova

During childhood, my heart beat with joy in Narnia and Middle-earth. After meeting an invisible Doctor, I understood why.

Explosive Secrets Damaged Me. Surrendering to Jesus Saved Me.

Christine Caine

A balcony view, a warehouse church, and the sweetness of the Word led me to the safe home of God’s love.

I Was the Enemy Jesus Told You to Love

Yassir Eric with Jayson Casper

As an extremist Muslim, I beat a Christian boy and left him to die. His faithful prayers for me led to my salvation.

Was It Really God’s Perfect Plan to Amputate My Foot?

Stef Reid

A tragic accident jump-started my relationship with God. It also made me question his goodness.

Coming Out Christian

Adira Polite

I was an outspoken queer leader on my college campus who wanted nothing to do with Christianity. Then God moved.

A Good Pair of Lungs

Josh Nadeau

How burst pulmonary arteries opened my eyes to the gift of an ordinary life in Jesus.

The Gospel Comes for a Neo-Nazi

Caleb Campbell

A couple’s weekly dinner invitations helped transform me from an embittered skinhead to a senior pastor.

I Turned to New Age Psychedelics for Salvation. They Couldn’t Deliver.

Ashley Lande

Shrooms glittered on the surface—but hid a dark chasm underneath. That’s where Jesus found me.

Lucian Mustata stands against a post-Communist architectural concrete building.

The Father to the Fatherless Sang a New Song over Me

Lucian Mustata with Sara Kyoungah White

Abandoned at birth, I grew up in Romanian orphanages. Today I lead Eastern Europe’s largest Christian music festival.

- More from CT Editors

Books

Christianity Today’s 10 Most-Read Book Reviews of 2025

CT Editors

Women in ministry, Christian summer camp, Tim Keller, and what the church has always said about sex.

Illustration by Christianity Today

Books have always been important to Christianity Today. Since our founding almost seven decades ago, CT has prioritized words alongside the Word. Our first issue, published in 1956, included reviews of Ernest White’s Christian Life and the Unconscious, B. B. Warfield’s Calvin and Augustine, and more.

The book industry looks massively different today, of course, but evangelicals are still committed to reading. Here are our most popular book reviews of 2025, ranked in reverse order of what our online audience read most.

Do Evangelical Political Errors Rise to the Level of Heresy?

Stephen O. Presley

A Lutheran pastor identifies five false teachings that threaten to corrupt the church’s public witness.

Tim Keller Preached the Superiority of Christianity, not Christians

Marvin Olasky

A new book shows how he contended for a faith whose followers are always seeking substitute saviors.

A column with a bandaid over a crack that has the shape of a cross

An Atheist Urges Christians to Help Save Democracy

Bonnie Kristian

Jonathan Rauch wants the church to act as a “load-bearing wall” in American civic life. But his appeal lacks a clear audience.

A Catholic church with it's steeple pointing to the steeple of a Protestant church

The Best Argument for Protestantism Is Its Catholicity

N. Gray Sutanto

Other traditions accuse the Reformers of ignoring church tradition and frustrating church unity. That gets things backward.

An Unpersuasive Plea for Christians to Swing Left

Matthew Loftus

Phil Christman’s apology for progressive politics ignores points of natural affinity with conservatives.

Don’t Toss Orthodoxy in the Campfire

Megan Fowler

Cara Meredith wants Christian summer camps to quit evangelism. But her research and theology leave much to be desired.

Two men stand in a golden field before a weathered barn

Wendell Berry’s Grief and Gratitude

Russell Moore

They go together in his latest novel, as they will for readers who realize it might be his last.

A New Guide to What the Church Has Always Said About Sex

Kara Bettis Carvalho

A book for young adults from Louise Perry explores a third way on sexual ethics that rejects gender ideology and cribs from long-standing Christian teaching.

A man standing in front of a golden sunset

Dwelling on Heaven Isn’t Escapist

Jeremy Writebol

As a new book suggests, keeping eternity in view is a practical way to live faithfully on earth.

We Can Debate Women in Ministry. But Not the Historical Facts.

Kelley Mathews

Beth Allison Barr challenges the narrative that women have never exercised church authority.

- More from CT Editors

Ideas

The Top 10 Articles in Christianity Today Magazine

CT Editors

Our best reporting, ideas, and theology pieces in print in 2025.

Illustration by Christianity Today

These days, reading the printed page is a respite from the onslaught of the online news cycle and our social media streams. While all of CT’s print features also appear online, there’s something special about taking a break from a screen to feel the printed page in your hands, to experience words and art together.

Our subscribers, especially those also receiving hard copies, have commented how beautiful, relevant, and enjoyable our recently redesigned print magazine is. That’s not without a whole lot of work! For each edition, our editorial leadership creates an issue schedule, passes out assignments, and works on multiple drafts with authors. Then we collaborate with our design team who lays out the text and contracts with illustrators to produce what you see on the printed page.

This collaborative work makes the whole process better as image speaks to word and word speaks to image. Together, in each issue, they create a conversation we hope that causes you to pause, wonder, and think anew about the application of Christian faith to culture, ideas, and bear truth to the world around us.

A woman is in the field, looking up at the sky.

Something Holy Shines

Malcolm Guite

Malcolm Guite on how Coleridge, Shakespeare, and C.S. Lewis help us understand the poetic imagination.

Illustration of a person falling through a void of doubt and confusion while reaching toward a golden life line.

Borrowing Faith When Doubt Creeps In

Stefani McDade

The certainty of another believer can guide us back to the truth.

Inside the Crowded Hospital Full of Congo’s Rape Victims

Mindy Belz

Dr. Denis Mukwege, a local pastor and surgeon, is a tireless advocate for women and children suffering through war.

The Problem of Panic

Russell Moore

Where Peter once stood in the place of Pan, we can hear the voice that changes everything.

Has Faith Gone Out of Fashion?

CT Editors

A symposium on Christian Smith’s book Why Religion Went Obsolete.

God Remembers in Our Dementia

Jen Pollock Michel

Alzheimer’s has robbed my mother of her memories. But in Christ, both she and I are not forgotten.

A photo of a tech engineer with blue lighting

Meet the Christian Engineers Helping to Shape AI

Emily Belz

These young tech workers are struggling to live out their faith as they navigate a high-stakes industry.

Illustration of two doves surrounded by hearts, waves and musical notes illustrated in a retro 70s style.

Sacred Reverb

Molly Worthen

From Gregorian chants to CCM megahits, we need music that confronts us with the gospel’s strangeness.

The Secret Prayers of Gamblers

Daniel Silliman

Locating the spiritual longing hiding in America’s obsession with betting.

A family photo of the Gonzalez family from 2003.

They Led at Saddleback Church. ICE Said They Were Safe.

Andy Olsen

A Colombian couple prayed with neighbors and raised their children in one of America’s most influential churches. What did we gain from their deportation?

- More from CT Editors

Ideas

The Best of CT’s Big Tent Initiative in 2025

CT Editors

Glimpses of the diversity within the evangelical church in the United States.

Illustration by Christianity Today

With the Big Tent Initiative, Christianity Today aims to build bridges of conversation and common cause across our political and racial divides.

Our writers this year tackled a host of topics, from questions about evangelical identity to the masculinity crisis to political debates surrounding the Smithsonian Institution. Pastor and author Chris Butler mapped out how evangelicals and the Black church can avoid being ensnared by politics, writer Justin Hampton made the case that friendship requires intentionality, and editorial director Sho Baraka argued we can, in fact, use “colloquial theology.”

Here are our favorite Big Tent essays and podcast episodes of 2025.