The church doesn’t always feel like my home, but on Saturday, September 28, 2024, it did. My first hint that a storm was coming was the morning before. I had…
When I walk into an Appalachian casino on a Friday evening, every sense in my body dilates with the onslaught of stimulation. Outside the casino, it was cool, with dusk…
When I was an agnostic, I prided myself on my open mind. I listened to the full range of spiritual theories, from the sutras of Buddhists to the anathemas of…
From 2006 to 2021, I had the joy of supervising another Christian magazine’s annual compassion awards. Reporters and I sought recommendations and made site visits that resulted in profiles of…
An elderly woman once told me she was making a long trip back to her hometown for the little community’s autumn apple festival. She had returned many times for the…
PART I Between 2015 and 2020, something broke inside of me. I was a devoted Christian, a student of Scripture, and a public voice for the gospel. But I found…
Elizabeth Bruenig first began reporting on capital punishment in 2020 when she served as a witness to a state execution in Terre Haute, Indiana, for The New York Times. Since…
The most spiritually formative moments of my life didn’t happen in an age-targeted church program. They happened across a table. Bill, a retired pastor who was in his 80s, took…
As a professor, I discourage students from using smartphones during class. Nevertheless, they always pull them out as soon as class is over or during breaks in longer sessions. I…
A hundred years ago in Dayton, Tennessee, high school teacher John Scopes was put on trial for violating the state’s law against teaching evolution in public schools. The widely publicized…
My good friend Emma is a deeply committed Christian who lives with cerebral palsy. Recently she went to a church she had not visited before. As she was leaving, an…
Somewhere in the lower circles of introvert hell, about halfway between Office Birthday Party Boulevard and (shudder) the Professional Networking District, you’ll find a former church of mine. Don’t mistake…
From 2006 to 2021, I had the joy of supervising another Christian magazine’s annual compassion awards. Reporters and I sought recommendations and made site visits that resulted in profiles of…
One recent evening at a Springfield church, 70 Haitian immigrants hurried inside to classrooms where they were learning English. Some brought their children. “Bienvenue!” said Tami Carter as people came…
Just west of Colorado Springs, the park known as Garden of the Gods features soaring red sandstone formations. At 6,400 feet above sea level, it’s one of the loveliest places…
Insulated tumblers, coffee mugs, and sparkling waters litter a worktable on the second story of an apartment unit turned office in Austin, Texas. Eight people fill the workspace, bobbing up…
After enrolling at Delta Streets Academy (DSA) in Mississippi in 2016, Imanol Moreno said, he “slacked a lot.” As a middle schooler who pushed back against the rules, Moreno often…
The first client intake I observed at Pittsburgh’s Christian Immigration Advocacy Center (CIAC) was a legal dead end. CIAC ministry director Rogerio Torres sat behind a desk crammed into a…
Brenda Todd needs size 3T and 4T clothes for a little boy who is going to stay temporarily with a host family. He’s bringing nothing with him. Todd knows who…
On a Monday evening, Ashley Leopold walked down the streets of Aurora, Colorado, calling young people to join the children’s ministry of Restoration Outreach Programs (ROP). “Are you coming?” she…
Creating a magazine is always full of surprises. In developing this issue, we discussed the diverse, global, and often-fractured landscape of evangelicalism. I guessed what would emerge: analysis on “worship…
Today’s digital natives are experiencing an existential earthquake at the intersection of technology, geopolitics, and the erosion of a shared social fabric. Recent years have been marked by social polarization,…
When I was 16, a new student named Zakariya showed up at school. His forehead bore fan-shaped scars that identified him as a member of the Dinka people group—south Sudanese…
Got a question? Email advice@christianitytoday.com to ask CT’s advice columnists. Queries may be edited for brevity and clarity. Q: I’m a staunch egalitarian, but many members of my church family…
In January, Elon Musk and others working for President Donald Trump’s administration swiftly dismantled the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the humanitarian arm of American foreign policy. Musk…
Papua New Guinea is officially a Christian country. The preamble to its constitution has been amended to “acknowledge and declare God, the Father; Jesus Christ, the Son; and Holy Spirit,…
This year marks the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed, an early statement of Christian beliefs—including articulation of the doctrine of the Trinity—that many followers of Jesus continue to incorporate…
