This edition is sponsored by DK Matthews
Todayโs Briefing
Widespread Helene misery is stretching Christian relief groups.
The new Global Methodist denomination wants to be evangelical, but not too evangelical. Daniel Silliman reports from Costa Rica on the struggle to articulate a Wesleyan distinctive.
In modern hymns alone? A look at Getty Musicโs popular worship conference and theological appeal.ย
Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman talks to The Bulletin about hope in the face of suffering.ย
Gen Z evangelicals donโt want to be known for their faith (but they wouldnโt mind being famous for their hobbies).
A new book examines why the Gospels tell the same story differently.
Behind the Story
From staff writer Emily Belz: Some Christian aid groups are responding to the devastation of Hurricane Helene in their own backyards. Samaritanโs Purse, for example, is headquartered in hard-hit Boone, North Carolina. A number of CT staff were also in the path of the storm. Editorial director of news Kate Shellnutt is in Augusta, Georgia, which suffered extensive damage. News editor Daniel Silliman is in East Tennessee, where bridges and roads flooded out. Senior web developer Matt Metcalf lives in Asheville, North Carolina, where at least 40 people have died.
I was born and raised in Asheville, and I have family going back generations in the Appalachians. It was strange to interview people about a disaster in my hometown, especially as I knew my own family members were in need of water and food (theyโre surviving!). But it also helped to be covering a place I know. When Amanda Held Opelt told me about checking on her aunts in a mountain holler and finding them eating saltines and garden vegetables, thatโs a scene that felt familiar. Opelt hopes outsidersโ perceptions about poverty-stricken Appalachian hillbillies will change as they learn these stories. The close community, ingenuity, and resilience when they were cut off from the worldโโThatโs a different kind of wealth,โ she said.ย
โChurches still serve as the cornerstones of communal life in rural Appalachia,โ she told me. โItโs church folks that are checking in on one anotherโaccounting for one another, working together to collect water, and getting the sick and elderly out.โ
Paid Content
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In A Tale of Three Cities, D.K. Matthews offers a revolutionary perspective: the cosmos will be neither annihilated nor merely restored, but resurrected. This insight reshapes our relationship to culture and politics, even as antichristism accelerates. In his work, Matthews presents a nuanced “Third City” approach, transcending traditional binary worldviews.
This book equips believers to navigate our complex world without succumbing to escapism or utopianism. Endorsed by leading theologians and educators, it’s hailed as “a gift to the church.” Engage with Matthews’ insights and chart a course between fight-or-flight extremes.
In Other News
- A candidate for the top position in the Kenyan Assemblies of God has been reported missing after an apparent abduction.ย
- A 17-year-old says that when she was 9, she was sexually abused by another child because Ethnos360, formerly known as New Tribes Mission, didnโt learn from its previous abuse crisis.
- Black churches in the US are struggling to reach Gen Z.
- Missouri-Synod Lutheran radio celebrates 100 years.
Today in Christian History
October 2, 1187:ย Muslim general Saladin captures Jerusalem from the crusaders (see issue 40: The Crusades).
October 2, 1792:ย A dozen English ministers form the Baptist Missionary Society “for the propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen, according to the recommendations of [William] Carey’sย Enquiry” (see issue 36: William Carey).
in case you missed it
When Jimmy Carter spoke about his faith in Christ while campaigning for president in 1976, many evangelicals were ecstatic. No previous presidential candidate had claimed to be “born again” or…
My neighborhood, just outside of Washington, DC, has a strong sense of local community. I know the people on our block, and I love bumping into folks—at PTA meetings, sports…
The problems of exploitation and injustice that many women in Lily Meschi’s home country of Iran live through are close to Meschi’s heart because they were once her problems—even when…
The high season of American politics is here. Stomachs are knotted. Electoral trend lines undulate. Betting markets tremble. And what of the American church? Many of us are trembling too:…
in the magazine
Our September/October issue explores themes in spiritual formation and uncovers whatโs really discipling us. Bonnie Kristian argues that the biblical vision for the institutions that form us is renewal, not replacementโeven when they fail us. Mike Cosper examines what fuels political fervor around Donald Trump and assesses the ways people have understood and misunderstood the movement. Harvest Prude reports on how partisan distrust has turned the electoral process into a minefield and how those on the frontlinesโelection officials and volunteersโare motivated by their faith as they work. Read about Christian renewal in intellectual spaces and the โyearnersโโthose who find themselves in the borderlands between faith and disbelief. And find out how God is moving among his kingdom in Europe, as well as what our advice columnists say about budget-conscious fellowship meals, a kid in Sunday school who hits, and a dating app dilemma.
CT Daily Briefing
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