Today’s Briefing

Christian gamers can feel “a little too weird for the usual church crowd” but fit right in at Realm Makers Expo, a comic-con for believers who love to imagine and play.

Nerd culture ministry meets Christians and seekers on Twitch streams, in Discord chats, and around table tops.

A Swedish pastor sees the influx of migrants into Europe as a problem. But “inside every problem is a possibility,” he says, “and the possibility here is the mass conversion of Muslims.

Russell Moore shares an update about his next book, his growing podcast, and his new role at CT.

Behind the Story

From senior staff writer Emily Belz: The UN General Assembly convened this week in New York City, where I live, and yesterday I went to a State Department prayer breakfast in support of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

I sipped my coffee, looking around the room—seeing nonprofit leaders, government officials, doctors, HIV patients—and I thought about all the ups and downs of this massive effort to save the lives of tens of millions with this disease. On its 20th anniversary, activists joked to me that PEPFAR was a victim of its success: No Americans knew what PEPFAR was anymore because HIV/AIDS wasn’t a deathly crisis anymore.

Then in 2023, Republican opposition seemed to foretell the end of the program. And then this year, the shuttering of USAID froze PEPFAR’s work. But funding has come back, for the moment.

At this breakfast, Trump administration officials were sitting next to leaders from large faith-based organizations like Catholic Relief Services and World Vision—groups that experienced shattering federal cuts—and praying for the success of PEPFAR. “It’s been a long eight months,” Jeff Graham, who now oversees the program at the State Department, said to the room. “People keep saying, ‘You have 20 million people’s lives in your hands, don’t screw it up.’”

There are still a lot of question marks about PEPFAR’s future, but my lesson from seeing that room this morning is: You don’t know how stories will turn out.

In Other News

Christian speaker Christopher Yuan is recovering and regaining movement after a serious fall left him temporarily paralyzed.
A Catholic woman on trial in Northern Ireland for prayer outside an abortion clinic has asked for the judge to be recused from the case due to his history of pro-choice activism.
Facing relentless attacks on churches and villages, Nigerian Christians are afraid to gather.
Eighty-three percent of American women say they know all the lyrics to “Amazing Grace” compared to 36 percent of men, according to a new study.

Today in Christian History

September 25, 1534: Pope Clement VII dies. An unpopular pope, Clement failed to halt Luther’s reformation or to implement his own reforms in the Catholic church. Henry VIII asked Clement VII to annul his marriage with Catherine of Aragon. The pope’s reluctance led to Henry VIII’s break from Catholicism (see issue 48: Thomas Cranmer).

Kierkegaard Is for the Deconstructor

Plenty of young people may find Søren Kierkegaard relatable on the basis of his biography alone. He once dug himself into debt during a personal crisis by spending too much…

Church Discipline Is Still the Exception

When a church member left her husband and moved in with another man, pastor Aaron Menikoff thought about the couple’s two young children. “I wanted to be able to one…

Anxiety Isn’t Unnatural—or Unfaithful

“I am afraid because my body is not working right,” writes Blair Linne, a Bible teacher and poet, in her new book. “My mind is not working the way it…

Pro-Life’s Future: More Than Just Abortion

In a culture that devalues life, Christians offer a winsome witness to human dignity. Here are edited and tightened excerpts of a conversation between Clarissa Moll and Jonathan Liedl, senior editor at National…

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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