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October 10, 2025

This edition is sponsored by Church Growth Engine

Today’s Briefing

How the war in Ukraine transformed a Pentecostal church in Poland overnight.

On an island in the Philippines where Catholicism mixes with witchcraft, a Sunday school teacher preaches Jesus.

Last week, Singapore put to death a Malaysian Christian convicted on drug charges, despite prayers and petitions to stay his execution again.

Researchers say kids are born with a natural awareness of God.

How can we quench the cultural wildfires?

Behind the Story

From Kate Shellnutt, editorial director of news: One of our articles today discusses research around kids’ innate sense of God from their youngest years. For many of us who spend lots of time around little ones, we don’t need a psychologist to tell us what they themselves profess.

I remember telling my kid at age three, “Remember how God loves you?,” and he interjected, “No! God doesn’t just love me! God loves every people.”

Another editor at CT, Angela Lu Fulton, shared how her son asked her husband what shalom means. After her husband explained that “it is peace from God, and he can give it to us even when we are scared,” her son replied, “So we can have shalom today? Even every day?”

And editor Kate Lucky talked about reading the story of the Crucifixion with her toddler, who waits until the Resurrection to declare, “Jesus all better,” once he reunites with the disciples.

As much as I love to learn from preachers and scholars and theologians, there is something so profoundly dear about hearing our kids’ perspectives on God and remembering that “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:17).

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In Other News

Christians in Mozambique turn to the church for safety amid a spike in child abductions.
A Spanish TV station apologizes to evangelicals over a segment that characterized their growth as “worrying” and “dangerous.”
Downtown Nashville gets a new museum dedicated to Christian music.

The Future of the Church Can’t Wait

What do you hope the Church will look like in 20 years? In a time when the Church is often seen as divided, the future depends on what we do now. That’s why Christianity Today launched The Next Gen Initiative—to equip tomorrow’s pastors, writers, artists, and storytellers with wisdom, creativity, and Christ-centered vision.

This week, during CT’s Week of Giving, you can help raise up the next generation of leaders—and, good news, this week only your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar. The Church of tomorrow starts today. Give now.

Today in Christian History

October 13, 1605: Theodore Beza, Calvin’s successor as leader of the Swiss Reformation, dies (see issue 12: John Calvin).

Cautious Optimism Surrounds the Israel-Hamas Deal

Two years and two days after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, Israel and Hamas agreed Thursday to stop fighting and to exchange hostages and prisoners. Gazans and Israelis took…

The Loss of One Forgotten Virtue Could Destroy the Country

This piece was adapted from Russell Moore’s newsletter. Subscribe here. Last week, many people commented on a group of American generals and admirals for what they did not do. They were gathered…

As Shutdown Strains Incomes, Church Ramps Up to Feed the Hungry

The federal government shutdown furloughed 57 members of the Commonwealth of Faith church, where a third of the 350 attendees are federal workers, including bivocational pastor Torion Bridges and his…

Amazon’s New Streaming Channel Has Both ‘House of David’ and ‘Sherlock’

Ten years ago, in the wake of Noah, Exodus: Gods and Kings, and the History Channel’s The Bible miniseries, a couple of major networks tried to cash in on the…

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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