Imaginatively Missional
The decision to cease USAID funding has sparked concerns regarding the future of global development efforts particularly in regions heavily reliant on foreign assistance. While the immediate consequences of this policy shift are significant, this moment presents an opportunity to reevaluate traditional aid models and embrace more sustainable, locally led approaches. A church-driven, asset-based model …
In April 2024, our television and mobile screens were filled with images of long-range ballistics glowing in the night sky over Jerusalem. A barrage of missiles had been launched directly by Iran from hundreds of miles away into Israel. In the tense moments where we waited for spectacular images of destruction across a land considered …
I often find myself wondering what kind of world our grandchildren will inherit. While war wages in Ukraine and Gaza, riotous protests in Nepal, increasing violent murders in the United States, I wonder, will their world be one marked by peace, justice, and human flourishing—or one scarred by violence, fear, and a church that has …
Preliminary observations from ongoing research into the history and evolution of the word "pastor" Eusebius’ magisterial work entitled Ecclesiastical History, written in four editions between 311-324AD, spans the history of the church from the time of Christ to the time of Constantine: about 300 years. The volume comprises a total of 10 books. Remarking on Eusebeius’ …
Continue reading "The Use of ποιμην in Early Christian History"
Adapted from Grace Al-Zoughbi Arteen, "A Palestinian Reflection on Overcoming Injustice: Seeking a Christ-like Response in Matthew and Luke," in Social Injustice, Volume II: Evangelical Voices in Tumultuous Times. Ephesiology Press, 2021. I was just seventeen years old when one morning at 2am I finally arrived at my own home in Bethlehem, laid my head on …
Continue reading "A Palestinian Reflection on Overcoming Injustice"
In one dark period of human history, Dietrich Bonhoeffer defined the church’s role, what he referred to as the “disciples’ community,” in the following manner: The disciples are given no choice whether they want to be salt or not. No appeal is made to them to become salt of the earth. Rather they just are …
American evangelicals are clearly divided over social justice. In one of its recent expressions, critical race theory (CRT) has garnered both the admiration and the indignation of those who claim a similar allegiance to Jesus Christ. The recent division among the staff of one of the world’s largest evangelical para-churches, Cru, only highlights the cultural …
Critical race theory (CRT) is finding expression in various social issues around the world. Its renown recently received an unlikely boost by six Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) associated seminary presidents when they unilaterally denounced CRT as incompatible with the SBC's “The Baptist Faith and Message” (Schroeder 2020). The backlash among Black pastors in the SBC …
Continue reading "Christianity, Critical Race Theory, and Relational Ethics"
The German theologian and martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), has captured the attention of Americans, if not also many others around the world, like no other modern-day theologian. His Discipleship and Ethics have inspired numerous discussions regarding their application, or misapplication, to contemporary social issues. The root of Bonhoeffer’s ethics is theology as a first order. …
Sitting on the credenza behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office is the bust of Latino civil rights leader César Chávez. Other leaders of the movement decorating the most powerful place on the planet—Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Robert F. Kennedy—give a clear signal to the 46th US president’s agenda for America. Among his …
Continue reading "Hang On! It’s going to be another bumpy four years!!"
Each year around this time, Americans are reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his life of service for civil rights, and his call to nonviolent resistance as a means for producing change. Over the past year in the United States, the unwarranted shooting of Blacks by police, the number of protests leading to riots …
Jesus was often counter-cultural. He upset a lot of people because He would frequently break the status quo and do the will of His Father (Matthew 12:50) instead of “following the rules” society had established. On the heels of the vice presidential debate and the “super spreading” event that caused the hospitalization of the president …
With less than 60 days until the 2020 presidential election, who would Jesus vote for? Both evangelical Democrats and Republicans would no doubt claim He would vote for their candidate. Even more, both sides would argue that their political party best represents the values of the Kingdom of God. Admittedly, there are those who see …
Social justice has become a polarizing term that has set Christians against each other. Contributing to the confusion are social theories such as critical theory and critical race theory where social justice tends to focus on opposing systemic issues where an oppressor group has disadvantaged other groups. Such theories, when applied by Christians, tend to …
I am a Black Man. We are not okay. I grew up on Chicago’s Southside and I saw drugs, gangs and violence as common things in my childhood — heck, my dad was instrumental in some of it. Now I live in a predominately white, wealthy Boston suburb trying to plant a church and effectively …
I’m not going to lie: the news lately has me shaking. My heart breaks for the families who have been affected. My heart breaks for those who are witnessing the violence from the “frontlines.” My heart breaks for the children who are being given “the talk” about how to survive a police stop and what …
Continue reading "Racism has no place in the presence of Christ"
The global west is now on the front lines in the battle against COVID-19. The epicenter of the novel coronavirus has shifted from our distant shores to our communities. After a sudden two-week blitz in the United States of implementing extreme social distancing measures that included closing stadiums, canceling large events, shutting our borders, closing …
The reaction to Mark Galli’s editorial in Christianity Today reveals how polarized the current political climate is in the United States. Some question his motives and others wonder what has taken so long. There are as many loud evangelical voices of dissent as there are of support for Galli’s call for President Trump’s removal from office. The …
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